Firm and Fast on a Parkland Course

[Jeff Goldman]

Is there any reason, besides a desire for the course to look green, for a parkland course not being firm and fast?  I'm new at my club, and recently played with a couple of terrific members who've been there for many many years.  I asked them if the course had changed over the years, and they said it had changed quite a bit.  What was the greatest change?  The sprinkler system/irrigation.  They recalled that you used to get a LOT more roll in the fairways then you do now.

My thought is that fast fairways both (1) benefit the higher handicap because the ball goes farther (the course is quite long from the member tees) and (2) make it more challenging for the better player because of the possible need to shape shots so they don't run into the rough or bunkers.  

One caveat to all this is that I think the soil has a lot of clay base, so natural drainage may not be great -- you can see a lot of drains in the fairways.  Maybe they need to water it more to keep the turf healthy.  Also, I'm not saying it doesn't play firm now when it doesn't rain for a while - I haven't been there long enough to know (and, being new, I'm certainly not asking this question so that I can stick my nose in where folks who've been there for years are) and I'm only relying on the statement from the members I talked to.  Does the fact that this is a parkland course change anyone's view about firm and fast?  Not mine, but if anyone has views, I'd like to hear them.

Jeff Goldman

[TEPaul]

Jeff:

Parkland, per se, doesn't have that much to do with it. If the course is the type of architecture that's designed to accomodate the ground game then the course should strive to create firm and fast conditions as much as possible. This is all part of the "ideal maintenance meld" to me.

But if the course is a modern aerial design firm and fast isn't so important if important at all. Firm and fast basically has to do with a style of design--a style of architecture created for the ground game alternative.

Obviously, whenever any of us talk about firm and fast conditions we're talking about weather permitting. No course is going to be firm and fast if it's had a lot of rain. But too many of the older ground game style courses are soft when there's been no rain. This is obviously just overuse of the irrigation system.

If you have a course that's clay based firm and fast isn't so easily acheived. You may need to look into remedial steps such as some cycles of deep tyning to break up the soil and get it perking so the water will penetrate better and the roots will follow. Top-dressing is the other way to go but really expensive and time consuming.

Deep root structure is the key to firm and fast playing conditions--shallow over irrigated roots is the common symptom of slow and soft surfaces. But even if you have a basically clay base the deal is how quick the course can recover from natural water back to firm and fast. As we know many courses are never allowed to recover to firm and fast because when it isn't raining the maintenance people turn on the irrigation systems too much.

Firm and fast isn't really about the grass though--not about the playing surface--unless it has too much thatch. Firm and fast is about getting a soil medium that perks deep so the water goes down farther and sort of perches--and penetratable enough where the roots will follow down to that deeper water layer. That right there basically creates a firm soil structure just underneath the grass playing surface and makes the ball bounce high and runout a long way.

One time my super told me to get firmer and faster conditons he'd have to cut the fairways twice as much. So I asked him how come the ball was plugging in the short fairway surfaces and running a long way out there in the rough where the grass was about five times higher?

Do you see what I'm talking about?

[Jeff Goldman]

TEPaul,

Thanks for the post.  I get a lot of what you are talking about, and a lot of food for thought.  However, after I posted it occurred to me that based on what the folks I played with said, the course used to have firm, fast fairways as a general matter but hasn't the last few years, so it's possible that watering practice is to keep it green.  Didn't mean to play hide the ball here, so let me say the course is Olympia Fields, and it's also possible that they are simply letting it recover.  Probably best to see how it plays next year, and when I get more comfortable around the place, I'll ask.  Obviously, it's not a modern aerial design, and almost all the holes have an area in front to run the ball up, which, given my prodigious lack of length, is how I play it.   Thanks again.

Jeff

[TEPaul]

Jeff:

I'm no agronomist--it's just that I've been studying this issue anywhere and everywhere I can---talking to over 100 supers, USGA regional agronomists and University agronomists does help though.

When you say Olympia Fields was firm and fast that does say something about it's potential I guess. But even that may need to be looked at carefully.

One thing most people forget is that grass is a living thing and consequently needs to be conditioned over time liek any other living thing. You can't expect your super to just turn off the water and have firm and fast the next day or anytime you want it. Conditioning grass to firm and fast has a lot to do with its root structure--and the root structure has everything to do with the soil structure and conditions.

Supers going into a big tournament can take their course carefully into a firm and fast mode but if the soil conditions and the root structure aren't really ideal for firm and fast they do have to baby the turf and watch it carefully or something really bad can happen--and sometimes something bad can happen really fast. This is when you see things like a lot of syringing going on.

Supers generally take a course that's been through a tournament with firm and fast conditions back out of that firm and fast condition immediately following the end of the tournament. (I've even seen maintenance irrigating bigtime as soon as the last group is through a hole!). I call that type of thing a super taking the course back into his "comfort zone".

I started asking all kinds of supers years ago how often they liked to take their courses out of their comfort zone and into really firm and fast conditons (dry). I got all kinds of answers, unitl I met Scott Anderson of HVGC that is!

He said; "What comfort zone, my course is firm and fast whenever there isn't a lot of rainfall?" But what Scott Anderson did took a dedicated effort on the part of a few members years ago to bring the entire membership along to agreeing to this and then it took Scott some years to condition his turf to this kind of constant firm and fast condition. What he did basically is establish a really deep and tough root structure. He even said his turf now could withstand a number of 100 degree days without that much care. He basically said he's got some of the toughest turf around--and then I got the picture of a lot of what real and consistent firm and fast playability is all about.

A lot of it has to do with the soil structure of the course. HVGC can't be sand based so it's impressive what they've done. NGLA is going bigtime to firm and fast but they do have a soil structure that's sandy based and very conducive to firm and fast conditions. Spending time out there with Salinetti and Burrows was very edifying for me on this subject.

Soil conditions, root structure---fertilization, water, air and light are the factors. And it's not just WHAT to do that's key but WHEN to do it and in what exact mix and combination!

[Steve Curry]

Jeff,

They want it green, lush and puffy to walk on "sea of green carpet", members that is...  

Irrigation system isn't to blame, the grass can be fast, firm and irrigated.

Regards,

Steve