Hostile Environment and Putting Green Performance

[Tony Ristola]

For those that live in snow locked countries, where the season basically ends in October, begins in May and has about 4-months of frozen ground, snow, ice... has anyone noticed a correlation between putting green performance and construction method?

I've seen many two-layer greens (rootzone over gravel blanket) in Scandinavia but the greens performed equally poorly. The harshness of the winter seemed to be the deciding factor (I'm sure the superintendent did too). If the greens had contour, the low points that directed the water would be devoid of grass (usually due to ice), and flatter greens could have larger sections nuked of grass.

Anyone living in said climate have observations to share? Not to start another USGA green thread, but has anyone noticed that USGA greens do better in hostile environments?

[Jeff_Brauer]

Tony,

My three courses in far north Minnesota qualify as similar climates.  They also had a harsh winter.

I am not sure why, but the greens with the California construction fared better than the ones with the USGA construction.  In some regards, it seems the organics of the USGA green held in some more moisture which accelerated freeze damage.  There are other reasons, too, but take that for what its worth.

I would certainly have a minimum pitch of 1.5% and pay special attention to areas where the green flow exits to make sure standing water didn't occur in any snowy climate. (Probably good advice for mild climates as well)

[Tony Ristola]

Jeff,

Your bit about standing water is spot on from my years in the northern tundra. The winters in Scandinavia reveal every minor construction flaw. If water stands, you won't have grass there come springtime.

Your comment about California method greens is interesting. I don't know of any built in Scandinavia, but the three northern countries (I include Finland as part of Scandinavia even though they're technically not) should make it a point to create some test plots.

[Tom_Doak]

Tony:

The greens at Crystal Downs are built with an old-style mix that included some mucky soil mixed in with the sand, yet they have performed just as well as most of the USGA greens I've seen up here, for whatever reason.

I do agree that surface drainage is the most important issue, and I would extend that to ALL greens in any climate.  A USGA green with pin placements of 0.5 percent and 1 percent is going to see more problems than a soil green with 3 percent slopes, in my estimation.

[Greg Murphy]

Tony,

You're asking for anecdotal experience and that's all I can give. I don't mean this to be a USGA rant but I'm sure it'll sound like one anyway. It gets cold here on the Canadian Prairies and the summers can get warm. The last two days it's been 30 degrees and yesterday was windy. I just finished playing at my home course, the Wascana Country Club. It has 11 greens built to USGA spec over the last decade and 7 older greens of varying age and construction. The new greens have been and continue to be a major headache even though portions of most have been rebuilt. Many of the greens were built with rather obvious tiering (almost a stepped effect) and originally the top side of many of the tiers would actually slope away the opposite direction. Bird bath ridges on the high side resulted and, as you've noted, anywhere water tends to collect and freeze over winter really fries the turf come spring. So the low areas just above the tier transitions performed very poorly through the winters. The greens were reconstructed to remove these areas and in most cases it has been effective in eliminating areas where water used to pond and freeze.

But the greens are still performing poorly. Although they have been flattened considerably through reconstruction, any remaining higher areas in the newer greens are chronically fragile and turn crispy and blue within a couple of days of heat like we've had recently. Speaking anecdotally, this perched water table stuff really seems like a load of you know what. There is no way there is moisture perched in these high areas. Yes, the high areas on the older greens, particularly if the pin is set there and there's a lot of foot traffic, will show some stress when it gets hot and windy but nothing remotely close to the newer greens which in a few cases have repeatedly regressed to bare sand.

At Katepwa Beach Golf Club, we couldn't afford "real" greens, so we built them out of (too fine) sand located on site, mixed some manure in, were playing on them within a couple months of seeding and have had excellent performance since. Again, purely from an anecdotal hearsay basis, I've heard it said that in our climate, courses have had good luck amending their sand rootzone with a little soil or organic mix but by the text book that is still considered a real no no.

[Eric Franzen]

Not to start another USGA green thread, but has anyone noticed that USGA greens do better in hostile environments?

To simply answer your question. Yes.

Last years winter was very harsh for many courses in Sweden. Kyssinge (25 minutes north of Stockholm) and Djursholm was two of very few courses that opened with great greens before the end of April that year.  

Let me know if you need more detailed information about USGA greens in our climate, and I'll provide you with contacts who have been involved or observed construction and maintenance.

[Jon Wiggett]

My experience whilst being in Scandinavia was that it was as already mentioned vital to prevent standing water on the playing surfaces that could freeze. This is only possible through either topsurface drainge or sub-surface with pipe dimentions that don't allow them to freeze. At the one course

I was involved in they installed such large sub-surface piping that was capped in the summer and then open through the winter when the course was not in play. Also it is very important to ensure the sward is dormant before the winter arrives, something that is not always that easy to judge up north.