This article was written by Superintendent Doug Anderson at Monterey C.C. to his membership explaining the recent change they experienced in green speed. I thought you might find it interesting, as it is the same thing we experience. In this article he is talking specifically about his greens, but the same situations occurs on tees, fairways and roughs also.


Golf Course Green Information

There is no such thing as a green, wet, lush, fast green. These are the conditions we have experienced since mid January. During the middle of the month the greens were rolling 8.6 to 8.8 on the stimp meter as you all noticed.

During overseeding we establish the newly seeded greens at 1/4th inch or .250 for at least 5 to 7 days after the first mowing. Then we apply a variety of plant nutrients especially nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus. These elements supply the plant energy for rapid growth and plant density (number of grass blades per square centimeter) for a nice lush thick stand of turf. We then begin lowering the height of cut to 1/8th inch and apply Primo Maxx, which is a plant growth regulator (PGR). We attempt to have the greens rolling around an 8 on the stimp meter for opening day on each course. All these management processes occur while soil and air temperatures are still high. We continue to lower our heights of cut to 3/32 inch or .09 as nitrogen levels come down, thus helping to speed greens up to our desired conditions of 9.5 to 10 on the stimp meter. Therefore, as temperatures come down and nitrogen levels taper off the grass blades are much thinner and yield smoother quicker greens. In addition all plant physiological processes slow as temperatures come down, also helping to maintain consistent green speeds. We continue to monitor green speeds weekly by light applications of fertilizer (spoon feeding) and PGR’s.

Then comes the frost periods sometime in mid December thru mid January, at which time the plant blades shrivel up and green speeds can become very quick. These conditions are more a function of Mother Nature than any management program. Also, the plant requires very little water during these cold periods also adding to faster greens.

During these cold spells, we stop our PGR program and increase our fertility rates trying to help regulate a consistent green speed. Sometimes Mother Nature can trick us and everything gets out of whack. As we all know, during the early part of January temperatures were a beautiful 10 to 12 degrees above normal for several days which caused the soil temperature to literally jump from 48 degrees to 55 degrees. At this time all plant physiological processes jumped as well. Thus, the size of the grass blades doubled or tripled in size and our green speed radically slow down in just a few days. We have now started to apply the PGR, micro nutrients and iron (for color) to gain back control over our green speeds again. The greens were stimped today at 9.9 and we anticipate no further radical changes in our green speed. With that being said, we have control over most factors that produce great putting greens. The things we cannot control are soil and air temperatures. Mother Nature really has more control over us than we sometimes want to admit.

I assure you we will do our very best to continue to provide you the best possible course conditions throughout the season.

Thank you for your time and continued support,

Douglas Anderson
Golf Course Superintendent