Are you looking to renovate your greens this spring?
Are you looking to renovate your greens this spring?
This "truly" amazing report tells you why you should.
When considering the renovation of six greens on the Spring Hill Country Club golf course, one of the biggest concerns was uniformity of new greens compared to the original fifty-year-old Poa Annua greens. The transition from Bentgrass to Poa Annua seemed to be the only option but would take several years to accomplish with a distinct difference between the original and the newly renovated greens.
The overseeding programme began on the greens not to be renovated. The initial overseeding took place at the time of autumn aeration and the response was impressive.
Germination of the Poa Reptans in aeration holes was identified in five days and two weeks later there were no obvious signs aeration had taken place. These greens were overseeded three more times the following year using the same process with even better results. Six greens were then renovated and seeded with True Putt mixed with Creeping Bentgrass at a 2:1 ratio. True Putt germinated within three to five days resulting in very rapid establishment and vigorous growth. By the third week after seeding the greens were cut and it was possible soon after to achieve a height below ¼", with play resuming the following spring.
The greens have been open for play for almost two years now and the overseeding programme has continued on all of the greens, including the newly renovated greens. The results have been far beyond expectations. The uniformity between the greens on the course is amazingly similar. Green speeds are consistent and the greens accept ball shots uniformly whether on the fifty year old or the newly renovated greens.
The drought tolerance of True Putt is noticeable. This past summer (2003) was one of the hottest and driest seen in the region for nearly one hundred years. Compared to water requirements of the greens in the previous five years, calculated by average sprinkler head run time, 35% less water was used to irrigate the greens this year. Taking into account the extreme weather conditions encountered during the drought of that particular summer, the decrease in water use was completely unexpected. Hand watering was significantly less as well.
"Agronomically, I believe the True Putt is the most obvious fit for maintaining putting surfaces where Poa Annua is being managed or is a problem." quotes Matt Peltier "Its growth habits, putting quality, drought tolerance and similarity in colour to Poa Annua make this turf grass easily adaptable to an overseeding programme as well as a perfect fit for renovation of putting greens in this environment. The feedback from golfers and the constant compliments on the density, colour and speed of greens makes True Putt the obvious choice for our putting surfaces." Similar results with True Putt have been seen in the UK.
For further information about True Putt, or any of Johnsons Sport and Amenity mixtures, contact 01386 791102 or email: amenity@dlf.co.uk