Trees v. Turf



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As the greens are starting to break dormancy, you can really decipher the poa from the bentgrass. Some may call the various colors of the greens ugly, I am fascinated by the variations. Here is a picture of the 7th green from the rear. You can see the lighter shade of green (poa) is concentrated at the front right of the green. This portion of the green was heavily shaded from the large cottonwood.

Now with the tree gone, it will give way to more sunlight and air movement and allow bentgrass a more competitive edge. We are expecting a nice improvement on our bentgrass numbers this year. This green will receive a lot more morning sun each day. We expect to see our bentgrass numbers jump this year on #7.

Overall the greens are coming through the winter quite healthy. We are scheduled to aerify next week. Aerification will promote soil temperatures and the plants will begin to grow. Once growing, color will blend and become unnoticeable. Of course playability trumps all conditions and our goal is consistency through the green.