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".
1 comment:
Sam;
I do remember you from all those years ago. I was a very young prodigy of John Beatty a guy that saw a lot of potential in me. It was John that lead me to Tansi and my first meeting with your dad. I was so young and cocky I guess I was suprised he hired me. But I followed a simple rule that has always guided my life,"Work hard, Do things Honestly and good things will happen."
Today I give the younger fellows on my crew the same advise but I have shortened the line to "Yeah you're right good things do come to those who wait, but it dont hurt to hustle while you wait".
I sure have fond memories of the Lake, I missed it when I moved to Oak Ridge Country Club but I still own an RV there ans I have a house at Fairfield. I guess you can take the boy from the country but you can't take the country from the boy.
I really hated to hear about your dad's passing that time is never easy. I know you remenber more of the old timers from Tansi but I especially Mel Bosser. O man could that old guy hit a golf ball.
Well I hope you can delete all this babble but I just wanted to say thanks for the letter, it meant a lot to me. I guess I never new I was making any type impression on some of you younger fellows.
Now to the point of this blog:
Wow do I remember 1977 Oak Ridge lost all it's Bermuda. They thought I killed it because I had sprayed Parquat on it in the late winter to remove all the weeds. To be honest I thought I killed it too, until I heard others talking about winterkill. I had never experienced Bermudagrass since I was accustomed to cool season turf. and you are right I never syringed greens until about 1980. Crossville nights are so cool and the humidity so low that Bentgrass almost never needs water during the day.
Most of us from the old school still long for a bit of good topsoil in our greens mix or at least a higher percentage of organics. The water requirements of todays greens are just redicilous compared to the early years of my career.
Do you remember that old pump beside the bridge on hole #18. If we all had to prime that stupid pump, Squirt gasoline into the carburator, switch it slowly onto propane then run around to 18 greens and drag out a roller base sprinkler and water until 2 or 3 a.m. Greens would certainly be firmer less suceprible to disease and weeds.
But, alas golfer demands has forced even me to overwater turf to get the ball to hold. We are forced to cut greens at .100 inch when we use to mow them at 1/4 inch maybe four times a week.
The trransition zone has forced us to make our turf do things that it just is incapable of doing. We overseed our bermuda tees and fairways with ryegrass year after year and wonder where our bermuda went.
We cut, roll and apply growth regulators to our greens in hope that our members or golfers might find them faster than your neighbors. And we water every square inch of our turf daily through its growing season because golfers demand carpet like fairways, plush tees, manicured roughs and pool table slick greens.
I remember working 3 summers at tansi and I think Maybe we watered Fairways 3 or 4 times. Greens may have gotten watered every 2 weeks during the summer. There is a real Transition Zone But I have Transitioned as well.
Wendell T. Nealon
City of Clarksville Golf Courses
931-980-6563
thenealons@gmail.com
WNealon@cityofclarksville.com
Call me sometime I would love to get together and just talk about the old days, where you've been and what you've done in the past 33 years.
Respectfully
Wendell
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