Turfgrass, more specifically, a golf green, is intensively managed. Like a competitive athlete in training to prepare for competition.
The big difference is that every day is a work day for the grass. There are no days off or practice days.
Today, technology and science drive this industry of growing elite grass. Just wrapping up the trade show season and we enter game day pressures across the golf world when winter is in play.
Science is undoubtedly our base. Our mental awareness of a ticking clock every day in the cycle of what the plant needs, is driven by scientific information beginning with weather patterns, soil temperatures, plant chemistry and the multitude of options we see coming from the merchandising on the trade show floor. This is where distributors of products discuss the needs of superintendents and the decisions we will be making during this relentless growing season.
What superintendents have overwhelmingly in their favour is their understanding of the absolute of science and the knowledge that the plant “knows” what to do. As a superintendent, assistant or spray tech, we take the pulse of the plant almost medically, and then write a prescription so that the plant has what it needs to deal with the daily, ongoing stress that is inherent when we cut the plant’s head off every day and then expect it to be happy.
All plant systems are set by Mother Nature. In our case, bentgrass or poa annua is what we putt on here in the cool season grass hemisphere. These little buggers are different. They both co-exist on the surface and under it and are indeed similar in their desire to survive. However, they are very different in their physical characteristics, such as rooting, ability to handle heat stress, humidity and growth habits.
Golfers deal with some of these differences at seeding time. Superintendents direct programs where growth regulators are applied to create consistent and even growth and manage clipping volume so that green speed is similar after being cut, to eight hours later during mid afternoon rounds. Lots of balls to juggle.
Getting back to the science of growing elite grass: the products from the trade show floor companies are all potentially part of the mix in the decision making process. As superintendents making decisions on what’s most effective for our grass, listening to speakers at recent shows discuss plant health, minimum standards of nutrition, understanding exchangeable chemistry, soluble chemistry, or the world the grass plant lives in, can be quite confusing.
This is where we have the expertise as professional superintendents with a solid base of scientific knowledge learned and earned over the past 30 years or so. We know how the plant grows. We know about soil chemistry, and we know our own courses and the individual greens on our property. Some are in full sun, some in morning shade, some older than others, and all must be covered in our decisions.
We have moved forward from Albrecht days and now understand, and use daily, a more in-depth understanding of the science of growing grass. If we touch all the bases and know that we have done what the plant needs to survive, we get to sleep soundly and then get up and begin that process all over again.
With the demands placed on us by the game today, we are forced to work smarter in these challenging times. Our strength is knowledge and the many phases of understanding what is needed. There are no absolutes, and no way of just saying ‘this is how I am doing things in April right through the fall’.
Managing nutrients and plant systems, understanding soil chemistry, and how to actually read or understand a soil report so that we may direct our next input, is of utmost importance. In fact, it’s absolutely vital if we are to make the correct decisions regarding inputs.
Environmental pressures are high. We are our own environmentally responsible police force for the most part. We’re always setting the highest standards and living on the edge sometimes, while prepping for tournaments, club championships and seasonal changes.
Best wishes to all who care for golf courses as we enter the summer season. The smell of grass is in the air again after all winter preparations were done long ago. As we move through spring clean up and soils warm, we also warm to the challenge.
Pat Differ was the superintendent at Point Grey G&CC and at Ledgeview Golf Club in Abbotsford, BC. He started his own business with Sport Turf and Floratine Canada and involved with Evergo Sales and Dawson Seed. Par can be reached at 604-855-1241, email – patdiffer@gmail.com.
