a five common mistakes on golf course greens

The Five Mistakes on Greens

By: Normas Yakin Arifin

www.mynormas.com

Who am I?

• Glenmarie Golf & Country Club 1993 – 1996


• Clearwater Sanctuary Golf Resort 2000 – 2003

• Kota Permai Golf & Country Club 2003 – 2007


• Mines Resort & Golf Club 2009 – 2010

• On my own as consultant

www.mynormas.com2

The Five

1. Cutting height too low

2. Not doing regular soil test

3. Not maintaining the same grass

4. Compaction

5. Bad Mowing

• Common, noticeable to management/golfers

• Not too technical

• Routine

Cutting Height

• Why not?

– Photosynthesis

– The Rule of One-Third

– Minimum cutting height of grass differs

Photosynthesis?

Where?

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So much leaves


Photosynthesis

• Fertiliser is not the food

• Plants make food in leaves


Sunlight

Rule of One-Third

• Cut down too much

• Desperate for speed

• Or skipped mowing.

• Solve anything?

• Make grass grow: then

we cut the growth

drastically.

• Create more problems

• Raise the height!

www.mynormas.com 9

Remember…

“A slow green

is better

than a fast brown”


Different strokes for different folks

• Different grasses

– Different tolerances

– Different reactions.



• Different tolerances

• Different reactions.



• Different tolerances

• Different reactions.


Tifdwarfs from greens on one course


• Different Grasses



• Same grasses different places




Same grasses different places

Shade will cause different growth habits,

• Grass grow longer under shade

• We cannot cut both at the same height

• But sometimes they’re on different sides of the same

green!


Same grasses different places

• Grasses under stress are more fragile

• If we cut at the same height as grass not

under the same stress; the grass will suffer.


So: remember two things…

“A slow green

is better

than a fast brown”22/9/2014 www.mynormas.com 17

Cutting height is not greenspeed.

2. Soil test

• Minimum once annually

• Best done twice a year

• To know the current situation

• To see the trend

• To correct imbalances


Nutrient availability

• Nutrient is enough: less fertiliser

• Not enough: more.

• Nutrient is in the soil; not taken up

• Culprit: pH.


Different greens: different pH


Take home point: Remember…

• Soil test should be routine: 1 or 2 times a year

• Soil test saves money

– How much to fertilise

– Direction and the effect

• Soil test saves greens.

– Acid environment (haze, sulfur)

– Salinity (sea water in irrigation lake)


For soil test:

Carron Lee

from SGS

013 351 8046

3. The same grass

• Most Malaysian clubs’ problem

• Especially with Tifdwarf

• A spontaneous mutation many years ago

• Mutation does not happen overnight

• Brought in : planting, replanting or golfers or

staff.

• Tifdwarf does not have DNA fingerprint.


Tifdwarf

Bought 10 years or more ago Bought last year.


Tifdwarf from same course


Take home point: Please…

• Have your own nursery.

• ONE F**K**G nursery. It can even be your

practice green or green 7 OR 17 (Not “and”)

• All of your material for replanting must come

from this source.

• If you have to buy (sod?) bring a sample from

your club and compare.

If same: send your people during harvesting.


3. Compaction

• Soil particles pressed together

• Air and water cannot go in.

• Microbes dead.

• Water stagnant; algae.

• Roots die

• No air = anaerobic : hydrogen sulphide

• Black layer.


Effects of compaction

• Disease

• Algae

• Root rot

• Stressed management.


3 years


Two types of compaction

• One is surface

• One is pan compaction: caused by…

• Regular Hollow or worse; solid tining.



Pan Compaction

Relieving Compaction

• Aerate

– Hollow or solid

• Spike or Slice (for surface)

• Every few years, do deeper (for pan)

– Use verti-drain, drill, or bigger machine.

• Roll judiciously.


Benefits

outweigh

problems


5. Bad Mowing

• Quite Common

• Most of all, is unsharpened or badly

sharpened blade.

• Secondly, badly adjusted height

• Then; poor operation.

• Last: machinery.


Bad cut



The knife bites


As it should be

Bad adjustment: mismatch


Washboarding

Rippling

When the speed of the mower traveling differs from the speed of the reel spinning.

Mower problems:

Rippling / washboard

Take home points: Mowing

• Sharpen blade properly.

• Grind!

• Train

• Get a good mechanic


Other problems

• Wrong diagnosis

– Diseases, insects, compaction.

• Slow to react. Also: react instead of act.

– No training

– Attitude

• Bad construction

– Or reconstruction


Amazing of all

• Bad practices

– Preventive spray

• Prevent what? Ants?

– No size measurement

• 2kg/100m2.

• Buy fertiliser rounded up to the tonne.

– no calibration of spreader

• Adjust at every hole?

– No training


The Five most common Green

1. Cutting height too low

2. Not doing regular soil test

3. Not maintaining the same grass

4. Compaction

5. Bad Mowing

6. Other problems…

Normas Yakin Arifin

Call 012 511 3353

www.mynormas.com

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a five common mistakes on golf course greens

Sports

different strokes

different greens

different sides

different ph2292014

grasses different placesshade

different growth habits

height of grass

glenmarie golf country