I'm very surprised at this but not shocked. As you may know, George Kelly owns both Stevinson Ranch and Greenway golf. Greenway is a turf management company among other things. They have been going around the country and signing up some high profile courses to help them manage their courses and poa from taking over bent greens.
Nematodes can only live in poa so I'm surprised that their greens are actually poa?
Here is some information from
www.greenwaygolf.comCourse design and the use of the proper grass species have a great deal to do with the quality of the putting surfaces. Fast and firm putting surfaces place a much higher degree of importance on accuracy and shot making. Obviously shot making to the low side of the pin is highly desirable as it leaves uphill putts. To achieve this a player is challenged to position his shots in such a way as to be able to approach the hole from the proper position.
Fast, firm and smooth greens also require “touch”… Which align with tournament skills and ultimately compliment the course design, but most importantly it helps to identify a worthy champion. There was a lot of controversy about the recent US Open green conditions at Pebble Beach, as bumpiness made for extremely difficult conditions to putt on especially with excessive green speeds. Firm and smooth putting surfaces are essential for the ball to role on line and into the hole. This should always be the goal of the Superintendent for greens management.
Firm greens are also more desirable from an agronomic perspective. Soft greens are typically more susceptible to disease since they have a much higher thatch accumulation and also usually have a much higher water and fertilizer requirement due to having shallower root systems.
Greenway Golf’s management philosophy is to design maintenance programs that insure firm, smooth and uniform putting surfaces. Our desire is to promote climatically suited turf grasses such as bent grass that provides the best and most economically desirable putting surfaces. Of course this is dependent on having a climate suited to managing bent grass.
In a region that is conducive to growing bent grass it is a far superior putting surface to poa annua. Bent grass requires less water, fertilizer, and chemicals to maintain a superior quality than that of poa annua. As a result, bent grass is far superior from an environmental perspective as it significantly lowers the risk of players from the various pesticides that are required to maintain a good poa annua green. We are not implying that bent grass does not require some amount of pesticide applications, however it is considerably less.
Players of all levels need to understand that a firm, smooth and uniform putting surface is going to be required for the game of golf to be sustainable. Firm and smooth greens are the basic foundation of this great game and a management protocol that produces these conditions while spending less money and using less water should be viewed as desirable to the long-term success of the game.