Jeff:
How often do they cut the greens during the months where the grass is mostly dormant?
Couldn't they just back off on the frequency of mowing? [I know, the greens would get a little bumpy on the off days ... OR you could putt off the greens.]
NOT overseeding is generally the responsible thing to do. I suspect it will reduce visitor revenue a bit, though the question is really whether it will reduce visitor revenue as much as the cost of overseeding ... and the typical member who objects seldom mentions that, does he? However, Palmetto might be the exception to that rule, because of the revenue generated during Masters week.
Tom,
or I could just make the putt and the cup would stop it!
Huge disclaimer_I've not played there this year-and the letter writer did applaud the condition -my guess is Rhett's on top of the speed/smoothness factor anyway-but to cut greens , it does help to have some growing grass .
The decision to not overseed every 5 years (4 in this case) is not controversial. Everyone understands/accepts that as standard procedure.
In fact, there is no controversy . They just went a year early because the turf suffered during transition after the renovation.
Additionally, when palmetto switched to their ultradwarf greens, they decided not to overseed the greens at all and paint them if needed.
I just think that conditions can get dicey during a cold snap as Palmetto can go dormant in late October and stay that way until early may.
It's certainly not 2-3 months.
That said for overall playability year round, not overseeding is the way to go.
I'd guess the majority of regular member rounds played at Palmetto are April-September, as shocking as that may sound. (football does take its' toll)
Palmetto does have a large contingent of out of town members, many of whom are traditionally from the north(although not the letter writer in this case) and would like to see some relief from the harshness of winter(i.e. green)
Palmetto used to be a winter club like Yeaman's and ANGC, so the distant members probably used to have a stronger say.
Now wth a balanced and active year round regular membership, they do a good job of satisfying both camps.
Ben is right that if they didn't overseed they'd probably not lose much play during the Masters.
many of the Masters week guests are quite sophisticated.
Tom,
The letter writer did address the expense side of not overseeding, and he may well be overestimating the revenue loss of not overseeding.
That said, when you catch a beautiful April day in Aiken and the greens and fairways are beautifully green (it's a much lighter overseed than ANGC and wouldn't approach the greenness of a NGLA or Shinnecock fairway))and the azaleas are blooming, and it was playing firm and fast, I'd say you were lying to prefer white fairways with no definition frm the roughs or greens.
I do get a kick out of people asuming white/brown dormant bermuda fairways are always assumed firm and fast, because they're often not-just thin and soft.
The point of this thread was to point out that not all answers are quite as cut and dried as the treehouse makes them out to be, and also to compliment the management of Palmetto of doing a good job balancing all factors and keeping a wide range of people happy.
So to take this a step farther, would ANGC win any conditioning awards if it was white/brown inApril?