Lesson #11 - Know Your Golf Course: Fairways

Because more than forty thousand golf players come and enjoy the whole fairway, damage to the grass is inevitable. The best advice that professional owners and caretakers can give to other golf course starters is to use the right fertilizer and maintenance technique to best assist them in managing the whole fairway and green. Below are some of the highly recommended grass products for seeding and reseeding to have a consistent green grass color during winter or fall. It will be good to avoid too much growth that is the main cause of insect and other grass disease problems.

There is greater challenge in keeping a healthy looking fairway and green for the whole golf course. Because more than forty thousand golf players come and enjoy the whole fairway, damage to the grass is inevitable. The best advice that professional owners and caretakers can give to other golf course starters is to use the right fertilizer and maintenance technique to best assist them in managing the whole fairway and green.

Below are some of the highly recommended grass products for seeding and reseeding to have a consistent green grass color during winter or fall.

Pennington Annual Ryegrass

• Advisable to use on a temporary or seasonal area
• Can also be best during warm weather conditions while overseeding the grasses.
• The best time to plant it is at the beginning of fall
• The seeding rate should be ten pounds per 1,000 square feet but only five pounds per 1,000 square feet when reseeding.

Fairway Classics Perennial Ryegrass Lawn Seed Blend Tournament Quality

• These ryegrasses are used to blend with the grasses that are permanently planted for the lawns of the North or during the winter season and can be used for reseeding in the southern part.
• The best time to plant it is at the beginning of the fall season.
• The seeding and reseeding rate should be ten pounds per 1,000 square.

Here are the tips on how to maintain that healthy look of golf fairways:

• By using the right fertilizer – for the fairway to get that great looking green all throughout the year use the fertilizer that provides organic nitrogen to the soil when the grass needs it. It will be good to avoid too much growth that is the main cause of insect and other grass disease problems. By also using the right fertilizer, groundwater, lakes and the streams are not easily polluted with nitrogen.
• Use fertilizer regularly – golf course owners regularly fertilize the fairways and greens. This is very vital with the use of best products prior to seeing that the whole soil and fairway is undergoing any stress. This makes the whole place maintain a condition best for playing.
• Iron should also be present when selecting the right fertilizer – Fertilizers that contain iron are very helpful to plants since it maintains that very deep color of green for the whole fairway. This is not a nutrient that does not result in excessive growth which nitrogen can cause grass. Owners could choose between 2 kinds of iron filled fertilizer products in dry granules or in liquid sprays.
• Do not worry about weeds, just control them – Quality golf courses are not susceptible to overgrowing weed problems since they do have a thick and tight turf. But some golf courses do. Remember that the seeds of weeds propagate where there is a lot of light and moisture in the area. Once the whole fairway is thick enough with grass, the weed seeds may not be able to fit in since there is no adequate gap to get light and moisture.
• Never leave a place for insects and grass diseases – the rapid growth of the fairway in golf courses result in an extreme growth of top. This invites insects and other diseases to feed on the top growth. Fertilizers that release nitrogen slowly aid in limiting excessive top growth.
• Make sure that the blades of the mower are sharp – golf course owners and caretakers make it a point to keep the blades of the mower sharp enough in cutting the grass to prevent grass tear. When the grass tears, the whole fairway will result into a gray looking spot. Another down side of this is that torn grass invites diseases to infest on it. Remember also that the stress is lesser if the grass is mowed frequently.
• Excessive watering can also cause damage – too much watering of the fairway and green results to a pale green color. To maintain that healthy looking green color and for the nutrients to be absorbed much better, try to frequently but just shallow water the grass for this keeps the roots of the grass near the top layer of the soil.

Lesson #10 - Know Your Golf Course: Greens Lesson #12 - Know Your Golf Course: Tees