[Mike_Cirba]

If I can't kill my lawn, though I try my damndest, then I doubt most golf courses would be at risk by going to less water, less chemicals, and less period.

I have no idea if 95% of the GD raters are ready believers about to make that mental switch from ANGC Green to Hoylake tan, but it has to start somewhere and I applaud Ron Whitten for taking a stand here, whether or not his people are ready for it.

[Kirk Gill]

All in all I have a lot of respect for these supers and I'm just glad I ain't one----eg too much pressure for me. 

Boy, you can't argue with that, especially until the rank and file golfer "gets with the program." Imagine having to please a constituency that wants green green green, AND a top GD ranking !

[Joel_Stewart]

I have no idea if 95% of the GD raters are ready believers about to make that mental switch from ANGC Green to Hoylake tan, but it has to start somewhere and I applaud Ron Whitten for taking a stand here, whether or not his people are ready for it.

Until Tom Fazio embraces it, I'm not sure most of the panelists will get it.

The other aspect which I have been trying to get across is you can't compare conditioning at Augusta to a course like Bandon which uses fescue.  All green courses or all brown courses are not the same.  You have to compare apples to apples.

[Eric Morrison]

If I can't kill my lawn, though I try my damndest, then I doubt most golf courses would be at risk by going to less water, less chemicals, and less period.

Do you mow your lawn at one tenth of an inch???

[Mike_Cirba]

Eric,

No, do you think that would work?

[Eric Morrison]

you would definitely kill it if that is what you are looking for!

[Mike_Cirba]

Eric,



So what does that tell us?

[Greg Ohlendorf]

I am very supportive of fast and firm. The push back will come from members of clubs who will be tough on their supers. It's not so much the color green, but the tightness of the fairways that comes from fast and firm playing conditions. There are a large number of golfers that want the ball supported by the grass as it is difficult for them to clip the ball off of a tight lie.

[Adam Clayman]

Fascinating that no matter how many times its written that brown grass is not necessarily dead grass people still think its dead. Despite numerous examples to the contrary. BTW this new definition is almost a year old and has been discussed here before. Ill re-tell the story about how Pinon Hills had to go to watering every other day. The results were amazing. Showing there's a fine line between over watered and acceptable firmness.

[Eric Morrison]

Mike,
Not quite sure where you are going with that one, but the point I was trying to make is that a lot of people equate taking care of their yard to taking care of a golf course...not the same
Grass is very hardy and switching to more F+F conditions with less inputs is achievable, although there will be a learning curve for the turf - some grass will shut down and pop back when conditions are favorable, and some will perish...
I try to promote F+F on my course and the course is really fun to play when it is like that...a lot of our customers don't care for it when they are getting the same bounces on the greens that they get to lenghten their drives in the fairways though!

[Mike_Cirba]

Eric,

Thanks, and I'm a complete novice about grass and should keep my mouth shut.

I just know what I like in terms of course playability, and having grown up on some very low-budget farmland courses in NE PA that had no irrigation except sprinkler systems for the greens and then watching them brown during dry periods but quickly green again with a little rain, I believe grass is much heartier than we give it credit for....unless we make it do unnatural acts, which seems to be the case with some of today's greenspeeds, etc.

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