With the recent turf threads I figured this could be a good forum for myself and the other Superintendents to answer any of your turf related questions. I am not sure where to start but just wanted to let you know I am willing to discuss any turf related questions.

How do you get along without irrigation?
What is the make up of your soils/sand?
What is the biggest fish you caught this year?

Cheers

At my course when preparing the greens to be covered in the winter, there were a bunch of little circular holes about 2" in diameter filled with some rocks similar to what can be found at the bottem of a fish tank.  What is going on?

Jason,
I'd ask your super to get what you know for sure would be the correct answer. My guess is those are drain holes drilled to get any water off the low areas in an attempt to prevent ice damage.

RJ,
I'd vote for blue and maintain it at 7/16-1/2 inch. But, I've never maintained bent fwys, so there's sure to be someone out here who can give you a more informed answer.

1st and foremost I agree 100% with Troy. Your own Superintendent knows more about your specific course than anyone. Don't be afraid to ask them. Most Superintendents I know love to talk turf!

Mayday,
I really don’t have any experience with the newer varieties of bents, but under those circumstances I would guess that yes the Poa would have an advantage.

Mike,
There are times I wish I had it. Just because you have irrigation doesn’t mean you have to run it all the time. This past year we went 52 days without rain and we definitely lost some grass in the fairways. It played awesome while dormant, but we had some of the worst conditions I can remember this fall as it came out of dormancy. We lost a lot of grass on the hills and ridges and cart entry and exit points.
Our soils are mostly sandy loam, but it really varies around the course. Some areas are straight sand while others have more clay than you would expect, but overall we drain very well. The biggest bass this year was 42” 35 lbs.

RJ,

I have been seeding our fairways the last 6 years with 60% fescue and 40 % colonial bent. This fall I changed the mix to 50% fescue 25 % colonial and 25% low cut blue. Our fairways are cut 3X week at 5/8” with primo apps every 3 weeks except during dormancy.

I would gladly trade Donnie some fishing in Montana for a day of golf on his course and some turf 101 education...perhaps a "working vacation" for me!

Pat,

I think covers would be beneficial at Fishers due to our elevated green pads. With our greens being elevated the wind blows most of the snow off of the greens and we get some desiccation from the greens being exposed all winter. I also think covers would help us raise our soil temps in the spring. We are usually a few weeks behind other clubs in the spring due to the cold water temps. We don't start getting real active growth until Mid May. Fortunately we also don't open for play until then either, so we have been able to get by without covers.

Donnie, I have a real Turf 101 question for you which I asked about five times a few weeks ago to some really good supers and I guess I got an answer although I'm not completely sure.

The question is how and why can some fairway grass (like yours) go dormant for so long and just snap right back about a day later after a rain and other grasses don't go dormant at all, they just crap right out almost immediately and are deader than a smelt even if it pours?

Is it as simple as the difference between really durable grass and grass that basically lives in the "emergency ward" of constant chemicals and remediation and just can't fend for itself in Nature?

Donnie:

Why aren't your bunker banks dead then? Does this basically answer my last question about dormancy vs death? Is there any chance you can just bring some of your bunker bank grass down here and we can just glue it on?

Don:

Deader than a smelt was something my Auntie Mame-like stepmother used to say a lot. I never did get around to asking her what she thought was so dead about a smelt and it's too bad I didn't because about 90% of what came out of that lady's mouth was hilarious and the other 10% would burn your ears it was so profane.

I like it....the Don's are at your service!

If you can't get the right answer out of these two guys, you're asking the wrong question!

I'll be reading to learn from my heroes.

Joe

p.s. To combine Don's post with Don's hobby...I went fishing the other day. I caught two mermaids and one smelt.

Ok, some will argue that you should water every night, and to be fair, if you want to have good looking turf everyday then you probably should if your water quality allows for it. But, if you want to grow roots, deep roots, so when that faithful day comes in mid-July and your pump station is ‘deader then a smelt” and you don’t want your turf to reach the permanent wilting point, then use deep, infrequent!

Below is a link that will probably bore you to tears so I copy and pasted one paragraph that may be of interest.



http://www.turfgrasstrends.com/turfgrasstrends/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=156340

“All cultivars receiving daily irrigation produced roots in the top 10.2 cm to 12.7 cm, while cultivars at the 15-day treatment produced roots greater than 30.4 cm (Data not shown). This was expected, as root length and growth increase as water becomes limited. The main function of a root is to intercept water and nutrients and as water decreases, roots continue growing downward in the soil profile in search of water.”

Don, can you get away with "deep, infrequent" irrigating in Bend?

If so, how long did it take you to 'condition" the turf to infrequent irrigation?