[Scott Furlong]

I’ve been watching this site for many years and need some help on your ideology on brown turf is preferred.  Personally, I’m not saying brown is bad and I think most people on this site are knowledgeable enough to know dry turf is healthy turf.  Nevertheless, I have witnessed numerous times on this site; “if it’s green it must be over watered or the course cares more about the way it looks than the way it plays or the reason they have poa annua is because it is over watered”.  Not all but some of these posts are reactions to a posted picture.  Is it a perception as a whole that it must be brown to play properly?  When you put the peg in the ground on number 1 August 1 and all you see is green…..what’s your first thought?  If your ball doesn’t roll as far as you think it should…what is your first thought?

This might get sent to page 2 before I can finish the post but thought I would ask.   

[Bill_McBride]

Scott, it doesn't have to be brown to be fast and firm (Tom Paul's desired 'maintenance meld') but a lot of emerald green turf is overwatered and therefore not F&F.

How many times have you played a nice pitch cleverly calculated to land just short of the green when the pin is tucked up in front and the ball goes "splat" and just sits there in front.  If it's green and damp, that's a likely result.  Brown is okay if it meets the desired result.

A bunch of us played at Hoylake three months after the Open where Tiger won on what the TV audience was sure was dead brown turf.  By October the grass had greened up nicely but was still in the desired maintenance meld.  That's the best condition of all.

[BCrosby]

Scott -

I don't know of anyone around here that thinks green is bad per se. Green happens.

The real issue is firm playing conditions. That's what a lot of people want to see more of. And that issue often turns on when and how you irrigate. I think Donald Ross, a proponent of firm and fast, had it about right when he said you irrigate to keep grass alive, not to keep it green.

If there are lush green fw's that play firm and fast, I'm a happy guy. Unfortunately, lush green fw's usually mean mushy (sp?) playing conditions.

Water usage issues and drought have brought some interesting developments. Here in ATL we are under water restrictions. Some courses around here are going to be forced to cut back on their irrigation. I think that's fine. It ought to improve playing conditions.

But there are cultural issues with members seeing their fw's brown up. My hope is the the mandatory irrigation restrictions will introduce people to f&f and that thereafer there will be a broader acceptance of less watering and firmer conditions. And browner fw's.

Seems like a win/win to me. Spend less money on water and get a better golf course. What's not to like?

But the color of the fw's is not the real issue. I don't carre what color they are. The issue is how they play.

BTW, welcome to GCA.

Bob

  

[Greg Chambers]

If my ball picks up mud in the fairway and it hasn't been raining, then the course is overwatered.  If my ball bounces nicely and takes the turns and rolls that the contouring provides, then I'm a happy camper.  I could care less what color the turf is.

[Scott Furlong]

Perfect answers and completely fair.  If it turns off color to get the desired results…..so be it.  But there is a huge difference between dormant grass and dead grass and it’s a very fine line suspended 1,000 feet in the air.  If you let bentgrass or poa annua go too far you tap all the carbohydrate reserves during recover, result no roots and constant water to keep it alive.  Then you fight algae, weeds,  poa annua, and the dreaded wet spot.  Most members have a hard time understanding the benefits of off color turf and I don’t blame them.  No one likes a brown lawn.  There are a lot of tools and products to keep grass green and firm.  However, it seems some people on this site have a love for brown grass but don’t understand that green grass can play as firm as brown grass.       

[Will Smith]

I have always liked the concept of a course playing differently in all four seasons. We get into trouble when we try to change the natural cycles of things. The last thing golf needs is a move to large scale sub-air to keep courses firm in the spring. If it rains, it rains. It might not be ideal conditions, but that's the way it is.

I believe this makes sense economically and environmentally, and hopefully agronomically.

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