Would it be better to allow for an extra year of grow-in?

[Pete_Pittock]

This question was asked on my for a Silvies Valley Ranch thread. I don't remember much appreciable betterment between year 1 and year 2 when I've made visits to courses in general. I would guess the answer is the competency of the construction crew and the length of grow-in before the opening. Or maybe the architect could come back after the first season and make adjustments.
Any thoughts?

[Tom_Doak]

Well, the turf would be best if you never allowed anyone to play on it, but sooner or later most developers want to give it a try ...


Really, the question is how much play you're going to get.  A few hundred or even a few thousand rounds won't do much damage to the turf, if they aren't using carts.  You just don't want high traffic too early, because the grass has yet to develop any cushion between turf and soil, and it will wear more easily under those conditions.


The other part is, if you allow players, are you going to have to change your maintenance practices for the grow-in to keep improving?  If there are areas that need to be re-seeded or over-seeded, you've got to keep those wet for a while, and golfers complain when the sprinklers are running.

[Joe Hancock]

Well, the turf would be best if you never allowed anyone to play on it, but sooner or later most developers want to give it a try ...

I disagree. The best golf turf has some level of traffic or it gets thatchy, leggy, weak.....or a bunch of other adjectives that decscribe a un-toughened turf.


Get some rounds going. The minor repairs that may ensue are easily remedied with time.

[Steve Lang]

   perhaps better to simply keep people from hitting multiple approaches from a spot, unless of course its the owner or someone important...

[Kyle Harris]

  perhaps better to simply keep people from hitting multiple approaches from a spot, unless of course its the owner or someone important...

Isn't that the back tee? Love that green.

[Jeff_Brauer]

The key is turfing in prime grassing dates for your turf.  It takes 12-16 weeks of good growing weather (not fringe fall weather) to grow in turf to mature enough to open.  A few projects I have seen grew in about 8 weeks, but it is rare.


If you grass late, sometimes that 16 weeks gets broken up over two growing seasons, resulting in a very long maturation time.  When you think about it, losing a year of revenue is probably at least 25% of the project budget in a remodel.


There is always pressure to open.  Superintendents would prefer to hold off a bit.  And, to add on to what Joe mentions, sometimes, supers who have never grown in golf courses are reluctant to lower cutting height aggressively enough.  It takes lower cut to spread most grasses.

[Jon Wiggett]

It would always be best to wait another season before opening and yet all courses seem to open a little bit too early. In the end, Three years down the road no-one will remember when the course opened.

[Lyndell Young]

I also think it is dependent on cool season vs warm season grasses, bermuda once you get turf coverage I think your good, but when dormant you have to control wear . Cool season  grasses can be quite tender when young so cart traffic can cause compaction which makes it difficult to reseed.