Royal Melbourne - Dark Green Grass Putting Surfaces

[JR Potts]

What's with the dark green/almost black color of the grass on the greens at Royal Melbourne?

I know that the transitions from fairway to green at RM are fescue and the fairways are native couch....but what's with the color of those amazing greens?

[Michael Goldstein]

JR
The greens are a unique strain of bent called Suttons Mix which comes from NZ.
The dark colour takes some getting used to but they play pure.

PS: where are the bump and runs on the first!!! Closest yesterday 12 ft and I have a bet that someone will try it... I think I'm in strife.

[RJ_Daley]

One of the broadcasters said that the Sutton's mix had a very straight upright growth nature.  Mowed at .125 HOC I wonder if it is a similar effect oe sees on artificial sport fields where crumb rubber is swept into the nap and a blackish tinge is seen.  At RM, perhaps the rootzone on greens is darkened by organics in the otherwise native sand?  I find it interesting that it is stated that the surrounds are fescue, given the notoriously hot winters there.  I'd like to hear someone that knows, explain how the fescue fares in the Australian sand belt heat.  Is it that dry (low relative humidity) there long enough through the yearly seasons?

[Josh Smith]

Pretty sure that color you see is from regular Ferrous Sulfate (Iron) applications.  It is a main component of their turf maintenance practices from what I'm told.

[Brian_Sleeman]

Are these greens *really* playing above a 14 on the stimp?  I've heard of exaggerated speed reports before - anyone there or in-the-know have a clue in this particular case?

[Tom_Doak]

One of the broadcasters said that the Sutton's mix had a very straight upright growth nature.  Mowed at .125 HOC I wonder if it is a similar effect oe sees on artificial sport fields where crumb rubber is swept into the nap and a blackish tinge is seen.  At RM, perhaps the rootzone on greens is darkened by organics in the otherwise native sand?  I find it interesting that it is stated that the surrounds are fescue, given the notoriously hot winters there.  I'd like to hear someone that knows, explain how the fescue fares in the Australian sand belt heat.  Is it that dry (low relative humidity) there long enough through the yearly seasons?

RJ:

The fescue on the approaches was only sodded 18 months ago, so it's still pretty pure.

They told me they actually got the idea from our course at St. Andrews Beach, 40 miles south of Royal Melbourne, where we seeded fescue on the approaches during construction.  It survived very well through a couple of years of bankruptcy and minimal maintenance.  Melbourne is very hot in the summer, but very dry, too ... sort of like the Sand Hills, where the fescue holds up okay.  And, of course, there are no golf carts to burn it up in Melbourne.

[RJ_Daley]

Brian, did you see the broadcast tonight where Norman did a wrap-up interview and to demo the condition of the greens, spilled some water from a bottle onto the green and the water was repelled, beaded and ran down the slope, despite the sand base of the green.  It was like watching water bead on your newly polished Rolls Royce and run down the engine hood. 

[David_Elvins]

They told me they actually got the idea from our course at St. Andrews Beach, 40 miles south of Royal Melbourne, where we seeded fescue on the approaches during construction.  It survived very well through a couple of years of bankruptcy and minimal maintenance.  Melbourne is very hot in the summer, but very dry, too ... sort of like the Sand Hills, where the fescue holds up okay.  And, of course, there are no golf carts to burn it up in Melbourne.

Tom D,

Do you think an all fescue course could ever work in melbourne or the peninsula?

[Tom_Doak]

They told me they actually got the idea from our course at St. Andrews Beach, 40 miles south of Royal Melbourne, where we seeded fescue on the approaches during construction.  It survived very well through a couple of years of bankruptcy and minimal maintenance.  Melbourne is very hot in the summer, but very dry, too ... sort of like the Sand Hills, where the fescue holds up okay.  And, of course, there are no golf carts to burn it up in Melbourne.

Tom D,

Do you think an all fescue course could ever work in melbourne or the peninsula?

David:

Fescue fairways work 100 miles away in Tasmania, so I would guess it could work on the peninsula, if there were no golf carts involved.  But it would be under a lot of stress every summer, and the way you guys maintain the couchgrass, I don't know why you would take the risk.

As for fescue greens, my rule of thumb is still the same ... they only work in remote areas, where people aren't comparing them side by side with bentgrass greens.  So, they work in Tassie, but they wouldn't be acceptable in Melbourne.

[Ian Andrew]

Tom,

I saw the greens just prior to the over-seeding program two years ago.
We could see the soil and it appeared black to me.

Is the base a silty sand, is that black a layer of organic, or was I fooled by what I thought I saw.

[Kalen Braley]

ON a side note:

I'm curious why they keep the greens so fast when the norm is to have windy conditions....or is this not so?  Or perhaps the greens are only stimping this fast for the competition and are normally at 9 or 10 for member play?

Just curious for those in the know.

[Chris Tritabaugh]

I believe Josh is right in that the dark color of the greens comes from regular apps of ferrous sulfate. We do the same and it is exactly the way our putting surfaces look.

[Matt Wharton]

The applications of ferrous sulfate are probably very accurate.  Heavy rates can turn turf almost black in color but as the rain continues to fall and the greens are turning color before our eyes it becomes obvious the greens were also on the edge in terms of moisture content (how do you think they were getting 14+ on the stimp).  The heavy rates of iron were most likely used to mask the stress with the surfaces being firm and dry.

I was fortunate to become good friends with a fellow supe down under in 2005 and he shared with me a great bit of detail about the greens at RMGC.  Probably the second best if not the best bentgrass putting surfaces in the world!

[Danny Goss]

I heard the course superitendent interviewed last night on radio and he confirmed the ferrous sulphate was applied on Monday. He said the greens were very dark earlier in the week after this treatment but have gradually lightened up and should not be that noticeable by Sunday.

[Grant Saunders]

Not just iron but also an application of magnesium on the Monday.

Here is a great insight into preperation with a diary by Joe Johnson involved on the staff.

http://www.pggwrightsonturf.co.nz/news-and-media/blog/day-3-of-the-presidents-cup

My understanding is the suttons mix was specifically grown in NZ from plugs of the original greens that escaped the creeping bent conversion program some years ago.  Hopefully Leo will chime and confirm or clarify this.

[Warwick Loton]

Tom,

I saw the greens just prior to the over-seeding program two years ago.
We could see the soil and it appeared black to me.

Is the base a silty sand, is that black a layer of organic, or was I fooled by what I thought I saw.

Hi Ian,
Much of the soil underneath is quite a dark colour - just as you see in the bunkers of some of the other Sandbelt courses, such as Commonwealth & Yarra Yarra - but the dark colour of RM's greens this week is just the iron sulphate. This is rarely applied, and this blackish appearance of the greens is not something you'd ordinarily see.

Matt,
To my eye, the greens haven't looked stressed at all, which is a bit surprising. The main practice putting green looks as if it is stressed (some light surface cracking over a spare grass coverage) but the competition greens don't look like this. I would add that the look of that practice putting green is how RM's greens frequently look in summer, and the greens can be maintained like that for extended periods. It's surprised me how quick the green have been, while not not appearing to be stressed.

The iron sulphate does two things: it firms up the texture of the leaves, and alters the colour. The former impact increases the speed of the greens. The latter impact hides any colour variation on the greens, so any patchiness gets disguised.

[Chris Tritabaugh]

Tom,

I saw the greens just prior to the over-seeding program two years ago.
We could see the soil and it appeared black to me.

Is the base a silty sand, is that black a layer of organic, or was I fooled by what I thought I saw.

Hi Ian,
Much of the soil underneath is quite a dark colour - just as you see in the bunkers of some of the other Sandbelt courses, such as Commonwealth & Yarra Yarra - but the dark colour of RM's greens this week is just the iron sulphate. This is rarely applied, and this blackish appearance of the greens is not something you'd ordinarily see.

Matt,
To my eye, the greens haven't looked stressed at all, which is a bit surprising. The main practice putting green looks as if it is stressed (some light surface cracking over a spare grass coverage) but the competition greens don't look like this. I would add that the look of that practice putting green is how RM's greens frequently look in summer, and the greens can be maintained like that for extended periods. It's surprised me how quick the green have been, while not not appearing to be stressed.

The iron sulphate does two things: it firms up the texture of the leaves, and alters the colour. The former impact increases the speed of the greens. The latter impact hides any colour variation on the greens, so any patchiness gets disguised.

Warwick,
If they applied the ferrous sulfate at the kind of rate it take to create that color than it is highly likely it is regular application. Ferrous sulfate at those rates isn't something you apply occasionally, the turf has to be adjusted to it.

Here is a blog post on our use of ferrous sulfate titled "Why are the greens so dark?"

http://northlandgrounds.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-makes-greens-so-dark.html

The photo at the bottom of our 18th green looks pretty much like the RM putting surfaces. It is true that the blackness of the color will fade over the weekend leaving behind a really nice green color.

[Cory Brown]

The greens look to be playing fantastically even after the rain. I am surprised they made an application of Ferrous sulfate at that rate so close to the tournament. I'm not sure if it is to help with green speeds or just to reduce stress?  If they had applied at a lower rate and the greens matched the surrounding turf more closely it might have looked a bit better even if the greens were a bit brown.

Just a thought. The fact of the matter is we play golf on grass not color. Whatever the color the greens look perfect.

[Warwick Loton]

Warwick,
If they applied the ferrous sulfate at the kind of rate it take to create that color than it is highly likely it is regular application. Ferrous sulfate at those rates isn't something you apply occasionally, the turf has to be adjusted to it.

Here is a blog post on our use of ferrous sulfate titled "Why are the greens so dark?"

http://northlandgrounds.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-makes-greens-so-dark.html

The photo at the bottom of our 18th green looks pretty much like the RM putting surfaces. It is true that the blackness of the color will fade over the weekend leaving behind a really nice green color.

Hi Chris,
Thanks for the link. I've had the good fortunate to play a fair amount of golf there, and haven't ever been aware of such discoloration - hence my preceding post. I'll be down there for Sunday's play, and shall try to find out how much it's used. Decades back (during the Crockford era) it used to be applied twice per year.

Guys,
The greens weren't looking brown or stressed prior to the application of the iron sulphate. We'd had a lot of rain over the preceding two weeks. Even after Friday's play (with heat and high winds), they weren't stressed.

[Warwick Loton]

moderator please delete

[Warwick Loton]

moderator please delete

[Matt Wharton]

Warwick,

Thanks for setting me straight!  I guess I used a poor choice of words when I said stressed.  I didn't mean to imply the greens were near or at drought stress but I was assuming the putting surfaces were firm and dry hence the speed and the iron application would help hide or mask the appearance that sometimes comes when greens are in that state.  I know we apply iron (Ferromec) on Thursdays before any major club event to just give them a little more appealing color.  I was merely attempting to give a possible answer to the original question about the dark appearance.  I thought it interesting by the time I got around to answering the greens were "greening-up" right before our eyes during the broadcast as the rains were falling.

I have enjoyed reading the blog that was linked on here yesterday!  Very informative and entertaining...good stuff!

[Chris Tritabaugh]

The iron or ferrous sulfate that was applied would not have been applied to mask any stress, it doesn't work the same as a chelated iron product like ferromec.

The ferrous sulfate is being used for many reasons. It is a wonderful plant conditioner and will result in a finer textured leaf. Likely the reason it was applied the week of the tournament.

[Warwick Loton]

I asked around out there today. Iron sulphate is regularly applied, but a very unusually high dose was applied last Monday.

I have a good look at a few of the green after the end of play, and rolled a ball around them too. Included were the greens of the 3rd, 4th & 11th holes of this layout, where guys had putted off the surface today (or similar). It's really surprising how healthy the turf looks: you wouldn't guess from the appearance that these greens that they'd played as they had. This is even more surprising when you consider that these greens are not yet mature: they were only planted just two years back.

[Matt Wharton]

Thanks for that info Chris!  I am going to look into the subject a little more and maybe experiment with it at my club this coming season.  From just what I have heard looks like it could really make some good greens even better!