Punched Greens

[broken27]

A sad necessity in golf course management, from what I understand. The greens at Dragonfly were punched yesterday, and I'll get a first hand look at them today. They were in relatively pristine shape until now, but I guess to stimulate new growth you have to do this periodically.

At $36 for all day golfing (barring a solidly booked teesheet), it's still worth it.

Just a heads up.

Dan

[daveyc]

Manderley has been punching their greens (and some fairways) over the past 2 weeks. North was punched first, and when we played it on Wednesday the greens were actually in pretty good shape. They punched the South greens on Wednesday.

[LongHitta]

I've played 4 times in last 2 weeks, and all the greens I've played were punched.....that is my pet peeve, but i understand this year they need to more regularly

[BC MIST]

A sad necessity in golf course management, from what I understand. The greens at Dragonfly were punched yesterday, and I'll get a first hand look at them today. They were in relatively pristine shape until now, but I guess to stimulate new growth you have to do this periodically.Dan

In the spring, greens are generally not watered as the hope is that the roots will grow deeper in search of water(hydrotropism?) While the green may be surface dry, obviously it is damper underneath, so the roots grow down.

As warm weather approaches courses open up the soil even further by aeration(now) to stimulate continued new grow and to get moisture and nutrients down deeper into the soil. In the hot weather the soil dries down below and the roots seek the moisture closer to the surface because of the staff watering the greens, so the roots shorten as they don't/can't find water deeper down. If the course begins the season with shallow roots, the greens simply become unhealty and are highly susceptible to fungus and other diseases.

While aeration at this time is an inconvenience and difficult to take, as the greens are just now getting into good shape, for the long term health of the plant it must be done. If it is done correctly with good top dressing, the putting is really not affected very much. Played Renfrew yesterday and their greens had just been done, and while they were a little slow, they were still smooth.

[broken27]

It wasn't too bad at all. Only had 28 putts on the day, but shot 88 (good for me) with a birdie. There are a couple of holes where I likely would have putted better, but the overall number is low. Only 3 or 4 greens out of 18 were "bad".

Thanks for the explanation BC. I thought it was something like that...

Dan

[broken27]

Here's a thought, and I'm sure this is common practice at some courses...

Why not punch the front OR the back (depending on need), or punch the front or back of each green? At Dragonfly the greens get as big as 11,500 sq ft, according to the website (mind you, I built that...). You could punch the back side and put pins in front, then reverse it the following "week" (not sure how long the grow-back period is)...

I know if a course has 27-36 holes, they normally shut down one or two nines at a time to do this stuff...

Thoughts?

Dan

[wantobegolfer]

It wasn't too bad at all. Only had 28 putts on the day, but shot 88 (good for me) with a birdie. There are a couple of holes where I likely would have putted better, but the overall number is low. Only 3 or 4 greens out of 18 were "bad".

Thanks for the explanation BC. I thought it was something like that...

Dan

Wow, 28 putts on freshly punched greens... . Have a look at this.

http://www.pgatour.com/stats/leaders/r/2005/119

[The Shtick]

Dan is a good putter...... just getting there in regulation is the hard part!!!

[broken27]

Dan is a good putter...... just getting there in regulation is the hard part!!!

Yeah... Too many times I one-putt, but it's shot number 5 or 6. Getting better on the approach though. When do you want to go play Shtick?

Dan

[The Shtick]

When do you want to go play Shtick?

The week of the 13th looks good for me (I'm moving right now-really busy). I'll call ya bud.....

[BullDog]

Yeah... Too many times I one-putt, but it's shot number 5 or 6. Getting better on the approach though. When do you want to go play Shtick?

Dan

Yep... that's why putts/GIR are a more relevant stat to observe. Invariably any time I end up with 12/14 putts for 9 holes is because I didn't play well. Granted, if your approach ends up on the fringe and you're chipping close all day and miss most greens, it doesn't mean you're playing bad. You just can't look at your putting stats and think that you're on fire.

On the other hand, too many times I've chipped close and two-putted, so what do I know!?

Heheheh...