I am a little hesitant to weigh in about courses that "lost" their greens since one of our illustrious posters on this site had his partner make some erroneous comments about my course having "lost" its greens (not even close to true--East Lake would kill for my greens). But since I know this firsthand and have been on site (unlike the guy who made comments about my course), here it goes:
Not sure about the other FedEx greens but Atlanta's East Lake is really struggling and to some degree anyone with any golf knowledge who thought bent grass in Mid September has any good chance of being in good shape should have known better.
the greens at East Lake are struggling. Here is what I KNOW:
1. Atlanta had almost 30 days of no rain and set a record for heat with 9 days above 100 and the highest August temperatures EVER recorded.
2. East Lake had even more extreme heat thanks to the "heat effect" of being in the city.
3. As of yesterday, Medalist Golf was sodding bermuda around greens! Edges of greens that had simply died were cut out and the bermuda fringe areas were "expanded".
4. A week or so ago in a fairly desperate move to get soil temps down, pallets of ice were used on at least one green to cool them down!
What I've HEARD:
1. The super had wanted to put fans around the greens early in August and the GM resisted this move. There are now generators and four fans on many greens but unfortunately, it's too little too late.
2. They are using green topdressing sand and paint to try and mask the dead spots for TV.
3. The greens were aerated (from pics I saw) in order to try and get some air to the roots and help with gas exchange--I think this will help but it will also soften them up--they will not be firm, fast or smooth.
4. They will recover a little by next week but I know the crew feels terrible about what happened.
5. Small consolation but the rest of the course is in perfect shape.
I am certain they will change over to Bermuda for next year. In order to have firm, fast greens in Atlanta the second week in September, bermuda is the choice. They are talking about mini verde not the Champion but the new ultra dwarf bermudas are fantastic.
I am still a bentrgrass proponent for Atlanta in general but for a specific situation like this, bermuda is a "no brainer".