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Patrick_Mucci

A failure where the rubber meets the road
« on: August 03, 2011, 11:48:00 AM »
Anthony Nysse's reply about the approaches and his discussion this past winter with Ran and me got me thinking about a shot I hit recently, and a systemic problem that continues to impair great golf course conditions.

Soft approaches.

Recently I drove a ball into the rough and hit what I thought would be a great approach with a 5-iron.
The ball's flight was right on target.
Unfortunately, I lost sight of the ball about 150 yards out.
When I approached the green I was expecting a relatively short birdie putt.

Instead, there was my ball, 3-5 yards short of the green not far from its pitch mark.

Over the years, at almost every club, I've noticed the rather pronounced difference in the condition of the fronting approach, compared with the putting surface.

A problem would seem to be the irrigation process whereby the approach gets the same amount of water as the green.
A second problem is that many greens drain to the front, thereby causing  the approach to be wetter/softer.

What can be done, systemically, to provide a monolithic playing surface with the fairways, approaches and putting surfaces ?

How signficant is this dilema ?

How much effort, time and money should be devoted to fixing it ?

Jeff_Brauer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A failure where the rubber meets the road
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2011, 11:51:50 AM »
Pat,

You are correct.  And its mostly a new problem caused by the trend to part to part green heads.

Here is an article I wrote for Golf Course Industry explaining why part to part sprinklers put more water in the approach, and the simple fix of adjusting those part circle heads to something other than 90 degrees to reduce water in the approach.

Wet Approach Areas
By Jeffrey D. Brauer

I had the pleasure of golfing with Ron Whitten, Golf Architecture Editor for Golf Digest and Jim Moore, USGA Construction coordinator recently.  Golf Digest is now emphasizing firm and fast conditions in their Top 100 rankings. This change comes just as Jim and I have noticed more and more courses experiencing overly wet green approaches, making for some interesting discussions on the golf course!
Better players are just now revisiting the joys of bump and run golf, but average golfers have always used/needed the run up approach to attain the green.  When approach areas are wet, and approach shots plug, those golfers simply cannot hit a green in regulation.  Green approaches should be considered high priority maintenance areas – equal to the greens themselves - and ahead of tees and fairways – if golf courses are going to play the way they are designed. Superintendents should maintain the green and surrounds as an interrelated complex, much as the golf course architect originally did during design.
I have address design aspects of wet approaches by contouring more greens to move more drainage away from the front of the green towards the sides, especially on larger greens with greater drainage volumes.  I also contour most green approaches with 4% minimum slope (vs. 3% in other areas) while being mindful that too steep an approach slope will kill an approach shot just as surely as a wet one.
I recommend building sand capped approaches and fairway chipping areas on new courses.  Existing courses can slowly create sand based approaches via aggressive core aerification and removal, together with heavy topdressing.  While more expensive, reconstructing approaches with a 4-8” sand cap and a herringbone pattern of 4” tile or slit drains may be the ultimate solution. 
Predictable bounces are important in the approach, so any drain pipes there require good compaction to prevent settling that will affect play.  While catch basins in the approach area might affect play, they help drainage greatly by avoiding long surface drainage runs that always get soggy. 
However, there may be a less expensive solution to quickly improve wet approaches on existing courses.  Jim Moore is conducting research on wet approaches and sees evidence that overwatered approaches often stem from the golf course/irrigation design practice of using part to part sprinklers to achieve more precise watering of both green and surrounds.

The concept of part to part circles to water greens and surrounds is great in principle.  Two old sayings – “the devil is in the details” and “There are always unintended consequences” seem in play here, as problems occur when irrigation designers place green irrigation heads at 8 and 4 (rather than at 6 or the center line of play) to reduce their affect on play and superintendents set those sprinklers at about 90 degrees to cover just the greens or just the approaches.

This combination of conditions results in four heads (six counting the approach heads) watering the frontal approach, rather than two or three that cover every other area of the golf course.  And when considering that the “dwell time” – those few seconds that part circle heads stop before reversing direction – also occurs right in the approach, the approach inadvertently gets at least twice the irrigation of any other area on the golf course. Add in the traffic and compaction factors typical for approaches, and it’s no wonder they stay wet!
Based on the preliminary study results, Jim suggests a few quick solutions:
•   When replacing your irrigation system, consider placing the first head in the 6 O’clock position, accepting the very small risk of shots hitting the sprinkler.
•   Use a combination of full Circle and part Circle heads around greens rather than part to part sprinklers.  Only during summer heat and fall over seeding do the irrigation needs vary enough to warrant using the double heads.
•   For the “outside” part sprinklers, adjust the spray pattern to reverse in a less critical area out in the rough rather than automatically setting them to 90 degrees that add unnecessary irrigation to the approach. Setting them to nearly full circle should move the dwell time area out in the rough, but you should also consider existing trees, heavy cart traffic areas, etc. and set them on a site specific basis.
•   Make sure to constantly monitor and periodically adjust sprinklers, since they often come out of adjustment.
It’s ironic that part to part sprinklers, quickly adopted to address the problems of different water needs around the greens, have inadvertently added to the problem.  With golfers continuing to demand better playing conditions in critical areas of the course, the new emphasis on firm and fast, and budgets being squeezed, you might try the laser surgery approach of adjusting your sprinklers.  
« Last Edit: August 03, 2011, 11:54:22 AM by Jeff_Brauer »
Jeff Brauer, ASGCA Director of Outreach

Patrick_Mucci

Re: A failure where the rubber meets the road
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2011, 11:56:14 AM »
Jeff,

Good article.

What do you estimate the cost for reconstructing the approaches would be ?

How simple is head adjustment in terms of time, labor and results

Jeff_Brauer

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Re: A failure where the rubber meets the road
« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2011, 11:59:51 AM »
Pat,

Most part circle sprinklers are adjustable, so its literally ten minutes per sprinkler, maybe less, or half an hour per green.

Sand capping is hard to estimate, given the high variance of sand costs.  But, a California Green (12" Mix, no gravel layer, herringbone tiles) cost about $3-5 per sq. ft. and if you only put in 6-8" of sand, it would be no more than that, and probably less.
Jeff Brauer, ASGCA Director of Outreach

Steve Kline

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Re: A failure where the rubber meets the road
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2011, 12:13:17 PM »
There's obviously more thought that goes into this a novice like me sees, which is what makes Jeff's article helpful. This isn't a new problem though. I remember my home course had this problem every summer as kid playing there. The greens were relatively small and generally firm. Any longer shot or shot from the rough required you to land the ball short. But, the approaches were wet so if you landed just short the ball stopped. And, if you landed just on the ball went to at least the middle of the green. Front pins were nigh impossible to get to. Those are extremely frustrating conditions to play in. Pinehurst has suffered from this a lot over the years. However, they did a full course aeration and top dressing using a sand that is supposed to help firm up the entire course. It will be interesting to see how well it works.

Lou_Duran

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A failure where the rubber meets the road
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2011, 12:16:30 PM »
Jeff,

A new problem?  As you know, this was a huge pet-peeve of mine at Great Southwest and many if not most Texas courses, and we've had this discussion several times over the years.  No doubt that irrigation and drainage system designs are a large part of it, but I suspect that green design (mostly back to front slopes) and maintenance practices (keeping the greens soft so they're more receptive) play a role as well.

Perhaps Jim Urbina or Tom Doak can provide estimates on what it costs to extend a sand cap well into the approaches.  I watched Jim direct that process on one of the final greens (to be shaped) at the Rawls Course  (Texas Tech), where the ground game is an integral part of playing on that very windy site.  Can it be more than $200,000?

Not to thread-jack, but several managers and superintendents in north Texas claim that bunker design and construction on the newer courses have been extremely substandard, resulting in poor bunker conditions and high maintenance within a couple years of opening.  One estimates that to re-do the bunkers correctly on two of his courses it would cost upwards $400,000 per course, an amount that he can't justify based on current returns.  His "official" response when golfers complain about the concrete-like conditions as they often do is that bunkers are hazards and made to be penal.  I suspect that as rounds decline, he may have to find a better line, though I noticed that on one of his courses, they are already starting to fill in parts of some bunkers.

 

BCrosby

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A failure where the rubber meets the road
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2011, 12:47:38 PM »
Not to encourage a threadjack, but could you elaborate on:

"Not to thread-jack, but several managers and superintendents in north Texas claim that bunker design and construction on the newer courses have been extremely substandard, resulting in poor bunker conditions and high maintenance within a couple years of opening.  One estimates that to re-do the bunkers correctly on two of his courses it would cost upwards $400,000 per course, an amount that he can't justify based on current returns.  His "official" response when golfers complain about the concrete-like conditions as they often do is that bunkers are hazards and made to be penal.  I suspect that as rounds decline, he may have to find a better line, though I noticed that on one of his courses, they are already starting to fill in parts of some bunkers."

Lou - Are you a talking about bunkers that don't drain well and that have a perpetual wet, hardpan floor just under the surface?

Bob



SL_Solow

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A failure where the rubber meets the road
« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2011, 04:13:34 PM »
In response to last summer's issues, our club has decided to gas our 90 year old poa greens and re grass after an extensive regimen of "drill and fill" along with the usual verticutting and aeration.  we will also gas and regrass the approaches and while there will not be a complete sand cap, we have done an extensive "drill and fill".  This is all designed to be able to maintain firm approaches.

Jeff_Brauer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A failure where the rubber meets the road
« Reply #8 on: August 03, 2011, 05:05:35 PM »
Lou,

Fair enough, a new twist on the problem.  At GSW, an old, old sprinkler system that requires overwatering some parts to adequately water others is the culprit.  Part to part heads around the green were meant to solve that problem, and ironically, made it worse in a key area.  Luckily, its easy to fix, but not enough supers and irrigation designers thought out the ramifications, and are learning by experience.  Kind of like aviation evolving up from the Wright Bros to jets.

Not sure why you don't think I can estimate the costs of approaches.  Geez. The only hard part is knowing what sand costs and the area of the approach.  The $2 SF would get you very close if you knew the areas to be covered.

As to bunkers, I agree.  In N Texas, our bunkers silt in by age 4.  Clay soils and heavy rains plug the drains.  Liners of some kind are required and not just optional.  The total cost for liner is $4-6 per SF, depending on which one you use.  At 80,000 SF of bunkers, and $4, that is $320K to "do them right."  Add in reshaping to flatten those dam steep faces (now, what gca would do those....insert sheepish grin.....and yes, the cost is over $400K.
Jeff Brauer, ASGCA Director of Outreach

Patrick_Mucci

Re: A failure where the rubber meets the road
« Reply #9 on: August 03, 2011, 06:21:51 PM »
Jeff,

One of the problems I see is recognition of the problem on the part of the club/course.

It would appear to be a project that requires a committment of capital once the problem has been brought to the attention of the Green Committee and Board.

But, I rarely hear members discussing the problem.
I sense that they accept these conditions and I sense that they don't understand the benefit of firm and fast conditions as a systemic concept, typically confining the concept to the putting surfaces, sometimes the fairways, but, rarely the approaches.

If nobody identifies the problem it's more than doubtful that the problem will be remedied.

A.G._Crockett

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A failure where the rubber meets the road
« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2011, 07:13:40 PM »
Good stuff, guys; thanks.

I changed clubs two years ago after 15 yrs. at the same place, and this exact aspect of the "new" course is something I have really enjoyed.  The super (who does a fantastic job generally) keeps the approaches very, very firm.  It creates a great deal more interest and variability for the player, and (I assume) greatly reduces costs for the club.  Fun way to play golf.
"Golf...is usually played with the outward appearance of great dignity.  It is, nevertheless, a game of considerable passion, either of the explosive type, or that which burns inwardly and sears the soul."      Bobby Jones

Bill_McBride

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Re: A failure where the rubber meets the road
« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2011, 07:28:27 PM »
We have fought three soggy approaches and finally installed French drains.  It's helped a bit but still aggravating.  Two are on holes where the approach is typically short irons and it is almost impossible tonight close to front pins. The third is a 435 yd par 4 where full hybrids will land 10 yes short and hang up short. 

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