Rough

After a season of record rain, the rough is once again a hot topic.  Early in the season the cool season Fescue and Bluegrass were thriving creating difficult playing conditions.  As the summer progressed, the Bermuda in the rough hits the peak of its growth stage with tough lies and hard to find errant shots.

Finding the ideal turf for our area is a never ending battle.  The cool season grasses look great during certain times of the year, unfortunately, the amount of water required to keep the grasses looking their best is almost unsustainable during a typical hot and dry summer.  The new fine bladed seeded Bermuda's would be an excellent choice for our rough, however, there is still a stigma attached to the dormant turf during our shoulder season's.  

There was a point we were discussing the use of Zoysia as a primary rough.  The Zoysia has proven to be a good choice in our Intermediate Rough cut at 1.25".  Zoysia at 1.5-2.0" might be too clumpy and thick.  This takes us back to the seeded Bermuda's.  With a height of cut under 2.0", the Bermuda will still make the fairway a premium, however, finding balls and putting a club on them will be much better compared to our current rough which ranges from 2.5-3.0" during the summer months.

Due to the time required to kill existing turf and establish new turf from seed, this conversion is not to be taken lightly.  Ideally, the project would take place in conjunction with other yet to be scheduled projects (such as bunkers, tees, greens, etc.).  Below is good article describing the steps to convert to an improved variety of Bermuda.  

http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/MP477.pdf

Another option to consider would be to kill the existing stand and convert to a pure stand of Turf Type Tall Fescue.  This would completely remove the existing Bermuda that when combined with the cool season grasses makes for difficult playing conditions.  The trouble here, as we currently face, is an irrigation system not suited to water fairways separate from the rough.  Giving the rough what it needs leads to soft fairways.  I choose to prioritize the Zoysia fairways at the roughs expense.

Until the time comes, we will continue to make the best of our current stand of turf.  This week we will be lowering the height of cut in preparation for aerifying and seeding that we started today.  In the short term, conditions will be more playable.  Heading into next spring, the cycle will continue until significant changes are made.

Rough left of #18