Kapalua greens - Hawaiian regulation ?

[John_McMillan]

There were many features over the last week on the new greens at Kapalua's Plantation course.  Representative is Jeff Mingay's writing that -

"Mainly though, renovation work focused on re-surfacing the Plantation course's greens with a higher quality, hybrid Bermuda grass called TifEagle that wasn't available in Hawaii when the course was originally seeded."

I've heard that a reason for the unavilibity of TifEagle was that Hawaiian regulations at the time of Kapalua's construction prohibited the use of "imported" grasses.  Does anyone know of the specific regulation, its details, or date of change?  

[Jeff_Mingay]

John,

You're absolutely right. Back in 1990, Hawaii was under an agriculture quarrantine that made importing of certain plants, including golf grasses, illegal.

I'm not sure exactly when this quarrantine was altered/abandonded, but it was quite awhile ago. In other words, those greens could have been converted before now.

[John_McMillan]

Jeff,

Bermuda is frequently grown from plugs, which I guess would make it an "imported plant."  Do you know if the quarrantine also applied to seed?  Do you know anything about the rationale for the quarrantine?  Finally, do you know if the renovated greens at Kapalua were done from plugs, or from seed?  

[Jeff_Mingay]

John,

Seems to me the quarrantine was put in place to preserve the unique beauty of Hawaii's native vegetation.

As you know, there are certain species of plants - gorse for example - that will literally take over if people aren't very, very careful. So, I'm guessing state authorities were/are simply keeping a very watchful eye on what types of non-indigenous vegetation is permitted to be introduced to the islands.

The quarrantine applied/applies to seed, yes. And, I'm pretty sure the new TifEagle was seeded.  

[Anthony_Nysse]

Jeff,
  Tifeagle is sprigged...it can be put out with a machine or by hand. It's is usually disked into the soil for contact and because bermuda grows laterally, the grass will fill int the voids. Seeding is usually done with cool season grasses. We have tifeagle here at LCC and that's how our were done along with out nursery green that was done last summer.

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[Jeff_Mingay]

Thanks Anthony. Makes sense.  

As a Canadian, I have no experience with Bermuda grass  

[Anthony_Nysse]

Jeff,
  Sometimes I wish I could say the same....about the grass, not being a Canadian!  

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[Dan Moore]

Last night during the Sony Open broadcast one of the announcers stated the greens were more receptive than the  at Kapalua where the ball was bounding all over the place.  The bounding all over the place was attributed to the "new" greens at Kapalua.  

Was the ball bounding all over the place at Kapalua because the greens were "new" or was this due to the design of the greens and/or the set-up intentionally featuring firm green conditions?  

Whatever the reason I enjoyed seeing the pros play well away from the flag and allowing the wind and contour direct the ball back into position.  Much more enjoyable to watch compared to a dart throwing contest.  

[Anthony_Nysse]

Dan,
  The reason that the ball was bouncing all over was because there was little to no thatch in the greens at Kapalua. I've stated in the past, with proper management, older greens CAN play firm like new greens. Anyways, thatch is organic matter and collects over time and it removed by aerification, verticutting, using a graden, topdressing and keeping you nitrogen to a minimum. Most new greens haven't had a chance to accumulate thatch yet, therefore playing firmer.

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[Jeff_Mingay]

Anthony,

As others have pointed out, there seemed to be inconsistency of firmness between the approach areas and the greens. Balls that hit the putting surface released. Balls that landed short seemed not to react as lively.

For the sake of discussion, might that have something to do with a build up up thatch under the fairway grass?

Just curious,  

[Anthony_Nysse]

Jeff,
  Without a doubt. I know that we aggressively verticut once a year and aerify once to remove thatch in our fairways and approaches. We verticut so aggressively that it takes a small crew 4 days to remove all the organic matter that is brought up.
  I wonder just how NEW those greens are. So new, that they were still trying to get them to fill in? Without any/much thatch, greens with dry out VERY quickly because they have very shallow roots.  It's possible with the winds at Kapalua, they were overwatering to avoid having their new greens dry out and ended putting a lot of water on their approach areas.....the beauty of handwatering....only putting water where you need/want it!

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[Tom_Doak]

Tony:

With all due respect, I believe that the difference between the approaches and greens at Kapalua has as much to do with SOILS as it does with thatch.  The greens are sand and dry right out afer a rain; the rest of the course is much heavier soil, and even with all the tilt, it can be wet after a rain ... particularly if there are swales in front of the green to divert water away on the downhill approach.

It is also worth noting that Kapalua has a bunch of greens which fall away from the line of play in whole or in part -- 1, 2, 5, 7, 10 [to the left], 11, 12, 17 and 18 all do.  Practically no greens at the Sony have fallaway sections.  That might account for some of the difference!

[Anthony_Nysse]

Mr. Doak,
  I'm sure that you're right on this. I do not know what the coils are like in Hawaii...I do know that some course during construction or renovation will extend their greens mix into the approach area to allow for a firmer surface.
  Speaking of the Sony...How good would Waialae be if it was restored back to Raynor fashion...could you imagine? I think that it would be tough to be in Hawaii for sure. Has the course ever been renovated?

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[Tom_Doak]

Tony:

I've never been to Waialae.  On TV I can still see a bit of the Raynor touch.  I don't think it's been altered significantly, it was just a flat site to start with and they didn't move much earth to build up the greens, so it's a fairly dull version of Raynor's work ... Shoreacres without the ravines!

We did extend greens mix in front of the greens at The Rawls Course, but I haven't seen many other courses do that.

[David Druzisky]

I had the tournament on in the background at my office and I think I heard the announcers a couple times mention that they were getting a fair amount of rain every evening.  Typical on that end of the island.  Soil approach/fwy vs. sand on the greens would seem to be the best reason for the difficulty in the approach shots they were trying to make.  And I do not think they trusted the greens to be receptive - maybe inconsistent  The greens are set up to promote the bump and run (especially in the wind as an option) and they werent getting as much bump to allow the run with it being wet I guess.

It did seem that many of the players choices on how to play pitch and chip shots came across sort of stubborn and impatient.
 
With tiff eagle it does not take long to get the thatch layer established.  This actually is many peoples concern with the ultradwarfs - too much thatch to manage.  I have to imagine that with the climate of Hawaii the tifeagle matures pretty darn quickly - just ask the guys in FL.

We would need a report on it from a qualified GC Superintendent on the actual conditions (or state) of the greens and the thatch.  Only speculation otherwise.  The balls did seem to wobble a bit on some puts - but that could been grain issues as well.

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