Each year we wait and hope that our fairways come through the winter in great shape. More often than not we have some issues of some sort. This year is no different, we have some fairways that look good and others that are struggling to green up. This year #5 and #6 fairways are the worst hit, I think it is due to the north winds this winter that blew the area clean of snow cover. This allowed the area to be open and dry most of the winter.
This continues to happen to us for several reasons. First we have old cultivars of grass in our fairways, most of which are not designed to be mowed under 1.5". Next we have no drainage in our fairways, this allows water to puddle and freeze during the winter months. If that ice stays there too long it will suffocate the grass. And finally we live in an area that is subject to booth open dry winters and heavy snow, which can create snow mold.
So back to the photo above. The green strip through the middle is an old trench that we raised and reseeded two years ago. This strip has new cultivars of grass, which in this years conditions the new cultivars were able to survive the winter. The old cultivars around it were not so successful. The new cultivars are designed to be mowed as low as 1/2"
As I showed in a previous blog we have reseeded #5 and #6 fairways this spring. We are hoping the new seed will take and get a good stand of the newer grass cultivars. We are also in the process of seeding some of the other bad spots through out the golf course. Thus getting some of the new cultivars of grass in all the current struggling areas.
Why don't we just go out and reseed all fairways right now? Studies have shown that over seeding into an existing stand of grass is not real successful. There also has been some limited success to killing and fairway off and reseeding. Our plan for now is to continue to reseed the struggling areas. The process we used is to aerate and over seed. We also have the new cultivars in the sand n seed mix, I think that is why we are seeing some patchy areas on the fairways.
I hope this explains the fairways somewhat. No real right or wrong. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Thank You
Ross
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