Our Gulf Coast club has overseeded our Bermuda greens, now Tifdwarf, with rye every year for many years. Last fall we overseeded and I think the crew may have overdone it a bit. We had a heavy rain right after the overseeding and a lot of the seed washed down to the lower areas of the greens. All winter these areas were darker in color and much thicker than the rest of the greens.
Our winter and early spring were colder and wetter than usual.
We cut the greens down very close in late September, before a late overseeding , because we had the PGA Qualifying School round one.
The result of all the above has been a disastrous transition this spring. When the rye went away, large sections of the Bermuda were absent or very weak. Where the runoff of seed settled, there is literally no grass. We have transplanted plugs from the nursery and we have sanded and fertilized. Now that we are getting warm nights and rain, the Tifdwarf is growing in and visibly growing sideways. We are still several weeks from good putting surfaces, which remain cratered and with mini-crevices.
During my round at CC of Mobile last week, I learned that they, in our microclimate, have not overseeded their Tifeagle greens for a couple of years. They haven't had any problems except the brown color and lack of contrast with dormant Bermuda fairways in the winter, and there is talk of "painting" the greens, presumably green.
My questions of the agronomists who frequent this site are these, what is the experience with not overseeding Tifdwarf with rye in similar climates? If we want to continue overseeding, what can we do to improve our chances of avoiding such a disastrous transition? If we want to try not overseeding, what are our chances of maintaining decent putting surfaces through the winter?
Any help or advice anyone can offer will be greatly appreciated -- I have a greens committee meeting Wednesday evening and plan to propose the plan to avoid overseeding (I can hear the gasps and sharp intakes of breath already!).
Thanks,
Bill McBride