UK Conditioning Is Inspiring

[Terry Buchen]

Everytime The Open Championship is conducted, there are always great discussions of the way they condition their courses compared to here in the States:

For one complete year prior to the past three Open Championship's held at St. Andrews, golfers are usually required to hit off of synthetic turf mats when hitting off of the fairways so they would not leave a divot.

In the 1960's there was a severe drought when Arnie won at Troon (I believe thats the correct venue?) and the contestants complained about the lack of turf. From that point forward the R & A quietly installed irrigation wall to wall on all of the courses that were and are in The Open rotation. Because of their unique climate, they usually only turn the sprinklers on the tees, fairways and roughs to keep the turf alive. Some of the sprinkler head covers have synthetic turf attached to them  to hide them and to be able to find them, e.g., The Old Course.

Sod wall revetted bunkers are usually replaced every 2-5 years (sometimes at longer intervals) prior to each Open at St. Andrews. I have seen them many times strip the sod "bricks" from outer areas in the roughs and from their other courses in the Links Trust, instead of buying the bricks.

I was over giving a speech at the BIGGA Conference in Harrogate in January 2004 and I interviewed the Head Greenkeeper at St. Andrews. I asked him how much he normally fertilized and applied pesticides in a typical year. He stated that he had not fertilized fairways or roughs on The Old Course for 8 previous years and had not applied a herbicides, fungicide or insecticide in 5- years prior. I asked him how he accomplished this and he said that by controlling the water by not using the irrigation system unless he had to - and by having good drainage - he could control pesticide usage by keeping everything "dry." He also said that the grass clippings were not intentionally picked up on the tees, fairways and roughs and the grass clippings provided natural organic material that helped sustain green color and growth.

During the Open, a greenkeeper goes and stays with their assigned respective pairing during the entire championship and carries a large wooden rake with 4- inch long wooden teeth and rakes the bunkers instead of the caddies doing it. The greenkeepers then repair divots after play each day.

Cheers,

Terry Buchen, CGCS, MG    

[Jeff_Brauer]

Terry,

The big question is, how much of that is transferable to various regions of the US, if someone wanted to try?

[Terry Buchen]

Jeff,

Watching The Curtis Cup at Pacific Dunes this week will be fun to see how they keep their fine fescue/colonial bent turf firm and fast and how the course looks and plays considering their weather this time of year could resemble Hoylake's.

Unfortunately there are not a lot of climatic conditions that can duplicate the UK's here in the States, but there have been some good successes by superintendents maintaining fine fescues in cooler climates, e.g., northern Michigan, Maine, Nebraska, etc., as long as overwatering is avoided and good drainage is present.

[Craig Sweet]

Terry...as I pointed out in a previous thread regarding fine fescues for fairways and greens....not near enough money and research has gone into developing "better" fescue grasses, compared to the money spent developing bents.

It's too bad...

The other issue is one of acceptance of those playing conditions that fescues thrive in...dry, brown, firm and fast fairways are not as acceptible...and there is the issue of expectations...you expect a course in Bandon, Oregon to have fescue grass, you don't expect a course in upstate NY to have fescue fairways

[Bill_McBride]

Just for a side note about golf course superintendents in the UK, one is assigned to each group during the Open with a rake to clean up the bunkers as play progresses.  A fine participatory reward for all their fine work throughout the year!

Playing the Old Course a year before the Open in 2005, one of the only false notes out there is the odd bit of astroturf.  I guess that was covering the sprinkler heads.

[paul cowley]

Terry....its fascinating that the TOC can somehow achieve a natural balance with common sense methods but........larger questions loom.........Do you feel that Supreme paspalum can be used successfully for sod wall bunker construction?....on the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula?

....and a follow up; What is the approximate size of these revettment 'bricks' that you reference?....and their thickness relative to normal harvested sod?

Thanks.....p ;)ul.