Final Preparations – Mowing Patterns
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• Turfgrass – Founded in 1997. • Worked on over 200 courses around the world. • Work with over 40 Designers. • Focus on: Agronomy, Project Management and development specifications for architects and developers • Advise on: • New courses • Renovations • Private golf facilities • 4 agronomists on the team • Tournaments include: The ROLEX Trophy, The Solheim Cup, The Evian Championship, JP McManus Pro Am. Privileged to have worked for the last four European staging's of The Solheim Cup: ▪ 2007 Solheim Cup, Halmstad, Sweden ▪ 2011 Solheim Cup, Killeen Castle, Ireland ▪ 2015 Solheim Cup, Golf Club St. Leon-Rot, Germany ▪ 2019 Solheim Cup, Gleneagles, Scotland Tournament Preparation • Begins with a frank review and Audit of the golf course and its operational capabilities in all weather scenarios. • Tournament Director, Tournament Agronomist and Superintendent evaluate the course setting realistic renovation and agronomic improvement goals. • During subsequent visits, progress will be monitored and adjustments will be made to best meet the tournament requirements. Davide Lantos, Tournament Director, Solheim Cup Tournament Preparation • In the case of Gleneagles, no infrastructural changes were required as the course had successfully held several events including; the Johnny Walker Championship and the 2014 Ryder Cup. • A large focus was placed on the drainage capacity of greens, approaches and fairways considering the likelihood of inclement weather in the Scottish Highlands. • This resulted in significant aeration, de-thatching and deep tine decompaction over a 2 year period. Preparing Resources - Staff / Equipment: • Evaluate the number, tiers and technical level of your team. • For Solheim Cup, we had 40 staff and 60 volunteers. • Headcount will vary – size of course, time of year, climate. • The high standards of turf conditioning cannot be produced with outdated and insufficient machinery. • Loan equipment generally provided by event partner or sponsor. Course Preparations: • Preparations should be divided into long and short-term categories. • Long-term projects: o bunker renovations o buggy paths o grassing lines o drainage and thatch management programmes • Short-term preparations occur within weeks of the event. These incorporate highly detailed tasks that include procedures that significantly deviate from routine maintenance. Greens: • Must be carefully examined to ensure they will produce a professional standard of smoothness, firmness and speed, and also survive the tremendous stress resulting from a tournament. • A look at the greens rootzone should show a clean, consistent profile with deep root penetration. • Short roots not yet under heavy tournament stress can result in turf thinning and loss during tournament preparation and tournament week. • In some cases a complete rebuild of greens is required, in other cases aggressive de-thatching programmes are necessary. Example - 20 year old USGA Bentgrass profile Example - 16 year old USGA Spec Bent/Poa green with poor drainage Greens: • In the case of Gleneagles, putting surfaces were deemed to perform well (physically) and only required routine aeration ahead of Solheim Cup. • Visually inspected profile, completed a laboratory analysis of organic matter and decided to complete intensive thatch removal to accelerate drainage and improve surface firmness. • Routine twice annual aeration up to Autumn 2018. • Autumn 2018 – greens received a double (two direction) CSI Graden, followed by a 12mm hollow core aeration removing ~25% of the surface. • Spring/Summer 2019 – Monthly solid tine and twice monthly topdress. Bunkers: • Up to 20% of maintenance budget, yet only 3-5% in play. • Professionals have come to demand a high degree of consistency. • Professionals expect bunkers that are firm, well drained, free of stones and other debris and promote fair lies away from the edges to facilitate a complete swing. • If drainage is poor (>7 years), a renovation of pipe, gravel and new sand will be required and this should be fully in place 12 months before the start of the event to minimise fried egg lies. • If bunkers are old (15-20 years) a complete renovation may be required. • Liner?? Tees: • Par 3 and small Par 4 tees are most vulnerable to wear. • Aim for 500-600m² per complex. • Tee markers 6 metres apart. • Championship tees have a tendency to have a build up of thatch due to infrequent use. Fairways: • Professionals prefer tight, firm fairways that maximise firmness and ball roll. For Solheim Cup mowing height was 11mm as female golfers generate less spin from the ball. For a men's tour event, fairway mowing height can be 8-11mm. • It is not uncommon to complete core aeration, verticutting and topdressing on a frequent basis to achieve tournament standard fairways. • In severe cases 4-6 core aerations and verticuttings may be necessary to achieve the desired firmness. • Drainage plays a major role in turf quality during a wet event. Areas that drain slowly will require supplemental drainage. • New drainage should be installed at least one year prior. Grassing Lines: • Adjusting/reinstating grassing lines can massively impact the presentation, playability and architectural features of a golf course. • In most examples, grassing lines are narrowed which in many cases removes fairway and approach bunkers from play. • Forced to play the centre line of fairways (target golf) removing some architectural features. • Golf course loses shape, width and definition. • Common example is approaches – for example originally 20m wide, after years of maintenance can reduce to 50%. Fertilisation: • Fertiliser programmes are geared toward gradually achieving the desired turf density and consistency about one month prior to the tournament. • Applications are initially more aggressive than normal to build sufficient energy reserves, to withstand wear from tournament maintenance and practices and inevitable increases in play and traffic. • Approximately 5 days prior to the first round, a nutrition tonic is applied. Depending on the region, this could be Iron (Fe) to create a more uniform colour, or a seaweed based biostimulant to pre-condition the plant against stress. Final Preparations – Green Speed: • Tournament officials will take a series of Stimp readings and practice putts on greens in the months leading up to the tournament. • This information combined with slope of the greens, time of the year and weather forecast (wind), will determine the green speed for tournament week. • Most recently at Gleneagles, target green speed was 10’6” (3.2m). • Onsite weather forecasters issued a weather warning for tournament Saturday with high winds and gusts in excess of 44mph (70kph). • Working closely with Davide Lantos and the Chief Referee, it was agreed not to mow or roll any wind susceptible greens and to relocate pins into “safe” locations. This process is common practice to ensure an event remains playable. Final Preparations – Irrigation: • Conservative watering programme should be implemented to promote higher stress tolerance and ultimately provide a firm playing surface. • Tournament officials prefer going into tournament week slightly dry rather than slightly wet. From a turf management perspective this can necessitate a lot of hand watering of tees, greens, fairways and approaches. Final Preparations – Mowing Patterns: • The mowing patterns implemented during tournament week are generally agreed between the venue and tournament officials. • Certain mowing patterns complement different architectural styles of golf courses. • Directional mowing (stripping) depending on the species of grass is generally implemented relatively late, to avoid excessive overlapping and ensure crisp, well defined mowing lines. • To maximise presentation of the overhead TV shots, mowing patterns are set up from the location of the TV tower. • Directional mowing is generally completed on approaches, fairways, tees and semi-rough. Final Preparations – Bunkers: • Bunkers always need special attention the week before the tournament, to ensure they are uniform and consistent with even depths of sand throughout. • Tournament officials prefer the “Aussie method” of raking as this tends to minimise plugged balls on bunker faces. This method has been implemented for the last 3 European Solheim Cups. • If this method is in place at the host venue, hand picking of grassy weeds and removal of algae from the smooth face may be required. Final Preparations – Rolling: • Speed rolling has become standard practice on golf courses worldwide. • During tournaments, rollers are used to smooth the surface for a more consistent ball roll. • At Gleneagles, most of our rolling was completed in the evening to ensure greens speed did not exceed the target. Final Preparations – Cup Cutting: • One of the most important assignments just before and during the tournament. • The Chief Referee determines hole placement just prior to event week. This allows the turf management team to correct any discrepancies around these areas. • Modern standards of hole cutting and painting are completed with surgical levels of detail and precision. Final Result - Aim • The planning and hard work pay off with a world class course which meets the expectations of the players, media and tournament officials. Final Result – A happy Tournament Director! Final Result – Reality? • Its not all sunshine! • A wet tournament week can often result in damage around the perimeter of the golf course and unfortunately this is part and parcel of tournament golf. Grazie mille! John Clarkin, Managing Director, Turfgrass Web: www.turfgrass.ie Email: [email protected] Twitter: @TurfgrassC Instagram: @turfgrass.ie.