playability

I’ve not been an advocate for zoysiagrass (korai) greens when bermudagrass greens are a viable option. The reason for this is ball roll. With the same maintenance, bermudagrass greens have a noticeably smoother and faster ball roll.

I was a guest on The Tie podcast where I spoke with Walker Simas about “Turf for Dummies.” Well, not quite to that extreme. We still managed to cover a lot of greenkeeping topics, but perhaps I explained the topics in a less technical way.

Slides You can download the slides here: Modern methods for real world data collection to improve input efficiencies and turf playability, 4.7 MB PDF file Notes During the seminar, I mentioned adjusting N rates by checking the actual clipping volume compared with the desired clipping volume.

I’ve been playing golf since 1988, and working in greenkeeping since 1993. Depending on who’s reading this, and when, that either makes me an old timer, or it reveals how new and inexperienced I am 😉 😄.

I’ve measured more deviations in ball roll (bobble, chatter, and snaking) on golf course putting greens at the end of a day’s play, compared with measurements of ball roll deviation made prior to any play.

An anonymous golf course superintendent sent me this message: I’m blown away by the quality of these surfaces with an amount of nitrogen I would’ve thought was far too small.

The 50th KBC Augusta tournament was played from August 24 to 27 at Keya Golf Club in Fukuoka, Japan. This was my ninth KBC Augusta tournament, and during each of these tournaments I’ve shared photos, ideas, and measurements related to the course maintenance work.

One of the measurements I routinely make on putting greens is the surface hardness—or firmness—as measured by the sdi golf course firmness tester. What I provide to the golf course superintendent, at least during tournaments, is a summary chart like this one.

The 50th KBC Augusta golf tournament will be held at Keya Golf Club in Fukuoka next week. This is an especially interesting golf tournament because of the grass types used—korai (Zoysia matrella) on greens, fairways, and tees, with noshiba (Zoysia japonica) in the rough.

Here are three items that cover the topic of surface hardness, or the firmness of turfgrass surfaces, from all kinds of angles. Richard Forsyth is the director of courses at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.