Oh where, oh where has the Transition Zone gone?

Two things always seem to get into my blogs; my age and my father. Both again are relevant to this post. When I was a kid 35 years ago, and my father was in the golf course business, I learned the lessons of growing grass in the "Transition Zone".

My father's course had bluegrass/fescue fairways and bentgrass greens. Now this course (Lake Tansi of old) was not built to USGA specs. It was basically push up greens and tees, and fairways were just cleared land. I remember the yearly diseases that dad would have, but I never remember his superintendent fighting heat related stress to any extent back then. In that same time frame I remember a vast bermudagrass winterkill in winter 1977-1978 all the way to Memphis. My whole point of this paragraph is: cool weather grasses thrived when I was young in the East Tennessee mountains, warm weather grasses were not even a remote possibility.

Fast forward to the summer of 2008, July. The 7th and final year I had a golf course. We had finally given up on keeping bluegrass/fescue tees healthy in the summer heat, stripped the tee sod on 12 of 18 holes in the spring and replaced it with bermudagrass. I don't know what strain as it was growing wild in our 18th fairway. The tees thrived the whole year. They had never been healthier. This year is the same story. They are no longer my responsibility, but they are perfect.

My quandry is this. I want to know from our superintendents out there if this story is an exception or the rule. Has the Transition Zone moved north due to global warming, 100,000 year heating trends,el nino, etc. or were warm weather grasses always welcome in the northern part of the south?

This is a subject I would love to discuss and have not been able to find anything on the internet. Please let me hear of your experiences with the "Transition Zone".

Thanks for the Golf Lesson Dad

My father, Sam Hicks Sr., PGA Golf Professional, passed away just over a month ago on May 29, 2009 at the age of 84. He died peacefully in his own bed at home surrounded by his family. Dad's last 2 years of life were filled with hospitals, office visits, medication and almost constant pain and discomfort, but he never complained. He met every new physical challenge that befell him with a fortitude I think few people could muster. He was the ultimate fighter, competitor and gentleman.

My experiences on the golf course with Dad ran the gamut. We were usually at each others' throats because of our passion for the game. More importantly though, I had to keep dad away from other peoples' throats because of his passion to play quickly! It was always an adventure to play with my father. You didn't have to worry about a boring 18 holes.

One of the last times I played with my father was just before his health began to deteriorate. I was only going to play a few holes with him because, at the time, I thought my business ( the golf course we were playing) was much more important than actually playing with Dad, and boy did he let me know how he felt about that! He said to me "Sammy this G** D*** golf course business will be here tomorrow, you and I might not. Relax and enjoy your life a little. Plus, I want to beat your a**!" Well I relaxed a little, and he beat my a** a lot!

My father is gone now, but the lesson he gave me that day has continued to influence my life tremendously. Nothing is more important to me now than the people whom I love and cherish, and the time I can spend with them. No more wasting precious hours and minutes on superfluous monetary endeavors. Thanks for the lesson Dad! It really helped my game!