[draigenia]

http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/...091116-1939803




Even before tuning into the tawny naturalism of Melbourne's Kingston Heath last week, I'd seen golf's future—and it isn't green. Color me intrigued. Credit Scott Anderson.

Anderson is the super at Huntingdon Valley Country Club—27 holes just north of Philadelphia designed in the late 1920s by William Flynn—and for a man whose job is grass, Anderson cuts against the grain. Since 1983 he has done the unthinkable, encouraging golf's true colors to shine through. He welcomes the various browns that Mother Nature nurtured before sprinklers and chemicals turned multihued swaths into monochromatic ones.

Such apostasy sprang from necessity. Working under severe drought restrictions, his predecessor essentially cooked the course, an ecosystem already made fragile by too much water and fertilizer. Like most of the overpampered, it couldn't take the heat. So, with the backing of a forward-thinking, uh, green committee, Anderson embarked on a maintenance alternative so old—as in Tom Morris old—that it's radical. "Everything I can do to not use water, I do," Anderson says.

By holding back on the irrigation of fairways—only tees and greens sip regularly from his sprinklers—he has stimulated nature into taking over. Unless there's a lot of rain, Huntingdon Valley's fairways go dormant in the summer, ideal for firm and fast play. At the same time, through organics, Anderson has discovered the benefits of feeding soil, so its nutrients and microorganisms nourish the grass.

The plants thrived without coddling, sinking deeper roots and growing stronger, more drought tolerant and more disease resistant. And maintenance costs plummeted. Less water means lower water and electricity bills, as well as diminished wear on his equipment. Dormancy means less mowing, which means less fuel, less pollution and a smaller crew. Less fertilizer saves money and puts fewer chemicals in the ecosystem.

Anderson has become so adept at hydro-stinginess that during a late-'90s drought his restricted seasonal allotment of 13.5 million gallons of water was actually five million more than his average. The savings make members happy, as does the challenge of a course that changes character with the weather. "Playing conditions [come] first and foremost," says Anderson, "not color."

So what's the catch? We're so conditioned to golf greenery that brown takes time to get used to. But what better time than now? "Adversity stimulates change," says Anderson, "and economic adversity may stimulate more clubs to view change as an opportunity, not a threat."

[Aaron757]

I'm not sure brown will become the new green on most courses, but I do think many courses will become more sustainable over time.

[draigenia]

When I lived in Arkansas, It was common for the courses to go dormant in the winter and they did not overseed, so they were brown all winter. It was never a problem for us. We played on them anyway and it just wasn't an issue.

Since moving to Arizona, I have become accustomed to the annual winter overseeding and it seems odd to see a course that is dormant.

[Aaron757]

They are here, but I still replace divots out of habit.

[Drugsonl]

My course goes brown in the winter - they only overseeded the tees this year. The greens are dyed green about every third week during the dormant season, which mostly aids their status as targets. They run the mowers over the greens a time or two per week, to help keep them fairly smooth. The winter 'greens' have been just fine to play on. The grass will generally go dormant by November's end and will begin to green again in early March. This will be the 4th or 5th year since any greens were overseeded.

[draigenia]

It was really a shock to my system when I moved here in February and all the courses were beautiful "Ireland" green. I thought I had moved to golf heaven. Finally someone told me that they overseeded with rye for winter play. Quite a revelation.

[Aaron757]

When did golf became all about vivid green courses - I'm afraid I don't know my golf course history. Was it when golf started being televised in color or when more resort courses started being built?

[draigenia]

When did golf became all about vivid green courses - I'm afraid I don't know my golf course history. Was it when golf started being televised in color or when more resort courses started being built?

I would say the beauty of Augusta had a lot to do with it once the tournament was televised in color. Prior to that, the courses didn't look that good. Augusta set the bar for what a course should look like and it has grown from there.

[hasasnn2345tv]

I play on a lot of brown courses during the year. Right now everything around here is in better "colors" (over seeding) than during the summer months. During the summer hot months in this region, one mistake by the course superintendent, and it is brown city for the rest of the summer. Too much fertilizer, too little, or too much water coupled with high triple digit heat kills things in this part of the country. Higher end courses have the monetary resources to do a better job, and hire more competent people than some of the budget tracks do.

[draigenia]

I play on a lot of brown courses during the year. Right now everything around here is in better "colors" (over seeding) than during the summer months. During the summer hot months in this region, one mistake by the course superintendent, and it is brown city for the rest of the summer. Too much fertilizer, too little, or too much water coupled with high triple digit heat kills things in this part of the country. Higher end courses have the monetary resources to do a better job, and hire more competent people than some of the budget tracks do.

Speaking of making mistakes, the City made a huge one year before last. They spread 700 lbs per acre of rye seed for overseeding when the general rule is never more than 350 lbs per acre. Rye grass is somewhat toxic to bermuda roots and by mid-summer, we had lush rough but no fairway grass on a few of the city courses. It made for an interesting summer.

[neeclindy]

Here the grass goes dormant in the winter... just normal for the temperature and climate. It would be difficult to cut back much on the summer irrigation here though.... with 20% humidity and 90 to over 100 degree temps in the summer, any water is just sucked right out of the ground. Grass doesn't go dormant, it dies a very permanent death. Even a dry winter can be deadly to most turf grasses.

This spring my course had to reseed large areas of the course, particularly tee boxes and higher parts of several fairways in order to bring it back from a warm, dry winter last year. They used more than a 1000 pounds of seed just doing the patching. It wasn't until mid June that the course was really back to its summertime normalcy. Because of the semiarid climate, the fairways naturally tend to have varying green and brownish and yellowish areas.