Why No Intermediate Cut of Rough

Every spring a concern about rough height and density becomes an issue and the question "why don't we have an intermediate cut of rough" comes up. Playability is very important to us and our goal is to provide a challenging and fair golf course that a golfer of any caliber can enjoy. Catering to the high and low handicappers at the same time is a very difficult challenge. In addition to that challenge, our course, as with any business or household has to operate within certain budget constraints and what we try to do is provide the best (and fairest) playing conditions within those constraints.

That being said, why not have an intermediate cut? Essentially, it comes down to two things: cost and time. Years ago, there was a first cut of rough mowed three times a week with a five-deck contour mower, and green and tee complexes were mowed at a different height, with our other contour mower. The problem we continuously encountered was being unable to keep up on green and tee complexes using only one mower. The grass in these areas was always too long and once mowed, it was messy and produced poor playing conditions around the greens. We had to prioritize what was more important: a first cut around the rough, or a shorter, more manageable rough around the green? We chose the green complexes.

To solve this problem, we converted the intermediate rough mower into a tee complex mower and dedicated the other contour mower to green complexes. This allowed us to get all green and tee complexes mowed twice a week, providing a cleaner and more playable scenario around greens. The obvious downside to this plan is it leaves us unable to mow an intermediate cut between the fairway and the rough. This issue is exacerbated this year due to the moisture and decent growing weather we have had recently. In a normal year, heat and/or moisture stress would have already started thinning out the rough. Be patient I still expect this to happen as we get deeper into the summer season.

Why not get a new mower and start cutting this intermediate rough again? We actually tried to do this with our 60" zero turn mower last year, but  the results were ugly. For those of you who play the course regularly and find yourself in the rough often, you are aware that the grading in our rough is, well, rough. This uneven grading makes it very difficult to get a good cut with a mower that doesn't have independent floating decks. When we tried our zero turn, we dropped the height a mere 1/2" and mowed around a couple of holes, scalping more turf than we felt was acceptable. To do this correctly, we need the right mower. The contour or rough mowers we have found the most success with retail anywhere from $35,000 up to $74,000 a piece. On top of the cost of equipment, we would have the cost of an additional employee, fuel, equipment maintenance costs and time.

This is definitely a hot topic of discussion and one that we are genuinely including in our conversation about the future. No process we have in place is necessarily permanent and there is always room for change and improvement. Unfortunately, the cost of changing this process prevents it from being one we can address immediately. We will continue to look for ways to mitigate the problem in the meantime.

We could always change our layout to mimic the #2 course at Pinehurst. They have two mowing heights:  1) greens height, and 2.) everything else. :)

Lastly, I had a cool opportunity to contribute to the NGA's Nebraska Golfer publication that was sent out last week. Here is the link to that article.

http://www.nebgolf.org/nebraska_golfer/ngaedition4/index.html

The link below will take you to an article written to help the golfer understand the goal and vision of Pinehurst's #2 Course renovation. In regard to aesthetics, agronomics, and playability the site of last weeks U.S. Open was a far cry from venues of the past. Some liked it some didn't and I myself am on the fence. Regardless of preference the big picture thinking that went into this course renovation and set up is intriguing.

http://www.turfnet.com/page/news.html/_/commentary-us-open-brings-topic-of-sustainable-golf-to-the-masses-finally-r330

Course Recovery and Going Ons

With the warm temperatures and ample moisture we have received the last couple of weeks, the course has continued to recover well. My guess is that we are at 85% compared to where we were last fall. Increasing fairway and approach/roll-off density is what we will continue to work on.

 

#1 Gray Hawk - April 7th

 #1 Gray Hawk - May 11th

#1 Gray Hawk - June 9th

#1 Black Bird- April 7th

 #1 Black Bird -May 11th

 #1 Black Bird -June 9th

The week of May 26th was somewhat nerve-racking. The heat and humidity that week provided conditions perfect for an outbreak of the disease called “damping off.” In a normal year, with mature turf, I wouldn't be concerned about this particular disease, but juvenile turf plants under high fertility programs are the perfect host. Not wanting our recovery process to lose ground, we applied a preventative control product and made it through unaffected. This is by far the earliest in the season that I have ever pulled this particular product off the shelf. Hopefully we won’t need it again until pythium season gets underway.

The fallen cottonwood tree on #6 Gray Hawk has been cleaned up, for the most part. There are still a few branches in the lake and a giant stump that needs to be ground out, and that work will continue this week. Fortunately, we dodged a bullet last week when the hail storms in the area missed the golf course. I know of a couple of courses in the area were hit hard by these storms and repairing hail damaged greens is an incredible challenge. If you play a course that happens to have any storm damage, please try to be understanding and patient. I assure you they are working hard to get things back in shape.



#6 Gray Hawk (after tree cleanup)

Because last week’s storm missed us, we have been afforded some time to catch up on things that the spring recovery and tornado clean up had prevented us from addressing earlier. We are using every resource we have to keep up with the rough mowing. This is a full-time job and the guys are doing what they can to keep up. Once again, I have to ask everyone to please be patient (I realize I sound like a broken record). A spring flush of growth is natural and lately it has been exacerbated by high moisture and good growing temperatures. The turf will naturally slow its growth with the onset of summer heat. I can assure you we are not mowing it any higher height than we have in the last eight years nor are we fertilizing it any more than normal.

We have started edging bunkers again and this will be a season long process. We never found the time to do this last year, so it is a definite point of emphasis for this season.

On a less positive note, a couple of weeks ago (on a Tuesday) we had golfers vandalize some greens. Here is a picture of the damage that was found on the greens of #8 and #9 Red Feather. If anyone has any information that leads to these people being caught, there is a reward. Going forward, anyone that provides information leading to any individual who has vandalized the course is eligible for a reward. Details of this new "crime stoppers" system can be found at the pro shop. Thanks for your help.