[Garland Bayley]

Tall hatless head on the left is Pat Howard.

[Thomas_Brown]

My guess is that the greatest risk to the course design is over watering.  For that region, could they have installed the course w/o irrigation?

[Garland Bayley]

Thomas,

I am no expert, but I believe the course could have been done without irrigation. However, it should not have been done that way.

What I know of grasses is that some are winter dormant and some are summer dormant. With a summer dormant grass, it could have browned out over the summer and come back in the fall. My lawn does this every year.

However, this is a public course in a large metropolitan area and without the grass growing through the summer I would expect significant damage to be done by the many golfers that will play it. My lawn doesn't get that kind of treatment. Another factor is whether the public will accept a browned out course charging a higher fee than normal.

[Garland Bayley]

"It's a mob scene."  What Jack Whittaker said at Augusta to be banned from the course thereafter.



 Notice any divots?

 Garland telling Jay what HE would have done.

 Jordan in infamous pink shirt.

 Dugger in racing stripes.

Thought this image should be added to the image thread.

Recognizable GCAers
Far left Greg Cameron
White cap front striped jacket Michael Dugger
White hair in background Bill Cosgrove
Just right of and in front of Bill, Bob Jenkins
Right of Bob and in far back, tall drink of water is Pat Howard,
In all beige, Yours truly
In front of me, Jay Blasi
Right of me with pink shirt under jacket, JORDAN WALL
Behind white capped person on far right, Jesse Jones

Edit: It's hard to tell but the white hat on the far right might be Pete Pittock.

[Pete_Pittock]

That is me on the far right, but I prefer to think of it as the far left from the reverse perspective.

[Garland Bayley]

That is me on the far right, but I prefer to think of it as the far left from the reverse perspective.

As you wish, Officer Krupke

[Mark Dorman]

My guess is that the greatest risk to the course design is over watering.  For that region, could they have installed the course w/o irrigation?

Having just spent my summer working at a golf course in Seattle, I would say probably not.  Our turf would have died many times over without irrigation.  It might not seem that hot out to us, but when the grass is sitting wide open to the sun from sun up to sunset, throw in a little breeze, and things can dry out pretty quickly. Especially if you have an excessive amount of thatch (as I found out this summer).  Also, sandy soils have very little water holding capacity.

[Tim Gavrich]

That shot of the 12th green made it appear like the grass was pretty long...how fast are the greens at Chambers Bay running at this point?

That 12th green will be a hoot to watch pros putt on when/if CB gets the Open.

[Jesse Jones]

I'm guessing here, but I'd say the greens are running a 6.
The greens aren't there yet, and guessing again, they won't be perfect until next summer or fall at the earliest.
However, it's still a treat to play.

[Garland Bayley]

Having just spent my summer working at a golf course in Seattle, I would say probably not.  Our turf would have died many times over without irrigation.  It might not seem that hot out to us, but when the grass is sitting wide open to the sun from sun up to sunset, throw in a little breeze, and things can dry out pretty quickly. Especially if you have an excessive amount of thatch (as I found out this summer).  Also, sandy soils have very little water holding capacity.

Mark,

Did you not read my response to Thomas above? Most grass does not die, it simply goes dormant. The course is planted in fescue. My google search on fescue dormant returned as its first link the one given below that says fescue goes dormant in the heat and comes back in the fall.
http://www.american-lawns.com/grasses/fescue_tall.html

Go outside in January there in Ames. Are all those leafless trees dead? No they are just dormant.

[RJ_Daley]

Garland, I didn't go to the link, but perhaps one must not think of the natural process to go dormant so much as the opportunity for the weakened dormant turf, with thatch layer to get diseased.  Diseased turf don't come back so good, like winter dormant...

[Garland Bayley]

Garland, I didn't go to the link, but perhaps one must not think of the natural process to go dormant so much as the opportunity for the weakened dormant turf, with thatch layer to get diseased.  Diseased turf don't come back so good, like winter dormant...

I will be the first to admit that I am way out of my expertise on this, but how does turf get thatched in the first place? Is it from being forced into growing year round by abnormal watering? Did they have to tear up and replant Royal Liverpool after the British Open, because dormant thatched turf would get diseased? How did all the links courses survive summers before they were irrigated?

[Mark Dorman]

Mark,

Did you not read my response to Thomas above? Most grass does not die, it simply goes dormant. The course is planted in fescue. My google search on fescue dormant returned as its first link the one given below that says fescue goes dormant in the heat and comes back in the fall.
http://www.american-lawns.com/grasses/fescue_tall.html

Go outside in January there in Ames. Are all those leafless trees dead? No they are just dormant.

I did indeed, but maybe not closely enough.  You are right, most species of grass do go dormant during weather extremes.  But just because a grass is dormant does not mean it won't die if conditions continue.  Our grass would have died this summer, no doubt about that.  Some wilting is okay (shows that you aren't overwatering), but when it gets to a certain extent it's not going to grow out of it very well.  Also, in a time when pristine playing conditions are expected, dormant turf may as well be dead turf.

I will be the first to admit that I am way out of my expertise on this, but how does turf get thatched in the first place? Is it from being forced into growing year round by abnormal watering? Did they have to tear up and replant Royal Liverpool after the British Open, because dormant thatched turf would get diseased? How did all the links courses survive summers before they were irrigated?

Thatch is basically the accumulation of organic material into a layer between grass canopy and soil.  The organic material can come from dead roots, dead grass tissues, tree leaves, basically anything organic.  Thatch is tough to manage under extreme heat.  Water will not flow through thatch unless it is saturated.  Thatch also dries out very quickly.  Just to keep our fairway "hot spots" (wilting badly!) from getting worse, we were having to water them up to 5 times a day.  You could turn the head on for 5 minutes and water would be starting to pool up.  Come back half hour later and it would be dry.

The key to managing thatch it to keep the microbes that break it down happy, which is by providing lots of oxygen to the soil.

I can't say much about the soil and growing conditions on most links courses, but I know that a little yellowing is not looked down upon as much over there as it is here.

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