Components for growing turfgrass

In the turf industry everything is about the grass. When golfers play golf they want the best conditions possible. This means the grass has to be lush and green. Growing turfgrass has its complications as well as its ups and downs. Certain things can hurt the grass growth whether it be not enough light, or water. These are things that a turfgrass manager has to deal with when he’s trying to perfect growing grass. Turfgrass needs certain components to perform at its best.

There are six components for growing turfgrass: Air, water, light, soil, temperature, and traffic. All these components are necessary for ideal turfgrass growth. These components play a big role in how your golf course looks. Lets say that you had a green that was blocked by trees in the area and when the golfers came to the green and left they only had one real spot to enter and exit. This will affect the growth of turfgrass, because of all the traffic and not much light the grass will suffer because it does not have sufficient requirements to continue to grow properly.

These six components can make or break a golf course. If you want to keep your course in great condition than remember if you ever have a problem with your grass that there are certain factors that can affect it. You have to take in all components when analyzing your situation and make sure you identify all components that may be detrimental to turfgrass growth. Remember these six components and you will have an easier time growing turfgrass.

Perfect playing conditions for the Open

The professional golf season has come and gone. It came to Canada to make its only stop of the year at Glen Abbey golf course in Oakville, Ontario. http://www.glenabbey.ca/index.htm. Superintendent Scott Bowman played a big role in the playing conditions for the open. This was not your everyday amateur golf tournament; this was the PGA tour coming to Canada. One of the biggest things the players are used to is the perfect playing conditions golf courses usually offer them. 

Scott Bowman had plenty of work ahead of him to get this course prepared to the PGA standards. With the players used to being treated to some of the best conditions in golf this meant plenty of work for his staff. For the week of the tournament their staff went from 40 to 70, almost double. Leading up to the tournament certain jobs had to be done to get the conditions perfect. They started preparing the fairways in October the year before. They would de-thatch them and get them into pristine condition. A lot of the jobs to be done had to deal with removing thatch and making surfaces more player friendly

This was a tough job for Bowman and his staff. By starting the year before they could plan out their year in accordance. They would have visits from the PGA tour to tell them what they could possibly make better and what they could just leave the same. The PGA tour players expect the best golf course when they arrive for a golf tournament. This is a tough task for any superintendent to make the players love the course.

 

Copetown Woods and no budget

Copetown Woods golf club is privately owned, but is a public golf course. http://www.copetownwoods.com/aboutus.html They have not been around for a very long time but are one of the better golf courses in the area. On a recent trip to the golf course we got to take a walk around with the superintendent and the owner. One thing that was really interesting was that they did not have a budget. This meant that the superintendent did not have a certain amount of money to spend whatever he and the owner thought was needed that’s what they spent.

With the no budget this meant a couple things. One was he did not have a certain budget for employees. Whatever Pete (superintendent) thought was a good number of employees that’s what they would hire. For equipment they would only buy equipment when they needed it like if a fairway mower went down tomorrow they would go out and buy a new one. This was because there was no set limit on the amount of money to spend or that was saved for the golf course.

No budget is a good thing to have. This way of doing things makes you realize that you could do more with less. You don’t need a budget to have a spectacular looking golf course. Just go look at Copetown Woods. With it being only a single owner you only have one person to report to. Also no members helps because you don’t have to listen to them complain about the golf course. This course is one of the nicest golf courses and is a model to follow for no budget courses.

The New Lambton

On a recent trip to Lambton Golf and Country Club, a major renovation was taking place. http://www.lambtongolf.com/. This was not the usual couple hole renovation that takes place at golf courses. This was pretty much the whole golf course excluding two holes, 17 and 18. Lambton has 27 holes of golf. With Lambton being a private golf course this was a big issue for the members, who would be without golf for an entire year. The course closed on August 4th and construction started that day. The course will re-open on August 1st, 2010.

With the golf course closing for renovations this means no golf for members, so as you could guess there was a long process that had to take place. There are 3 phases that happened prior and are still taking place. Phase 1 was that half the golf course plus the reservoir would be closed for renovations at a time so that they still had 9 holes to play. Phase 2 was everything on the golf course plus the reservoir. Currently phase 3 is trying to be passed, which would include two holes on the main course and a few on the valley course.

This renovation will help Lambton golf and country club greatly in the future. They have brought in Reese Jones to be the architect. They are going to try and restore the golf course to the way it should be. A few holes will be greatly altered, but most just have changed to make it more player friendly. With this being the first major overhaul by Lambton they should be in great shape for the future since they are the fifth oldest golf course on it’s original site in Canada.