GROUNDS COMMITTEE
We’ve all heard that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result. The past couple of years have produced some spotty fairway overseed results on our courses, primarily due to heat spikes, untimely rain and other weather-related challenges, and rather than repeating the same old, same old, our Agronomy team, Grounds Committee and Board have continued to look at ways to improve our overseed results and provide the best possible playing conditions for the members. A few of the changes in our overseed protocol and equipment have been discussed in previous Divot Digests and Turf Talks and include the addition of some flexibility to the overseed schedule and the acquisition of a small area slit-seeding machine that will allow us to more effectively attack many of the smaller bare spots that we’ve all seen in past years. Another important change for this year’s overseed will include a new seed mix and a slightly heavier seed application rate. The new seed mix and heavier application rate are the result of a recent visit by Travis to a major grass seed company in Washington as well as his typically thorough follow-up research. Instead of a 100% ryegrass overseed this year, we’ll be 6
using a mix of 60% rye and 40% fine creeping fescue, applied at rate of 1000 lbs of seed per acre instead of the 750 lbs per acre rate used in the past several years. The addition of the fescue grass is important for the primary reason that, unlike rye, it is a “surface creeper” and spreads to cover open spots. This means that the creeping fescue should help to cover spots that would otherwise be left open by a 100% rye seed mix. The added fescue should also provide a more lush playing surface due to the size of its grass blades. In arriving at the decision to make the seed mix change for our fairways and green surrounds, several factors were considered, including: Drought and salt tolerance – fine creeping fescue is very drought and salt tolerant. Transition tolerance – fine creeping fescue should provide no special challenges for the transition back to Bermuda in the late Spring and Summer Durability – while not quite as tolerant of heavy cart traffic as rye, the rye/fescue mix and fescue’s regenerating characteristics have made this a non-issue where similar seed blends have been used.
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