Green Golf Courses: A Study of Maintenance Practices in RI

Rebekah Rottenberg
Bachelors of Arts in Environmental Studies
May 2003

There is no established definition for a green golf course. In this study I define a green golf course as, "any course where the superintendent is taking steps towards, or is balancing, management and maintenance decisions and practices with the needs and desires of both golfers and the environment." In this study I interviewed 20 superintendents of RI golf courses about their maintenance practices. The interviews were designed to provide an understanding of the maintenance practices of each course, specifically in regards to turf, water, and pesticides. The interviews were interactive, and focused on the scientific and social reasons that superintendents do what they do, with respect to course maintenance. I asked over 40 questions, however; during each interview the dominant question I was looking to answer was, "What does a green golf course look like?" After interviews that often lasted over two hours, extensive background research, interviews with DEM officials, seed salesmen, and grounds keepers, and a tremendous amount of data analysis, I reached a working image of a green golf course.

Green Golf Courses:

• Informed and educated members and golfers
  
• ¼ in height of cut on the greens
  
• Velvet bentgrass on the greens
  
• IPM, or other alternative practices to pesticides
  
• Current irrigation technology

A green golf course will be most successful if it is green from the inside out. From my findings it was the golfers who demanded the low height of cut, the perfect greens, and spotless fairways. I observed superintendents who did not like the amount of pesticides they applied, nor how short they cut the greens, but their job and reputation were at stake if they did not conform to course and member demands. Informed and educated members and golfers are an essential element to a green golf course. One strategy involved a superintendent who sent out a weekly update over email that informed his members of the expected weather conditions for the week, and how the weather would affect the playability of the course. Another superintendent posted bulletins on the clubhouse news board that contained information such as what the greenskeeping crew was currently working on, and what the course expectations of the week should be. The superintendent of the private course that used the least amount of water and pesticides said his members accepted that there should be some brown spots on a golf course. The members of that course had formed their own greens committee, and the superintendent said that had made a huge difference and allowed him to water and spray less.

A green golf course will ideally have a height of cut at the longest length the members will tolerate. A low height of cut weakens the plant; it becomes less resilient, more susceptible to pests and disease, and requires more maintenance such as pesticide applications and water. A green golf course should also be fun, and desirable to play on, therefore the recommended height of cut is no less than ¼ in, unless the golfers indicate otherwise.

A green golf course should use the variety of grass that is best adapted to the region, is as water, drought, and disease resistant as possible, and is durable and resilient while still providing a soft desirable putting surface. The recommended variety for RI greens is velvet bentgrass. Velvet was engineered in RI by Dr. Skogli at URI, and was found to be the most successful out of all the bentgrass varieties. It has a fine leaf texture which allows for longer growth, while still providing a fast putting surface, and it is more drought, disease and pest resistant than colonial or creeping bentgrass, the other common varieties found on RI greens.
A green golf course should incorporate as many alternative practices to pesticides as possible. Strategies that worked best for RI superintendents were the application of organic fertilizers, setting tolerance thresholds for pests and diseases, and allowing the grass to take care of itself as much as possible. In addition, healthy soil maintenance, and reducing the amount of water applied to the course both had positive impacts on overall reduction of pesticide use.

A green golf course should have proper and up-to-date irrigation technology. One difficulty a course may have is the great expense associated with installing a new irrigation system. However, a good system can save as much as 100,000 gallons of water a day.

A green golf course can be public, private or semi-private. I found that the public and semi-private courses, which cost less to play at per day than the private courses, applied less water and spent less money on pesticides than private courses. Members were not paying as much to golf, thus they did not have as much say in the course conditions. Superintendents knew they could get away with one or two brown spots on their greens, and some allowed diseases to "run their course" and let the grass take care of itself. However, on the flip side is the fact that updated irrigation technology and organic fertilizers contribute to a green golf course, but both are associated with costs not all courses can afford. Some courses can afford fancy equipment, expensive seed, and additional labor, while other courses can only afford to mow their greens once a week, spray once a month, and irrigate only when it is needed. Both sets of practices work towards my definitions of a green golf course.

Public courses used less water, on average, than private courses. Although some of the private courses actually applied less water than the average public courses per summer (figure 1). However, the average private course applied 21 million gallons of water per summer, which was more than any of the public courses. The semi-private courses averaged 13.7 million gallons per summer, which placed them between the public and the private courses, with a few outliers that used very little water, as well as courses that used more than the average private course. Overall, there was a great disparity between the amounts of water the public and private courses applied; on average public courses pumped 8.5 million gallons of water, less than half of what private courses applied. These differences of water use were attributed to the different course expectations of the golfers, course maintenance, height of cut, and the actual number of irrigated acres.

The semi-private courses were found to spend the least amount of money on pesticides, the public courses second, with private courses spending the most. The superintendents who spent the least amount of money on pesticides attributed their success primarily to the use of organic fertilizers, and the superintendents who spent the most on pesticides mentioned the intense pressures they felt from members to maintain a green and spotless course.

All three types of courses, public, semi-private, and private planted the same grass species on their greens. Bentgrass was planted on 100% of RI greens; the differences were the varieties of bentgrass, as well as the height of cut. The course that applied the least amount of water and spent the least on pesticides planted velvet bentgrass on the greens. Private courses, on average, mowed their greens to a lower height of cut than the semi-private and public courses. The low height of cut was one of the factors contributing to why private courses pumped more than 100,000 gallons of water per summer than other courses, and why private courses spent at least $33,000 more on pesticides per year than other courses. The low height of cut on private courses was solely attributed to member demand. The superintendents of the private clubs repeatedly mentioned the pressures they felt from members to maintain a fast course, which primarily comes from a low height of cut. Despite the fact that more rounds are played at public courses (42,600 public vs. 25,000 private), the average annual dues at a private course are $18,000 where the average daily fee at a public course are $27. Thus demands from members at private courses carry more weight than golfers at daily fee courses.

The most important finding of this study was the importance of member education in terms of establishing a green golf course. The phrase, "everything is member driven" summarizes the impact the desires of members can have on the overall maintenance practices of a golf course. I also found that a green golf course was determined by any combination of the following factors: the grass species, height of cut, irrigation system, pesticide practices, and efforts to landscape with native species. I have made recommendations regarding what a green golf course should look like based on my interviews and background research in order to provide a reference, for golfers, superintendents and others in the hope that they can compare and contrast maintenance practices and ideas.