Fairway Seeding Program and Process

There are several of you out there that have inquired about our seeding process after the flood that took place July 23rd of this year. I hope to answer many of your questions in this post, and shed some light on the next few weeks and how that affects the golf season for 2017.

#1 Approach, seeded in August 2016

Since the flood your maintenance staff has successfully seeded all of the aprons or approaches on the golf course, and four of the golf course fairways. The main focus after the flood was to seed the areas that were affected the most by the summer weather. The choice to seed the approaches was due to the fact that the approaches, located right next to the greens, were in disarray. Turf quality and play-ability needed to be addressed in these areas first. After the approaches were finished we seeded what were at the time, the four thinnest fairways, #'s 10,14,15, and 18. We also did some spot seeding in other areas of the course as well such as #9 fairway. Although several other fairways were definitely in the running we felt that these areas were the worst.

#9 Fairway / flood related damage

#9 Fairway, Close up of the same area

After these areas were seeded our next step was to decide how much Poa annua, or unwanted grass, we wanted to try and kill. Without killing the Poa annua, it is likely that this process repeats itself. Poa annua has thousands of seeds in the ground, and through cold and damp weather Poa continuously grows back. Unfortunately enough Poa is also very influential to hot and humid weather as well. If the Poa grows back, due to its shallow and weak root system it will then die again in the summer, and we are right back to where we started.

Dead Poa annua on #18 Fairway

The decision has been made to spray and kill as much Poa as possible and begin braking this cycle. Your maintenance staff has already begun spraying all of the renovated Tee complexes, and all of the Approaches and Fairways. We will then continue to seed all the sprayed areas using a process known as  "Dormant Seeding" with the Kentucky Bluegrass that we have established in the above mentioned areas of the golf course. The premise and goal of Dormant Seeding is that the seed is put into the ground now before winter, and that it breaks ground and germinates in the Spring.

Seeder disks that cut into the ground, the seed falls between the disks into place

Germinating seed in 2016

So what does that mean for spring of 2017? It means that we are hoping for a warm March/April to get this grass seed growing. It also means that we are not expecting to have lush thick fairways by March or April, but rather by late May and/or early June. The fairways will be sparse and thin, and we will be doing everything we can to keep cart traffic from damaging the newly germinated seed.


We know that this is not necessarily the plan of action most of you were looking to hear, but standing by and doing nothing will not make this golf facility better for the future. We have already been hard at work aerifying the fairways, in order to alleviate compaction and prepare them for the seeding process. Seeding will begin to take place this week, so that the work is completed before the winter weather arrives.

As the remaining weeks of the year come and go we will begin to see the Poa annua treatments take affect, and the Poa annua will change in color just as it did when we did our trial sprays last season on hole #'s 5 and 13.

Close up of Poa annua turning white in 2015. 

#5 Fairway turning white in 2015

The goal of this process is to have beautiful Kentucky Bluegrass that becomes easier to manage from a maintenance prospective, and offers better play-ability on a players end. We will always live with a percentage of Poa annua, and there will always be an ongoing goal to reduce that population to a manageable level in which dramatic weather and climate change to not derail our operation and golf season.

We appreciate your patience in this process and hope you enjoy seeing the golf course change for the better. We continue to welcome warm weather as it allows us to continue working outside and for you to get in those late season rounds.

Respectfully,

Nick Marfise
Golf Course Superintendent