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The tee area is easy, natural Bermuda grass, the Green is troublesome.......a nice putting surface needs a lot of maintenance.
Most reports I read online says that 90%+ of people who attempt a natural grass green fail due to maintenance, and should have chosen an artificial surface.
Any golfers out there that have tried this? Is maintaining the green that hard, even with irrigation?
I'm at home all day, mainly retired, have a lot of time to spend on the yard and maintenance. Is maintaining a natural green that hard?
Your thoughts please :)
>>needs a lot of maintenance
I don't know first hand but I bet its a nightmare.
Do you want to spend most of your time golfing, or maintaining your one-hole golf course?
I searched for 'greenkeeper' and dug up a load of links to societies and publications + a little content.
As a keen golfer and a qualified Landscaper I have a bit of an interest in this field (scuse the pun). I chatted to the green keeper at my local club once - apart from unusually large amount of expletives in his vocab he was very knowledgeable. He explained that some of the tricks to keeping the greens were pretty obvious; moving the cup regularly, regular watering ("****ing yorkshire rain"), good drainage and a decent mower/roller. They seed often, use a fair bit of sand to stabilise areas of wear and have a perforating rotivator to puncture the matted top layer to allow the soil to breathe and moisture to drain uniformly.
Having a winter green to avoid 'peppering' from pitchmarks would be a must in the UK...
By the looks of the keepers shed they have a fair few rollers and mowers to choose from but I bet that one of the turfers mags will point to good one for a DIY'er.
Another tool I have seen them use is what I can only describe as a corking machine - it looks like a set of spikes on a drum and appears to draw out long thin tubes of turf about 10mm wide and 100mm long - they tubes resemble horse feed when they are dumped. I'm guessing this is used to aid drainage and promote new growth.
BTW I am proper jealous - having the space and time to create my own 'partree' would be great :)
THe grass is constantly stressed due to the short blade height. This makes it suceptible to disease, fungus and pests. It also makes it susceptible to scorching by the sun, requiring watering several times a day at some times of the year.
Under the grass, it is often no more than a 50/50 mix of sand and peat moss. This helps with drainage. Of course, all the nutrition drains aways too. Frequent fertilization is needed.
It takes a special mower to keep the grass that low. This is due in part to the special alloys used in the bed knife of the reel mowers. To cut 1/8" high grass, the bed knife (the long, straight blade) needs to be very thin and very stiff. Figure $3-5k for a used mower.
The mowers are heavy - by design. This helps to smooth the green every time it is mowed, like running a roller over it. Makes for a good green. Also compacts the soil, which means regular core aeriation. (And, you have to get rid of those cores somewhere...)
Grass grows quickly. Expect to mow the green at least daily. To keep it in optimal condition, mow morning and evening.
A round of golf is pretty cheap given the maintenance required on the course.
Good luck.
WBF
PS - I am not a greenskeeper, but I know one. He has a putting green for a front lawn, and it is always in immaculate condition. I have room for a 180 yard par 3 (with pond) and discussed it with him. I now have animals grazing the grass down :o
WFB, I appreciate your post. I already suspected it was going to be a challenge!
However, I don't see anyone saying "choose artificial"!
I have a lot of spare time, which is fun, to build things. I'm happy to spend 2 hours per day on my green, don't have anything better to do!
I live within 60 minutes of Sawgrass and the World Golf Village (NE Florida), but, after a round there you still need a 20th hole (after a few drinks at the 19th) to have some more fun.
Thanks for all the advice, I've decided to build in a natural way. It might take a few years, but, that is okay also :)
