Pine Straw - Formalizing its use at Your Club

[smashdn]

This may seem an odd question or maybe one no one has had to think on if areas of pine straw have been status quo at your club for a while.

 

My club has lots of pine trees between holes.  Some are single trees where the turf grows to the base of the tree no issue, others are small groupings of trees or trees in areas that do impact turf growth to the point they, coupled with cart traffic in some places, have made for bare dirt areas.

 

Does anyone have experience with formalizing and actively putting down pine straw in defined areas around the trees at their club?  I am really curious about initial cost as well as ongoing costs from spraying out weeds as they come up through the straw.  We do have some areas where it has sort of already naturally happened due to density of pine trees but these are well off the playing corridor and rightfully should be "naturalized areas".

 

I found this but it lacks some detail > https://willowbendcapecod.com/course-enhancements-3/

Edited July 7 by smashdn

[david.c.w]

We use ~15,000 bales of pine straw.  It is a lot and we do the most in our area (per the pine straw guy).  It costs a ton.  They spray it with some sort of glue stuff to keep it in the same place.  We do it twice a year.  It looks great for a few weeks but then looks just OK.  It absolutely sucks if your ball lands in the new pine straw.  Nearly impossible to play out of.

 

I would vote to use mulch instead and cover less area.  It can last longer and is easier to play out of.  

 

I think we have actually come down from 15k bales recently but it is still a lot and I am not sure it is worth the $75k or whatever it costs 

[smashdn]

We already have areas that naturally have a good deal of pine straw, the way off the corridor areas that are "naturalized".  I was thinking to just put it down in areas where turf is already an issue due to trees.  Something a little better than hardpan.  Something you can put down, spray with weed killer maybe the first 15 yards back off the rough/turf line, can more easily find a ball to play it, but you are still gonna deal with trees.

 

Our MGA raises money throughout the year for course improvements via their events.  They usually earmark that money for additional small capital projects.  I was gonna float a load or two of pine straw going down in those problem areas as an idea.

[david.c.w]

FWIW I (and my playing partners) would rather play off hardpan than pine straw.  

[Hawkeye77]

The bases of the pine trees at our course are surrounded by dirt (I'm not even sure all pine trees really generate it - have a bunch at my house, never a pine straw "nest" around the base of any of the pines, it's dirt) - we'd never bring in pine straw to the golf course, not sure what the reason would be? 

[bcjim]

1 hour ago, Hawkeye77 said:

The bases of the pine trees at our course are surrounded by dirt (I'm not even sure all pine trees really generate it - have a bunch at my house, never a pine straw "nest" around the base of any of the pines, it's dirt) - we'd never bring in pine straw to the golf course, not sure what the reason would be? 

Vanity. It looks nice.

 

I do play a course that has some natural PS. I would definitely rather hit off the dirt. If for no other reason to prevent wrecking a wrist on an unseen root.

[TexasTurf]

We are trying it now for the first time this year after struggling with mulch before. The best mulch we get here turns into dirt or mud within a few months, so we are hoping for some more longevity, we will see.

 

As far as playability, these areas are very much off-line and were thick privet bushes that have now been removed, so at least now you can get to and find the ball. About 4 acres after 18 months of removal. Anywhere with enough sun we're growing knee high native grass which will not be easier to play out of.

[carrera]

Please for the love of God edit the thread title!

[mshills]

On 7/2/2025 at 3:57 PM, david.c.w said:

We use ~15,000 bales of pine straw.  It is a lot and we do the most in our area (per the pine straw guy).  It costs a ton.  They spray it with some sort of glue stuff to keep it in the same place.  We do it twice a year.  It looks great for a few weeks but then looks just OK.  It absolutely sucks if your ball lands in the new pine straw.  Nearly impossible to play out of.

 

I would vote to use mulch instead and cover less area.  It can last longer and is easier to play out of.  

 

I think we have actually come down from 15k bales recently but it is still a lot and I am not sure it is worth the $75k or whatever it costs 

Agree with this. I think in a vacuum pine straw costs a little bit less than mulch, but you need to use so much that practically it is still quite costly. We had this debate at my place and went with mulch in a much smaller coverage area, mostly because of the time and cost needed to spray that goo on pine straw to keep it there. 
 

It does look nice for a short time. That is about the only benefit. It is terrible to play from for many reasons — primary one is you don’t dare move it to see if there is a root or rock hiding right next to your ball, ready to ruin your season. 
 

Would not recommend manually adding it. Leave the pine straw for where it naturally happens to build up IMO. 

[Hawkeye77]

14 hours ago, carrera said:

Please for the love of God edit the thread title!

 

Yep, should be "you're" club! 🙃

[TexasTurf]

On 7/5/2025 at 6:08 AM, mshills said:

Agree with this. I think in a vacuum pine straw costs a little bit less than mulch, but you need to use so much that practically it is still quite costly. We had this debate at my place and went with mulch in a much smaller coverage area, mostly because of the time and cost needed to spray that goo on pine straw to keep it there. 
 

It does look nice for a short time. That is about the only benefit. It is terrible to play from for many reasons — primary one is you don’t dare move it to see if there is a root or rock hiding right next to your ball, ready to ruin your season. 
 

Would not recommend manually adding it. Leave the pine straw for where it naturally happens to build up IMO. 

Awesome information, thanks. That was our biggest concern as well, so we dug up all roots and removed rocks prior to putting it down. We'll see how it compares to the mulch we have used in the past. We are seeding every area that is viable for grass, but under trees where there is no sun the mulch has failed, so we're giving this a shot.

[smashdn]

On 7/3/2025 at 9:52 AM, david.c.w said:

FWIW I (and my playing partners) would rather play off hardpan than pine straw.  

 

I don't mind playing from bare dirt either, can spin the bajeezus out of the ball that way, but it looks rough.

 

On 7/3/2025 at 8:32 PM, bcjim said:

Vanity. It looks nice.

 

I do play a course that has some natural PS. I would definitely rather hit off the dirt. If for no other reason to prevent wrecking a wrist on an unseen root.

 

It looks "finished" I guess.  Also, would hope it would help some with erosion.  There are some places between holes where the pines are dense that are getting rutted from water running down the hill.  I get it won't stop water but should soak a bit of it and slow it to a small extent.  Plus, it looks finished.

 

We have some mulched areas too but only in cart turn arounds and around tee signs.  Places that are technically in play, but not intended for play if that makes sense.

[WesternRacing]

On 7/3/2025 at 7:52 AM, david.c.w said:

FWIW I (and my playing partners) would rather play off hardpan than pine straw.  

 

This 100x.  Why would anyone replace hard pan with pine straw?  The latter is a nightmare to get a consistent shot off of, while hard pan is actually fairly easy if you’re a decent ball striker.  Nothing I hate worse than finding my ball sitting in pine straw/needles.  I’d rather be hitting off a cart path.

[TexasTurf]

10 hours ago, smashdn said:

 

I don't mind playing from bare dirt either, can spin the bajeezus out of the ball that way, but it looks rough.

 

 

It looks "finished" I guess.  Also, would hope it would help some with erosion.  There are some places between holes where the pines are dense that are getting rutted from water running down the hill.  I get it won't stop water but should soak a bit of it and slow it to a small extent.  Plus, it looks finished.

 

We have some mulched areas too but only in cart turn arounds and around tee signs.  Places that are technically in play, but not intended for play if that makes sense.

Exactly, it's a "look" thing more than a playability thing. Sadly, on "our" side, course maintenance, bare ground is seen as a failure. Even if it's impossible to grow grass there. In our case under thick stands of low trees where the sun never shines, nothing will grow there in our climate. So the members have asked for the pine straw, and we've delivered what they want.

[mshills]

On 7/7/2025 at 1:19 AM, TexasTurf said:

…so we dug up all roots and removed rocks prior to putting it down. 

😯 Man, that is a big project for some freaking pine straw….and here I thought it was the “budget” option!

[smashdn]

I don't think we are going to dig out roots and rocks.  Probably won't expand the straw areas that are not happening naturally either to be honest.  I just wanted to understand any of the issues and maybe costs from places that have done it.

 

Our course is a rolling parkland design.  The truly native areas don't look "right" since pines are not native trees here.  Not sure if someone in the 80's was really an ANGC fan or what but we are thick with them now.  And I don't hate them because they can be limbed up and you still have a chance for recovery provided you can keep a ball low.  I am just not thrilled with the weedy, knee calf high stuff that they let grow in there.

 

And being harder or easier to hit from doesn't really play into my thinking on it.  A ball would be well offline if it were in these areas.  You hit it that far offline it should be a bit of challenge to get back into position.

[mshills]

3 hours ago, smashdn said:

 

And being harder or easier to hit from doesn't really play into my thinking on it.  A ball would be well offline if it were in these areas.  You hit it that far offline it should be a bit of challenge to get back into position.

Totally get that and I agree, a massive foul ball shouldn’t typically be a straightforward next shot. 
 

My beef with pine straw is I can’t really move it to see what might be behind or under the ball because the ball is all but guaranteed to move if you disturb the straw close enough to get an idea. I’m not trying to hit a root or a rock with my usable arm and end my season….so I try to hit the ball really thin and advance it some way. 

 

Pine straw sucks. Don’t put it there and if you do, don’t hit it there!

[WesternRacing]

8 hours ago, smashdn said:

I don't think we are going to dig out roots and rocks.  Probably won't expand the straw areas that are not happening naturally either to be honest.

 

it doesn’t sound like you’re going to do this, and it should be obvious, but…do not let your maintenance team put pine straw OVER roots or rocks.  Nothing would be worse than turning what would be just be an awful lie into a broken wrist.  I caught an unseen root under some loose mulch once and it ended my round and golf for me for a month.