Golf Course Superintendent Ready to Answer Any Questions You May Have

[Mekanic]

Hi there, 

Golf course mechanic here ✌️. Trying to figure out if backlapping is necessary for me. If backlapping is something you practice, how often and how long do you let the compound work. What are you looking for on the reels to say the compound and action of backlapping succeeded? Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated. 

[mallrat]

I’ll ask our mechanic next week but we do not backlap. My previous course (which is a top 100 course) backlaps every time out. So I don’t have a complete answer to your question. We have 2 greens mowers, each with 2 sets of reels. The time on the reels varies. The set that goes out after topdressing; every other Tuesday, goes out twice and then gets ground. 
 

I hope this helps. 

[smashdn]

My club doesn't close on Mondays but I am now curious, what is getting done on a typical closed Monday that doesn't get done early the rest of the week?  (Not counting aerification.  I figured that would take place on those days to be one less day the course is "upset" for membership.) 

[Dancin]

A lot of clubs that "close" mondays are actually open for charity/other money making events. For those that really close: filling divots, bunker work, patching bad spots in greens with plugs from nursery green, top dressing greens, irrigation system work...anything that requires maintenance to be on the course for an extended time that due to either manpower or time constraints can't be done early morning.

[caniac6]

Our course is closed on Monday, but I’ve seen many Tuesday mornings when they are spraying greens, or top dressing, so I don’t know what they do on Mondays.

[TexasTurf]

We get drunk, do cocaine, and play golf on your course while you're home wishing you could join in the fun. Just like you do the other 6 days. 

[TexasTurf]

8 hours ago, caniac6 said:

Our course is closed on Monday, but I’ve seen many Tuesday mornings when they are spraying greens, or top dressing, so I don’t know what they do on Mondays.

 

Also cutting down your favorite trees and blaming it on a storm.

[mallrat]

Current course we delay our start times until 8. So today for example, verticut greens and collections, topdressed and sprayed greens. 
 

Previous club was 36 holes. The 2 courses alternated a Monday start time of noon. Always a topdress day and really letting the sand dry before dragging makes such a big difference. 

[Faucette]

I am a former Superintendent  so I have to chime in.

 

I think the #1 benefit of being closed on Mondays is it allows the turf a chance to recover and has a day off from the normal wear. We would skip mowing greens to let them have a day to grow (produce more food via photosynthesis) but concentrate on a full course mow out which we may have done the previous Thursday and Friday. . Topdressing, spraying and  fertilizing were always done on "days off" which was a lot more pleasant and efficient for our crew.  

[golfortennis]

13 hours ago, Faucette said:

I am a former Superintendent  so I have to chime in.

 

I think the #1 benefit of being closed on Mondays is it allows the turf a chance to recover and has a day off from the normal wear. We would skip mowing greens to let them have a day to grow (produce more food via photosynthesis) but concentrate on a full course mow out which we may have done the previous Thursday and Friday. . Topdressing, spraying and  fertilizing were always done on "days off" which was a lot more pleasant and efficient for our crew.  

 

It probably does work, but I have no idea how courses in the northern US can do this.  Here in Canada, the season is so short there is no way it would ever be accepted to have a day a week lost.  

[Dancin]

1 hour ago, golfortennis said:

 

It probably does work, but I have no idea how courses in the northern US can do this.  Here in Canada, the season is so short there is no way it would ever be accepted to have a day a week lost.  

It's all relative. There are private mountain courses in CO with a very short season that are closed a day a week (mostly for money raising events like charity outings, but they usually don't sell every Monday). The members are generally in favor of it because it keeps their dues down.

[golfortennis]

9 minutes ago, Dancin said:

It's all relative. There are private mountain courses in CO with a very short season that are closed a day a week (mostly for money raising events like charity outings, but they usually don't sell every Monday). The members are generally in favor of it because it keeps their dues down.

 

We do have events here as well, and give up some days.  But to start the season knowing one day a week will be lost no matter what....

[TexasTurf]

It works well for high end clubs where everyone is members of a bunch of courses locally. They can play somewhere else that day and not have to worry about being interrupted as much on the other days. For clubs who mostly have guys who have one membership and are retired and want to play every day, it is obviously not going to work out very well. It's pretty simple in my opinion.

[Faucette]

What everyone said above. Private vs Public/Resort. Does the course care about revenue, conditions and prestige?

 

Not sure today but in the past some clubs have a target number of rounds they will allow to benefit course conditions. 

[caniac6]

On 8/21/2023 at 11:26 PM, TexasTurf said:

 

Also cutting down your favorite trees and blaming it on a storm.

Actually, they have added trees.

[vallygolf]

On 8/21/2023 at 8:26 PM, TexasTurf said:

 

Also cutting down your favorite trees and blaming it on a storm.

My favorite tree on a golf course is the one you just cut down and hauled away.  Any tree on a golf course taller than gorse should be subject to your Monday routine.  Blame it on inflation, the pandemic, global warming, all are excellent reasons to have less trees on golf courses.

[mallrat]

Some golf courses are designed around trees and are an integral part of the design. Links courses are my favorite but every time I play well designed maintained traditional parkland course I’m reminded how special they can be. 
 

That said there is a reason trees are referred to as natures roundup. 

[vallygolf]

7 hours ago, mallrat said:

Some golf courses are designed around trees and are an integral part of the design. Links courses are my favorite but every time I play well designed maintained traditional parkland course I’m reminded how special they can be. 
 

That said there is a reason trees are referred to as natures roundup. 

Totally agree with this, the problem however is that (as I'm sure you are acutely aware) those courses with designs around trees that have any sort of maintenance budget restriction or roll back the trees often are the first thing neglected.  Unequivocally far more courses suffer from loss of design vision due to trees than are maintained consistent with the design vision for the trees.  

[golfortennis]

18 hours ago, mallrat said:

That said there is a reason trees are referred to as natures roundup. 

 

A course I play a tournament in every year recently had a major storm come through and take out north of 150 trees.  I haven't been there yet since, so no idea how it will change the play(it has, I just can't say how), but the super is apparently not upset at all, because of the air flow and sunshine many of the greens will get to enjoy. 

[allenartlab]

@BNGL Do you know whether there are any golf courses in Palm Spring/Palm Desert/La Quinta area that still use Bermuda grass on their greens during the winter season? 

[BNGL]

On 11/27/2023 at 1:47 PM, allenartlab said:

@BNGL Do you know whether there are any golf courses in Palm Spring/Palm Desert/La Quinta area that still use Bermuda grass on their greens during the winter season? 

Tbh I’m not too certain about that. @mallrat is on the west coast I believe he might know. If I find out one way or another I’ll update. 

[macrock7]

What's your thoughts on Zoysia greens? Course I play is going to it next year 

[Dancin]

Zoysia is great for greens in the south. Very smooth and resistant to traffic damage, heat tolerant and less mowing needed plus it stays green when others go dormant in winter.

[ChaosTheory]

How feasible is it to slow down Bermuda greens prior to the dormant winter season, in order to keeping them from being like linoleum in the winter?

[NDSwim]

Is there any grass health reasons why a course would not edge around along the cart paths?

[Dancin]

38 minutes ago, NDSwim said:

Is there any grass health reasons why a course would not edge around along the cart paths?

No. Most likely it is a cost vs benefit issue. You have so many man hours from your crew during the day. Is it worth their time spending it edging a cart path vs working on the actual playable golf course? If this is a public course you are talking about, even more so as they are usually understaffed.

[NDSwim]

Got it.

 

Unfortunately, no, private.  
 

I’ll go back to my crusade to get people to knock the sand off their shoes before walking on the green and then attack the edging.

[TexasTurf]

2 hours ago, Snowman9000 said:

How feasible is it to slow down Bermuda greens prior to the dormant winter season, in order to keeping them from being like linoleum in the winter?

Easy, but 99 percent of golfers want that, so you're in a fight against your fellow golfers there, not the super.

[mallrat]

5 hours ago, Snowman9000 said:

How feasible is it to slow down Bermuda greens prior to the dormant winter season, in order to keeping them from being like linoleum in the winter?

Take this with a grain of salt as I have NO Bermuda experience. Is it from being dormant or frozen? Club I used to work at had Bent greens that went dormant in winter. Greens were normally between 11 and 12 1/2 (got them up to a 14 once, too much for the members) mid winter they play faster than summer for the most part because the ground is frozen. Balls bounce like being dropped on concrete. 

[mallrat]

On 12/3/2023 at 4:21 AM, BNGL said:

Tbh I’m not too certain about that. @mallrat is on the west coast I believe he might know. If I find out one way or another I’ll update. 

Best guess is there has to be but what little I know about the Valley, they all overseed. I would just guess that there has to be a course without the budget to overseed.