News:

Welcome to the Golf Club Atlas Discussion Group!

Each user is approved by the Golf Club Atlas editorial staff. For any new inquiries, please contact us.


Greg Smith

  • Karma: +0/-0
Looks like I may manage to get appointed to a county board which is charge of the budget and decision-making for the county muni golf course, which as munis go is kind of OK.  I don't really like the place much, but that's mostly due to its mid-1980s styling coupled with letting the greens shrink well away from their accompanying bunkers/green pad edges.


The land and routing, however, is not bad -- not bad at all (though of course it's the usual inland clay soil).  I have visions of suggesting architectural changes which would ultimately help the maintenance budget, or at least that would be my idea for getting county money people to listen to me. 


One change, of course, is reducing the number of bunkers.  There are presently 48 of them, many of which serve little strategic (or even visual) purpose.  I'd want to do with about half that number.  But reducing bunkers is only the most obvious maintenance help.  I have so much to learn about practical maintenance issues before I go around making myself look like a fool.  One thing I do know is that I see holes/topography out there that might translate well to Raynor-ish features.  And there's nothing remotely like that design-wise in the local area, so that "fresh" look might actually help attract customers.


But is a Raynor look appropriate for a muni which has to maintain on the cheap (relatively)?  Is it even possible? I don't know the answers.  So here's a collection of questions I have (from a maintenance standpoint) on various topics/features types:


***


1)  Bunkers.   What's the simplest way to maintain sloped grass faces?  What grass is most appropriate (Mid-Atlantic climate)?  How about maintaining flat-bottomed bunkers using motorized equipment?  Is it possible to avoid the bunker shapes drifting toward ovals as opposed to something more "rectangular"?  What about trench-type long bunkers?  Is it possible to make them just wide enough for a piece of equipment to make it thru on a pass (but no more)?  The issue I guess is that labor-intensive hand raking/sculpting/flashing/trimming need to be avoided as much as possible -- if not eliminated.


2)  Grass hollows (or thinking in the opposite relief, cops and mounds).  Similar to above, is there a right way and a wrong way to construct them maintenance-wise?  Likewise, is there an appropriate grass?  Or, is it possible to let cop-type hazards get covered in rough native grasses that might look interesting and be low-maintenance?


3)  Greens.  Probably the biggest subject to address -- but I'm not sure I even know enough information to ask the right questions.  In any case the greens would have to be enlarged from their present tiny ovals.  What's the right process for that?  All the greens are presently just surrounded on all sides by thick rough -- i.e. no ground options.  What's the maintenance burden for surrounding the greens with short grass (much more playable for muni golfers)?  If we are thinking Raynor style here with its "geometric" green shapes, just how hard is it to get some of those tight corners?  Do the green issues alone preclude this style for a low (ish) maintenance golf course?


4)  Roughs.  This course is situated on a pretty large parcel of land.  Some of the non-play areas have decent looking native grasses.  What's the maintenance burden of developing a grassing program which would emphasize and enlarge these native areas?  I seem to remember the Honors Course having a nice program like this -- and in a similar climate too.  But was that program cost-prohibitive -- or would it be a help?  Closer to the fairways where normal rough grass is, I presume low to no irrigation policies would be a good idea.  There must be a good way to handle that, but I'm not sure how you execute it.


5)  Fairways.  This course does seem to present its fairways in pretty decent shape for a muni, so I think they've already successfully invented that wheel.  But the course could use more width, especially for muni players and with lots of land room.  Would increasing fairway acreage by, say, 20 percent totally break the bank mowing and irrigation-wise?  Or, should the thought be to increase width by eliminating length (i.e. more rough between tees and start of fairways)?


***


There's a million more questions I'm sure.  I'm just hoping to get a few tips from maintenance types so that I sound more convincing, or to help me not look stupid if I ever have to go speak to the management folks at this muni.  Maybe my questions don't need to be answered directly at all -- maybe you all have some good examples of courses that have figured out these issues and I can investigate from there.
O fools!  who drudge from morn til night
And dream your way of life is wise,
Come hither!  prove a happier plight,
The golfer lives in Paradise!                      

John Somerville, The Ballade of the Links at Rye (1898)

John Emerson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Seems to me the best place to start would be asking the superintendent these questions.  There is just SOOO much to unpack here.  This could easily require a few thousand words to reply.  I will say that forcing a certain style on a course that has no business with said style is probably a losing idea.
“There’s links golf, then everything else.”

Tom Bacsanyi

  • Karma: +0/-0

The questions you ask are precisely why there is such a thing as turfgrass consultants and consulting architects. Their services are typically not free. Luckily, I am free! I'll offer some opinions.


One change, of course, is reducing the number of bunkers.  There are presently 48 of them, many of which serve little strategic (or even visual) purpose.  I'd want to do with about half that number.  But reducing bunkers is only the most obvious maintenance help.  I have so much to learn about practical maintenance issues before I go around making myself look like a fool.  One thing I do know is that I see holes/topography out there that might translate well to Raynor-ish features.  And there's nothing remotely like that design-wise in the local area, so that "fresh" look might actually help attract customers.


Getting rid of bunkers is almost always a good idea, especially for a low-budget course.

But is a Raynor look appropriate for a muni which has to maintain on the cheap (relatively)?  Is it even possible? I don't know the answers.  So here's a collection of questions I have (from a maintenance standpoint) on various topics/features types:

This is more of an architectural question, however Raynor courses in general have some attributes that are problematic to maintain. For example, sheer width of corridors/fairways. We love width, but width costs money. Also, steep bunker faces falling away from greens create hassles more than just mowing the slopes. For example, if you spray greens with a riding boom sprayer, a green with steep fallaways on all sides typically needs to be sprayhawked (walking, not riding) which adds time and expense.

1)  Bunkers.   What's the simplest way to maintain sloped grass faces?  What grass is most appropriate (Mid-Atlantic climate)?  How about maintaining flat-bottomed bunkers using motorized equipment?  Is it possible to avoid the bunker shapes drifting toward ovals as opposed to something more "rectangular"?  What about trench-type long bunkers?  Is it possible to make them just wide enough for a piece of equipment to make it thru on a pass (but no more)?  The issue I guess is that labor-intensive hand raking/sculpting/flashing/trimming need to be avoided as much as possible -- if not eliminated.


There is no grass appropriate for the Mid-Atlantic. Dandelion? Thistle? The M-A is a heinous place to grow grass. Warm-season (bermuda/zoysia) does better in summer but gets crushed in winter, while cool-season grasses do great in spring/fall but get crushed in summer. It's probably the worst place to grow grass in the world. The simplest way to maintain grass faces is to not have them, or have as few as possible. A trench type bunker would work if you could have the Sand Pro enter or exit on either side. Not sure if that type of bunker would look funny or not.

2)  Grass hollows (or thinking in the opposite relief, cops and mounds).  Similar to above, is there a right way and a wrong way to construct them maintenance-wise?  Likewise, is there an appropriate grass?  Or, is it possible to let cop-type hazards get covered in rough native grasses that might look interesting and be low-maintenance?


Whatever mows the rough should be able to mow these areas. If not, it's just a flymowing/string trimming headache just like bunker faces.

3)  Greens.  Probably the biggest subject to address -- but I'm not sure I even know enough information to ask the right questions.  In any case the greens would have to be enlarged from their present tiny ovals.  What's the right process for that?  All the greens are presently just surrounded on all sides by thick rough -- i.e. no ground options.  What's the maintenance burden for surrounding the greens with short grass (much more playable for muni golfers)?  If we are thinking Raynor style here with its "geometric" green shapes, just how hard is it to get some of those tight corners?  Do the green issues alone preclude this style for a low (ish) maintenance golf course?


I've seen places do this with sod, and also by scalping the rough down and seeding into it. Not sure which would work better at a municipal course, as either would require babying these areas with fertilization, topdressing, mowing on a different schedule than greens  etc. My guess is sodding would be better at a muni.

4)  Roughs.  This course is situated on a pretty large parcel of land.  Some of the non-play areas have decent looking native grasses.  What's the maintenance burden of developing a grassing program which would emphasize and enlarge these native areas?  I seem to remember the Honors Course having a nice program like this -- and in a similar climate too.  But was that program cost-prohibitive -- or would it be a help?  Closer to the fairways where normal rough grass is, I presume low to no irrigation policies would be a good idea.  There must be a good way to handle that, but I'm not sure how you execute it.

Any type of elegant native grassing program at a muni type course is almost assuredly going to be neglected. It is very hard for even elite clubs to get these areas right.

5)  Fairways.  This course does seem to present its fairways in pretty decent shape for a muni, so I think they've already successfully invented that wheel.  But the course could use more width, especially for muni players and with lots of land room.  Would increasing fairway acreage by, say, 20 percent totally break the bank mowing and irrigation-wise?  Or, should the thought be to increase width by eliminating length (i.e. more rough between tees and start of fairways)?


Impossible to answer this without knowing more about the irrigation system. If it's an old single-row system and you mow the fairways out wider, you will get a nice stripe down the middle and burned up flanks during any drought. Not a good look. If you have a double or more row system with laterals you could probably widen the fairways without too much trouble.


***


There's a million more questions I'm sure.  I'm just hoping to get a few tips from maintenance types so that I sound more convincing, or to help me not look stupid if I ever have to go speak to the management folks at this muni.  Maybe my questions don't need to be answered directly at all -- maybe you all have some good examples of courses that have figured out these issues and I can investigate from there.
Don't play too much golf. Two rounds a day are plenty.

--Harry Vardon

Tags:
Tags:

An Error Has Occurred!

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()
Back