How many days a year can courses have optimal playing conditions?

[Tommy Williamsen]

I ask this because I really don't know. Some very high end courses can spend the time and effort to keep the course firm and fast for long periods of time. I know most clubs aim for this but because of budget, grasses, or subsurface can't pull it off. For instance, many courses in the mid-Atlantic area, that I am familiar with, must keep their fairways and greens moist in the summer so the bent grass isn't stressed too much. Optimal playing conditions there are in the fall or maybe May/June.


Can clubs realistically have optimal conditions most of the year? Are we asking too much of them? Even last week at the Players Sawgrass was soft.

[John Emerson]

I don’t think it’s possible to establish a “rule of thumb”. Soil, temperature, budget, grass species, grass cultivar, management schemes, and other biotic and abiotic issues dictate how a turf performs. Along with the huge variation in climates and microclimates throughout the USA make it impossible to put a number on it. Might be able to make a site specific analysis and come up with a number, but that number may not work at the club down the road.

[Mike Nuzzo]

How often does The Old Course have optimal playing conditions?

[Sean_A]

How often does The Old Course have optimal playing conditions?

Depends on what people think of as optimal. For me, giving up a bit better conditioned greens and fairways is more than made up by far more playable winter rough. Of course, the rough should never be harsh at TOC, but those in power disagree.

Ciao

[Thomas Dai]

Location, soil, climate, expectations, maintenance, projects.
52 weeks per year.
Less X days/weeks/months for poor/inappropriate weather (snow, frost, storms, heavy rain/flooding, heat wave etc)
Less Y for days/weeks maintenance time (spiking, dressing etc etc)
Less Z days/weeks/months for maintenance projects (all sorts)
Less other
What’s left?
And what’s left may not be optimal, and optimal is subjective.
Good question though.
Atb

[Paul Jones]

I am sure you have a better chance of having great conditions all year in Hawaii then in Canada.  I think clubs with enough money to sand cap fairways can have more time with optimal playing conditions.

[Dan Boerger]

This is a really good question.


Personally, I enjoy golfing my Mid-Atlantic course year round and experience all the various conditions. I celebrate the differences in rough severity, green speed, temperature, etc.


Save for the most severe punching of greens and pretty much all days are acceptable to me.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Dan, the mid-atlantic area is always a tough place to grow grass. Like you, I have had to learn to like all conditions. I have discovered that the strain of bent seemed to make a huge difference. One club of mine had Declaration on the fairways and it was soft 8 months a year. Another had L93 and firm and fast conditions happened 7 months a year.

[Bernie Bell]

The Mid-Atlantic may not have the most days per year of optimal playing conditions but I think we have a longer year of acceptable playing conditions than neighbors to the north and south.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Whenever I have gone south after the Bermuda has turned brown, I thought the conditions were fine. Early spring not so much.

[Mark_Fine]

Tommy,
As you know we have gotten spoiled with conditions at most courses in the U.S. We are also paying through the nose for it. 


One of my favorite conditioning stories which I have told many times on this site was about playing Royal Birkdale years ago several months before The Open. I asked my buddy who was a member what they did to get the course ready for the big tournament.  He looked at me strange and basically said, “We throw up some stands, open up the back tees and tell the boys to have a go.”  Those were the days.  Play the course as you find it. 

[Ally Mcintosh]

Links courses can really be optimal all year round, particularly those that genuinely drain well (and/or have the budget to ensure all year round firmness).


For those courses, I generally find June to be the “least optimal” because the warmth and early growth tend to allow the broad leaves to flourish along with the fine grasses, hence thick rough. Winter - when rough is cut back - can be the most enjoyable time of the year; although late August / September is often the best when the heat has burned off the grasses and you are down to browned out, fiery conditions with long ball-findable fescues in the rough.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Is October generally the best month throughout the USA?

[Mark_Fine]

Not October.  Many southern courses begin and/or start overseeding. 

[Craig Sweet]

It's not a very good question. What does optimal even mean?  No one can agree on optimal.   How about consistent playing conditions instead?

[Alan FitzGerald CGCS MG]

I ask this because I really don't know. Some very high end courses can spend the time and effort to keep the course firm and fast for long periods of time. I know most clubs aim for this but because of budget, grasses, or subsurface can't pull it off. For instance, many courses in the mid-Atlantic area, that I am familiar with, must keep their fairways and greens moist in the summer so the bent grass isn't stressed too much. Optimal playing conditions there are in the fall or maybe May/June.


Can clubs realistically have optimal conditions most of the year? Are we asking too much of them? Even last week at the Players Sawgrass was soft.

This question is like asking how long is a piece of string? There are too many variables. And not just between clubs but peoples perception of optimal. What is optimal? pure perfection? firm/fast/brown? firm/fast/green? not soggy?


The issue is we are beating up/stressing a plant that is not in it's natural state, and the more we ask of it, the more we battle a fine line between health and death. Everything we do to make it optimal, in turn adds stress which in turn needs addressing. And that's before having mother nature add her uncontrollable element into the mix. No matter how much you spend on maintenance, thats the one thing you can't control. I've had times where the course was "perfect" only for a pop up storm blow up and destroy the place, the day before a tournament, so within an instant you go from hero to the place is too wet and slow.....


I'd say in the Mid-Atlantic to NE, fall is the most consistent time for optimal playing conditions as the temperatures suit the turf perfectly so it can be pushed more as it can recover from the stress.


And lastly I really don't understand where this whole bentgrass likes water and how bentgrass is a water hog etc comes from (not just here but in other threads too). It is far from it, as it can take a lot of stress and likes the heat (up to a point) so can be a very stress and drought tolerant turf.

[Cal Carlisle]

How long is a piece of string?


That's a good one, Alan. A question with no answer. So many variables, and even then, everyone has a different definition of
optimal playing conditions.


With one storm - gone.

[Tommy Williamsen]

You are making this too hard. I belong to two clubs in western Virginia. One is more mountainous and is generally cooler. One is more south where it gets pretty hot. The southern one has a big budget and a lot of staff the other a smaller budget and small staff. Each has a goal for optimal conditions. They are different. I spoke with both supers last week and each said something like this, "We are getting there. In a few weeks we should pretty good." In the early May I expect them to say, "We are close to where I'd like us to be." Maybe in June they will say, "I like where we are." In late July when it is hot and humid, they'll say, "I just want to get through August. I'm going to slow down the greens a bit." In mid-September one of the courses aerates and for the next few weeks is healing. The course in southern Virginia is recuperating from the heat. Both supers love October and early November. The big budget course aerates and sands the heck out of the course in Mid November. The other still is in good condition into December. Then winter comes.


The point of all this is that it is not very often that we can expect the course to be "perfect." As players we expect too much from our supers and want optimal conditions more often than practically[size=78%] [/size][size=78%]can[/size][size=78%] be attained. [/size]

[Alan FitzGerald CGCS MG]

You are making this too hard. I belong to two clubs in western Virginia. One is more mountainous and is generally cooler. One is more south where it gets pretty hot. The southern one has a big budget and a lot of staff the other a smaller budget and small staff. Each has a goal for optimal conditions. They are different. I spoke with both supers last week and each said something like this, "We are getting there. In a few weeks we should pretty good." In the early May I expect them to say, "We are close to where I'd like us to be." Maybe in June they will say, "I like where we are." In late July when it is hot and humid, they'll say, "I just want to get through August. I'm going to slow down the greens a bit." In mid-September one of the courses aerates and for the next few weeks is healing. The course in southern Virginia is recuperating from the heat. Both supers love October and early November. The big budget course aerates and sands the heck out of the course in Mid November. The other still is in good condition into December. Then winter comes.


The point of all this is that it is not very often that we can expect the course to be "perfect." As players we expect too much from our supers and want optimal conditions more often than practically[size=78%]can[/size][size=78%] be attained. [/size]

Tommy,


I guess the thread title took me (and others) in a different direction than you intended! As a superintendent, I really appreciate the last line as it eloquently sums up the challenges we have. I presented a seminar at the GCSAA show this year and the take away was you need to control the controllables, as it will minimize issues when incontrollable happens. However, the one thing we can't control is mother nature, so along with the fact that everything it takes to provide good golfing conditions goes against healthy turf, we are always working against a moving target.