Fescue Grasses

[Tim Fenchel]

Hopefully I don't get railroaded for this one.


I've just recently finished reading Mackenzie's Spirit of St. Andrews where we extols all the virtues of fescue grass as a playing surface for this wonderful game.  Thrives in maritime climate, thin blades, deep rooted, requires less water and chemicals, provides fast and firm conditions, and is slow growing so it requires less mowing/maintenance.


In theory...the hard surface causes the club to bounce...which requires players to not to dig and take a big divot.


My question comes from that last characteristic...slow growing.


How slow growing is it?  Is it just slow relative to bent and poa, etc? Or is it actually really slow?


I wondered this as I watched some of yesterdays USOpen coverage and players clearly were taking quite large divots.  If fescue is slow growing, how is the superintendent/grounds crew able to replace the grass at a sustainable rate?  Do predominately fescue courses just need longer recovery time?  I know at TOC mats are required in winter.  Is this part of the reason?


And light shed on this for me much appreciated.[size=78%] [/size]

[David_Tepper]

Some comments on fescue from the super at Poppy Hills:

http://poppyhillsgolf.com/2015/06/superintendents-note/

[Tim Fenchel]

Thanks, David.  The crickets were getting louder than the fake birds Fox is using for the Open telecast.

[Jon Wiggett]

Tim,

fescue likes very, very low nutrient levels and so is a slow grower but once there is a stayer. It is very disease resistant and very cheap to maintain. Slow growing means it needs half the number of cuts compared to say agrostis palustris or poa. So you are looking at fairways being cut 2 a week at the height of the growing season and greens every other day.

Jon

[Tom_Doak]

Tim:


They use mats in the winter at St. Andrews and North Berwick because the divots will not heal at all in the very short daylight hours, and they don't want to go backwards on turf cover heading into spring.  Fescue IS slower to heal.  But, as Jon W. implies, the whole point of golf course maintenance in the old country is to let the grass take care of itself and feed it as little as you can get away with, as opposed to the American approach of fertilizing more, watering more, cutting more, etc.


In Dr. MacKenzie's day, more play was with wooden clubs and since courses were mostly unirrigated, players were not so likely to take many big divots as they do today.  Having fescue fairways will reduce the incidence of divots some, but only if you maintain it hard and fast, which some do and some do not.

[Tim Fenchel]

Thanks for the responses. Starting to make sense.
Much appreciated.