Excessive thatch is usually the result of insufficient core aeration or vertical mowing. Firm, reliable conditions are rarely attainable if thatch is excessive.

Thatch is a combination of living and dead plant material and is a natural byproduct of growing healthy turf. A reasonable amount of thatch is needed for traffic tolerance, but too much is a major agronomic and playability concern. Mismanagement of turf contributes to excessive thatch buildup, leading to soft conditions. Excessive use of fertilizer and irrigation are two controllable factors leading to rapid thatch accumulation.

For the 35th consecutive year, the annual Green Section Education Conference was held in conjunction with the 2012 Golf Industry Show (GIS). This year's program, held on March 2, addressed the theme, "Improving Your Golf Course Management Odds." The Green Section's staff totals 420+ years of experience, and the session highlighted some of the lessons learned and changes witnessed in the turfgrass management field.

Listen to Manager of Golf Course Maintenance for Destination Kohler, Mike Lee, and USGA Green Section Senior Agronomist, Bob Vavrek, discuss the agronomic preparations of Blackwolf Run for the 2012 U.S. Women's Open. Green Section Managing Director Kimberly Erusha interviews the two men in this brief but entertaining podcast.

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The environmental impact of turf colorants is noteworthy because green fairways are produced using less water and fewer pesticides and fertilizers versus overseeding.

Early adopters of a technology are by nature risk takers, early risers, and people who have a great deal of patience. They are risk takers because they stand out from the crowd, for better or worse. They are early risers because they wake up early enough to be the first in line to purchase the next great thing. Finally, they have the patience to work through glitches inherent with any new technology. For those who are not early adopters, there is opportunity to sit back, evaluate, and see what happens.

In the golf industry, a type of early adopter has appeared. In the Southeast Region, a number of golf course superintendents have been the first to adopt a program that utilizes turf colorants on fairways instead of the traditional practice of winter overseeding with ryegrass. In doing so, these superintendents are conserving natural resources, spending less money, enhancing the quality of their bermudagrass turf base, and delivering a product that meets customer expectations. The colorants, designed for use on turf, are applied with a traditional golf course sprayer.

As mentioned earlier, any new trend is going to have glitches and bumps along the way. Every superintendent mentioned in this article agrees. For this reason, they continue to modify and improve the process each season. Those who are not early adopters have the opportunity to wait and learn. This article examines this trend and is designed to be a resource for those interested in testing this concept at their golf facility.

A new pump station, pad, and irrigation lake was part of the renovation.

Tiara Rado Golf Course is located in Grand Junction, Colorado, in the Grand Valley of western Colorado. This municipal 18-hole golf course showed sound, practical judgment with a recently completed and long-awaited renovation, along with an entirely new irrigation system. With proper planning and prudent purchasing, they completed the project under budget and on time, and are now realizing energy savings, water savings with improved irrigation efficiency, improved turf conditions, and increasing golfer satisfaction. And, as a bonus, they are more efficient in their use of labor for daily course maintenance.  

Originally designed by Tom Kolacny, Tiara Rado was opened in 1971. The golf course sits at the foot of the Colorado National Monument. The breathtaking vertical red cliffs of the monument and views of the Bookcliff Mountains to the north and the Grand Mesa (the largest flat top mountain in the world) provide spectacular vistas in all directions for residents and visitors to the Grand Junction area.

Well-watered Kentucky bluegrass cultivar plots at the beginning of a dry-down study on June 4, 2007, (left) and at two months later (right), where drought stress is evident (photos courtesy of Dr. Dale Bremer).

In most of the United States, watering the golf course is an important responsibility of the superintendent. It is equally important for golfers and course officials to understand that water availability, usage, and cost are major issues facing the golf course industry. Water impacts nearly every aspect of managing golf course turf, such as color, mowing operations, traffic control, disease development, and playability. In addition, a significant amount of the golf course maintenance budget is directly related to water - maintaining the irrigation system, energy costs to pump water, costs for using and storing water, and on and on.  

For nearly three decades, the USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Program has addressed these issues by funding the development of turfgrasses that use less water, studies to determine how much water turfgrasses use, and just how far they can be "pushed" to use less.  

One such project at Kansas State University demonstrated a potential 30 percent savings in water when selecting a Kentucky bluegrass cultivar for golf course roughs. The researchers compared water use requirements among 28 Kentucky bluegrass cultivars and two hybrid bluegrasses (Kentucky bluegrass X Texas bluegrass) that were maintained under wilt-based irrigation. Water was applied when an individual cultivar plot started to wilt. In that way, each cultivar was maintained under far less than ideal moisture conditions in an effort to find the minimum amount of water needed to have acceptable turf. The cultivar received one inch of water when visual symptoms of wilt appeared, rather than applying daily amounts of water to replace moisture lost

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