Overseeding - issues and trends

[Mike McGuire]

I recently (St. Pattys Day) played Kiva Dunes in Gulf Shores, AL. The course was not overseeded and it was a treat to play.  Several greens blended into the surrounds without a trace.

I also got to play Apache Stonghold this year under dormant conditions. A lot of fun.

Bill McBride reports a lot of the other FL panhandle clubs are not overseeding. Is this the trend in other areas? How much does it cost to overseed? What are the other questons? Is this a start to firm conditions ?



 

[A.G._Crockett]

Mike,
I would guess (and it is only that) that the majority of private clubs in metro Atlanta don't overseed except on tee boxes, while the majority of daily fees probably do overseed.

I don't think this is any sort of a trend toward firm and fast.  It just has to do with letting the bermuda come back as quickly and fully as possible in the spring.  In fact, courses that are not overseeded often stay pretty wet during the winter months due to no root system activity soaking up the water.

I'm very glad that my club does not overseed, but man, am I ready to stop hitting off dormant bermuda by the time spring comes every year!

[Brent Hutto]

My club doesn't overseed except for the Par 3 tee boxes. I'm a new member there but it's my understanding they've never overseeded for equal parts cost saving (considerable) and avoiding the spring transition. This winter the playing conditions have been just fine although in the last couple of weeks some approach-shot areas are more sanded-divot than fairway.

I like dormant hybrid Bermuda greens although I must say that Bermuda overseeded with poa triv can produce a spectacular winter putting surface in this area (central South Carolina). It will be interesting to see just how late the course greens up given the cold weather we've been having this March.

[Mike McGuire]

"In fact, courses that are not overseeded often stay pretty wet during the winter months due to no root system activity soaking up the water."

A.G.

Thanks for that insight. The greens at Kiva were  soft. I did wonder why that was.

[Anthony_Nysse]

  For the second straight year, we did not overseed fairways, just tees and greens. The fact that this winter was warmer than most, we never fully went dormant. We had 50% color all season long. Without having any rye grass on our fairways, we were really able to dry the golf course out, resulting in 30 to 40 yards of roll-Our older members loved it. It actually got to the point were we had to run some water in fear of the bermuda desicating itself. There was alot of dust with those divots!
  If you consider seed, water, fertilizer and man power, we figure it costs in the ball park of $40,000- $50,000 to overseed. Recent studies have shown that ever year of overseeding results in 10% of bermuda grass loss because of competition.
  Granted, there are a few passionate people that believe that everything should be overseeded every year, in fact, they believe that their property values are going down because we do not, but we are able to produce a much more consistant, quality playing surface year round. This time of year, the divots in the fairways become very numorous, but it's a great surface to hit off and really makes the golf course play much different than if it were overseeded.

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[Ken Bramlett]

Most of the private clubs in Charlotte refuse to overseed their fairways.  We've had a running debate at Carmel CC (which has two courses) about overseeding one each winter, but not the other.  Strong views on both sides, but we have so far refused to do either.

On Daufuskis Island, on the other hand, everything's overseeded -- Melrose, Bloody Point and Haig Point.      

[Anthony_Nysse]

Ken,
  Part of the reason the private courses don't overseed in Charlotte is because your bermuda grass growing season is about 6-8 weeks less than ours....difficult to re-establish bermuda in a 4 month window. It is recommened to have 100 days of unimpeeded growth to have solid bermuda grass.
  As for Daufuskie Island, Melrose and Bloody Point are resort and this is their high season, so they overseed fwys, tees and greens, but Haig Point does not overseed greens....just fwys and tees.

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[Brent Hutto]

Tony,

I know this is old hat for many people reading this thread but could you review for us the sequence that happens in the spring and fall with Bermuda hybrids going out and in of dormancy?

I think it's something like a certain soil temperature for a certain interval triggers it to come back in the Spring and once the Bermuda is strong enough it will choke out the overseeded grass that by then will be heat-stressed.

So for instance this year (a coolish Spring so far, right?) when will that start happening on Hilton Head versus in Charlotte?

[Anthony_Nysse]

Hey Brent,
  I wll try my best to put this into terms that we all can understand. Down here, when they temps get into the 40's at night and mid 60's during the day (Early December) the bermuda grass will stay green, but will not actively be growing-divots do not heal and car traffic is very hard on the grass. As spring rolls around, we usually see the bermuda grass start to green up in the middle of March when the day time high get in the mid 60's and the lows in the 40's. Bermuda grass do not really begin to actively grow until nightime lows are in the mid to high 50's and the daytime highs are in the 70's. This is when you can usually find soil temps in the high 50's to low 60's which is when the bermuda breaks out of dormancy.
  We actually had a VERY mild winter. We had 7 frosts, only 2 days where the highs never got over 50 degrees and we never went completely dormant. We mowed fairways once a week all winter long, but we restrict cart traffic to handicap flags only on the fairways beginning in November. Our fairways remained 50% green all winter. At times, one would be fooled into thinking that we overseeded fairways. Our greens are currently well over 50% tifeagle.
  To the best of my knowledge, most Charlotte courses will overseed in the middle of September, where as we overseed in the middle of October. Same with the transition to bermudagrass-We start to really transition at the end to the beginning of May and Charlotte area is about a month later.
 I hope this helps out!

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC