Frosted greens

[Mark_Rowlinson]

What damage is done to greens if golfers play on them when they are frosted? Four of us played Formby on Sunday and all the greens were out of play. It had frosted down to -5C overnight and when we started at a little after 10 am one or two greens will still have been frozen but not all. The greens remained closed all day even though some will have thawed out quite quickly. Interestingly, the proper greens on the encircled Formby Ladies' course were open for play. I played at Royal Ashdown some years ago in similar conditions and the greens were all in play and there were no funny regulations such as walking onto the putting surface from the back. Does that make any difference?

[Paul Carey]

Mark,

When you use the term "frosted" do you mean some frost from the night before or frozen greens? 

Playing on greens with a layer of frost will kill them as you walk on them (seeing black footprints within 24 hours). 

I think frozen greens (without any frost on top) will survive fine but a lot play probably causes some long term implications.

I am sure a superintendent will give greater detail.

[Niall C]

Mark

Some course seem to get away with it, notably Gullane. Almost always open and takes a lot of play as well with no apparent harm done.

Niall

[Mark Pearce]

I wondered this in December 2008 when a group of us played at Woking on heavily frosted greens.  I was surprised to be allowed to play.  In contrast the time I played Royal North Deveon our tee time was delayed by an hour to allow slightly frosted greens to thaw.

[Sean_A]

I do think some of this issue has to do with how much play is expected.  Normally, one would expect the numbers to be lower on frosty days because many golfers don't enjoy those kind of conditions.  I also think some of this depends on if a person of power is around to make a call or switch the pins when conditions improve.  Sundays are generally not good for staff of this sort. 

At Burnham, the course never closes for frost even if a heavy day's play is expected.  The club doesn't believe there is much difference either way with fescue/bent greens.  In fact, I heard the green keeper state that more damage is done when greens are unusually wet.  On the other hand, Pennard goes on temps at the slightest hint of frost and there isn't much condition-wise to protect.

Does the type of grass make any difference?

Ciao

[Bill Rocco]

When a rapid over night temperature drop takes place, it causes inter-cellular freezing, basically the inside of the plant cell freezes.  This is the type of freezing that causes damage when a golfer walks across an area, mainly from the  plant cells bursting.  When the temperatures drops slowly the freezing occurs in between the plant cells, this is the plant hardening off for the winter.  Most times it is considered fine to play on a surface that is in this state.  Annual Bluegrass is the most sensitive to frozen conditions while Creeping Bentgrass, and  Kentucky Bluegrass can handle a longer period of snow/ice cover without sustaining any damage. 

[Jon Wiggett]

Mark,

this is something that is talked about (often heatedly) in greenkeeper circles here in the UK. Almost everyone is of the opinion that if the ground is frozen with the upper half inch thawed out then the green should be closed. Except for this point there are those who say letting players across the greens when there is a frost kills the grass, pointing out the black footprints that will appear. Others say this is cosmetic and that no long term damage is sustained. Some even say the  greens are better for been played on.

I never shut my greens for frost and have never seen any lasting damage because of this. I don't know how heavy traffic would affect them though and every greenkeeper/club needs to make their own decision.

Paul, the grass is not actually killed off by walking on them in frost conditions, atleast not cool season grasses.

[Alan FitzGerald CGCS MG]

Most of this was covered above but to sum it all up in one post. There has always been a lot of debate about htis. It can largely depend on location as frost severity is different everywhere, so what is happening at one course may not necessiarily be the same for another nearby. For example a links course has less potential over a parkland course for even getting frost as the sea breezes will help keep the dew (and therefore frost) at bay, simiarily a course may have open holes that get sun and other wooded holes that don't and the potential for damage can vary even on one course.

If it is only a very light frost then the damage is very minimal or even non existant as the dew on the leaf may be frozen but it isn't cold enough for the plant cells to have frozen. This is usually more likely a senario during the start and end of frost season but it depends on location.

If it is a heavier frost then the potential for damage is greater as the frozen cells burst when pressure is put on them which depending on severity can kill the plant. It then comes down to how much each club is willing to accept the damage. Usually the brown footprints, tire tracks or whatever look bad for a while but it will, over time, grow out. Of course the height of the turf plays a big part of this and greens height turf will take a lot longer to heal, so therefore will look bad for longer. Again a few footprints will not be detrimental but as the attached picture below shows, it is greatly compounded, even by one foursome.

The third item to look at is when you get a hard frost over a few days and the soil freezes. I have no problem letting golf out once everything is frozen solid as there is little potential for damage but (and it is very difficult to do this) I keep golf off when on the nicer days, where the day temperatures get high enough to thaw the surface (inch or so), there is huge potential for damage (This can be very frustrating especially when the night temperature get really low and refreeze everything at night). When the soil/roots etc are frozen an inch or so down, as you walk on the greens, the unfrozen roots near the surface can sheer at the frozen/unfrozen interface severly hurting or even killing the plant. The severity of the damage depends somewhat on how wet the surface is upon thawing ie the wetter the greater potential for damage.

I am a firm believer that anyway we can minize stress/damage in the winter, the less the plant has to recoperate in the spring and can use all it's energy to grow (and build roots) in preparation for the summer which is much more important, and again this depends on your location and how severe the summer stress is.

[Randy Thompson]

Alan is correct, the bursting of the cells usually does not cause death but yes damages the plant. The most dangerous situation occur as the frozen greens begins to thaw, the thawed parts move from walking on them and the roots are sheared and death can occur. Sand greens have more air space and therefore are more easily froozen then push up greens and therefore are more subject to this problem. Golfers need to be educated on the problem, there is nothing worse than having two courses in the same town, one with oush up greens and one with USGA greens. The sun comes out after a cold spell and its a beautiful day, the neighbors course with push up greens are allowing play and your course with sand greens are closed and nobody understands why? Communication are the key in this situations, the pro shop should be informed and the entire staff along with a letter to the members. Having to look for these answers on this site shows there are still a lot of clubs that donīt understand the importance of communication.

[Steve Okula]

Alan is correct, the bursting of the cells usually does not cause death but yes damages the plant. The most dangerous situation occur as the frozen greens begins to thaw, the thawed parts move from walking on them and the roots are sheared and death can occur. Sand greens have more air space and therefore are more easily froozen then push up greens and therefore are more subject to this problem. Golfers need to be educated on the problem, there is nothing worse than having two courses in the same town, one with oush up greens and one with USGA greens. The sun comes out after a cold spell and its a beautiful day, the neighbors course with push up greens are allowing play and your course with sand greens are closed and nobody understands why? Communication are the key in this situations, the pro shop should be informed and the entire staff along with a letter to the members. Having to look for these answers on this site shows there are still a lot of clubs that donīt understand the importance of communication.

Randy, if the USGA greens are more easily frozen, then wouldn't they be quicker to thaw than push up greens?

[Jon Wiggett]

Randy, if the USGA greens are more easily frozen, then wouldn't they be quicker to thaw than push up greens?

Steve is correct, USGA greens will thaw quicker. They will be susceptible to a harder frost and catching a frost when push ups may not. USGA go into the winter quicker than push ups but also come out quicker in spring in areas where winters are hard. In summer they will have higher root zone temps. Its all swings and roundabouts as to which is better in this respect.

[Sean_A]

So, am I to understand that during the time of year when greens frost at night and thaw by 10-11 (which is essentially English winter as greens rarely stay frosted during the day and into the next night) the next day then it is fine to play on the greens?  And that to play on the same greens when the frost is still hard isn't much too worry about, but when they are say half thawed is when the worst damage occurs?

Ciao

[Jon Wiggett]

So, am I to understand that during the time of year when greens frost at night and thaw by 10-11 (which is essentially English winter as greens rarely stay frosted during the day and into the next night) the next day then it is fine to play on the greens?  And that to play on the same greens when the frost is still hard isn't much too worry about, but when they are say half thawed is when the worst damage occurs?

Ciao

Hi Sean,

I would say basically yes. I have never put my greens on temps and have never experienced anything other than purely cosmetic problems. There are however many greenkeepers who argue the other way. Every situation is different so it has to be down to the person where 'the buck stops' as to wether temps are used or not. If they think temps are a better option then they probably are.

[Randy Thompson]

Yes they unfreeze quicker but they freeze quicker. A push green may have just a surface freeze and the USGA green could freeze to one an half inch. I was superintendent at a club with a PGA tour event with USGA greens and the club down the road had push up greens. Myself and the other superintendent always determined when we would open by inserting a knife in to the surfaces and when no resistence was found because the green was basically thawed, we opened our perspective courses and he always...always opened before we did by several hours causing confusion with our members until I clarified the situation to the members through various communication methods. But what has been previously discussed is also correct in a deep freeze. A four inch freeze in a USGA greens will probably thaw out quicker than a rwo inch freeze in a push up green. My point is, the opening moment should be decided by when the most shaded areas of the course have been completly thawed. The shearing of the roots is the biggest problem but another problem is the excessive compaction to the surface when the top inch is thawed and below that mark is still frozen.

[Alan FitzGerald CGCS MG]

So, am I to understand that during the time of year when greens frost at night and thaw by 10-11 (which is essentially English winter as greens rarely stay frosted during the day and into the next night) the next day then it is fine to play on the greens? for the most part!Typically in the UK, with its temperatures, you don't get a deep freeze so once it's gone off the leaves it's fine. Of course there could be other reasons pertaining to the OPs situation where they stayed closed all day

And that to play on the same greens when the frost is still hard isn't much too worry about, but when they are say half thawed is when the worst damage occurs? Not necessilarily;) It all depends on the definition of a 'hard frost'; if it's just frost on the leaf then the above applies, but if the soil freezes (lets call it a 'deep freeze' to differenciate it from the frost definition above where its just on the leaves) and it remains cold (all day), the frost on the leaf will be gone but over a few days the soil/thatch/roots freeze solid and since they are frozen solid they don't move (like walking on asphalt) so little or no damage is done. The damage will occur on the warmer days when the 'deep freeze' starts thawing which it does from the top down causing the potential for root sheer at the frozen/unfrozen interface.

Ciao

[Sean_A]

So lets say there is damage to the greens when frost is involved.  How does that damage compare to balls plugging in soft conditions or just jumping out of a plug.  How long lasting is the frost damage?  Is it a case of only the green keepers know the real damage and it is slight enough that laymen couldn't see any difference?

Ciao

[Tim Nugent]

So lets say there is damage to the greens when frost is involved.  How does that damage compare to balls plugging in soft conditions or just jumping out of a plug.  How long lasting is the frost damage?  Is it a case of only the green keepers know the real damage and it is slight enough that laymen couldn't see any difference?

Ciao

Sean, remember 2 things, 1) on Bent grass greens, it's the Crown or surface node from which the stems/leaves grow which must not be damaged.  The leaves can be damaged but the plant will survive. 2) Once the leaves are damaged, they will die.  The only "fix" is to let the damage grow out.  However, when the soil temps are below 55 degrees, nothings growing, so the damage can become cummulative until spring rolls around.  In the upper Midwest US, we have a saying, "the divots you get after Oct 1 are the ones you will open with in the spring".  Now, since the leaves are the food factories for the plant, it will spend what little stored energy reserves it has to push new leaves in the spring, when it should be be directing that energy to growing the roots.  If too much energy is needed, it will deplete the reserves and the plant will die. 

So it isn't a simple of just today, but rather what will be the cummulative impact down the line.  Frost damage could eventually result in problems in the middle of summer. Kinda like the old line "pay me now or pay me later".