Golf Course Notes
Resolving the Preserve’s
Putting Green Problems
Part 1
By Stephen Miles, CGCS, Director of Operations, Preserve Golf Club
The
Preserve Golf Club’s putting greens were planted during the summer of 2005, and after only nine years, they had to be rebuilt. In this two-part article, I attempt to explain why and what could be done differently. Initial construction of The Preserve Golf Club began in 2004. I was hired as the golf course superintendent a couple of months prior to the first piece of sod hitting the ground. Symptoms of the issues that eventually led to the complete reconstruction of our greens began to show soon after our opening in 2006. These symptoms included things such as extremely poor water infiltration, settling of surface outfalls, increased disease activity, black layer and, eventually, an
12 • Mississippi Turfgrass • summer 2016
annual cycle of the same historically stressed areas dying every spring. Our team’s focus turned from “how good of a putting surface can we provide?” to simply “can we keep these greens alive?” I realize most clubs don’t have the financial resources to rebuild their greens, but if you have poorly functioning greens that do not respond to anything you do, this story may be for you. In retrospect, all of the major issues that we addressed came down to simply improving our fundamentals — light, air, water and soil — the same fundamentals that are taught in every turf class. If one or a combination of these elements is not in present or in balance, there can be a disastrous impact on the playability and financial success of a facility.
To ensure that these fundamentals are implemented correctly in a new construction project, there must be a talented architect designing a highquality green, which is then installed by a talented contractor, who uses highquality materials. That green must then be grown by a talented turfgrass professional. If all of these principles are in place during construction, it is hard to kill the grass, but if something is wrong, it is even harder to keep it alive!
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Early on around 2006, the first major symptom that became evident