The Rough Stuff! : Links Rough Management.

Over the next month or so, the links team will be carrying out rough management practices in many areas of the golf course. Good links roughs provide excellent habitat for flora and fauna such as wild flowers, small mammals and encourages valuable nesting sites for certain birds.

Apart from the above factors, more open and thinner links rough have positive impacts from a playing perspective. Thick and tangled rough areas require constant maintenance, generally in the form of cutting, usually to please the golfer, who frequents these areas with wayward shots. Well managed open grassland roughs, from a playing point of view, enables better playability and easier location of stray golf balls. This ultimately results in faster play and less frustration, on that front.

Visually, well managed true links rough provides improved overall aesthetics, better definition and fantastic colour changes, throughout the seasons.

Continuing from the work carried out last autumn and this spring, the method of rough management this year will be cutting and collecting. This will lower the nutritional content in any of the more lush areas. Treatment with the graminicide Rescue, which will selectively kill any coarser grasses such as Perennial Ryegrass (Lollium sp.) and Yorkshire Fog (Holcus lanatus). After the treatment takes effect, the roughs will be pin harrowed or scarified to open up the grassland, thin it out and allow for natural regeneration of native grasses and wildflowers. If certain areas do become sparse and lack re growth is apparent, localised overseeding and topdressing will take place.

For the 2015 season, it has been agreed with the clubs ecological advisor that we create a 2 to 3 meter strip of fringing rough outside the semi rough cut line. In the past, these areas have been maintained as 4 inch rough, that required regular cutting with a semi rough type machine. In creating such, this band of rough will look tough to play out of, provide a challenge as the fescue grass will wrap around the club hozzle, but ball location will be relatively easy. It will also require less cutting, saving on man hours, machinery and fuel costs..... the best of both worlds really, that will hopefully lead to a lot less of the below, when growth is strong.

Enjoy the Links.

Question and Answers Session for the Atlantic Golf Superintendents Association Turf News

The Need to Seed.

The introduction of highly performing seed species and cultivars in this day and age is never a bad thing. As both membership expectations and environmental legislation continue to increase, playing surfaces need to be performing both well from a playing aspect but also meeting the desires of governmental/environmental expectations. In certain countries, tax is now paid on Nitrogen inputs, pesticides are being revoked and water is becoming a limited and expensive resource.

Dyna seeding of Fescue operation in action.

Overseeding is a practice that allows the turf manager an opportunity to counteract the above and produce superior playing surfaces that perform better, through longer periods of the year, despite a wide array of testing conditions often encountered.

Being based on a coastal links site, a mixture of both Chewing's and Slender Creeping Red Fescue are introduced to the playing surfaces regularly throughout the period of April until October. This operation is executed when conditions are ideal for germination, establishment and integration into the existing sward and rootzones. 

Seed cultivar selection is a relatively easy process. The final decision is based on what performs well on our site and also in conjunction with the Turfgrass Amenity seed ratings booklet. This literature provides the turf manager with information on how different species, varieties and cultivars perform overall, when rated on factors such as: Shoot density, visual merit, fineness of leaf, resistance to Red Thread and summer/winter greenness. Of course, it would be nearly impossible to rate these single cultivars in the field and such research is carried out in trial plots. Overall ratings are in conjunction with an average score based on the factors tested.

Marking out of trial plots, on site seed cultivar performance testing.

At the club, we have carried out some site specific research on an area of our turf nursery testing different blends and mixtures supplied to us by a major seed distributor. Although the trial is still relatively young, a few interesting observations have been made in our situation and certain mixtures are out performing others, which was initially envisaged. 

I like many others, believe that the more higher rated site specific cultivars are introduced, the better overall performance will be seen. At present, we are currently introducing 5 x Slender creeping red fescue (Festuca rubra trichophylla) varieties and 5 x Chewing's fescue (Festuca rubra commutata) varieties, which score very highly in the seed ratings booklet, into the putting surfaces.

So what factors are needed for successful seed germination?

•   Available moisture
•   Correct soil temperatures 
•   Oxygen

How do we encourage successful germination and establishment?

• Create the correct seedbed and rootzone conditions.
• Plant the seed at the correct depth.
• Encourage seed germination by providing adequate moisture.
• Relax aggressive maintenance operations until seedlings are established ie: grooming, verti cutting, heavy topdressing, lifting mowing heights.
• Providing light nutrition once new plants are apparent. Seaweed works fantastic from past experience.
• Manage and adopt practices to suit the desired species that we wish to establish into the sward. 

Visible results from fescue slit seeding operation.

Over the years I have seen various methods work well with regards to overseeding, they would be as follows: slit seeding, solid tine aeration with shorter tines, then drop seed in the desired species, matt in  and lately the Greentech Dyna seed units which create thousands of small pots for the seed to drop into.  After each operation surfaces are generally topdressed to protect the seed from the elements and to restore the surfaces.

Successful overseeding has many benefits and through a religious programme,  better surfaces will be produced both from a playing and agronomic aspect, day in day out. 

With regards to introducing and managing fescue in links greens: Truer, firmer surfaces are produced year round, with better ball roll and improved playing characteristics (Happy golfers), lower inputs of Nitrogen are needed (keeping costs down), likewise with chemical inputs (disease tolerance), less water (drought tolerance) and minimal surface disturbance (fescue prefers a settled environment). Fescue is also a very slow growing grass species (less mowing, less costs, less machine hours). If we add all these pieces to the jigsaw: growing fescue in a links situation is a very sustainable in the terms of cost, inputs and overall performance..... a win, win situation really!

 Fescue links putting surfaces, picture taken late February 2014.