Thursday, August 30, 2001
City golf courses to improve turf
Weather takes toll on fairways, greens
By Carey Hoffman
Enquirer contributor
In a number of areas, it has not been a good year for the golf industry. Play is down, the weather has been unfavorable, and bottom lines are getting squeezed.
The inclination might be to pull back on the reins. But a decision made Tuesday by the Cincinnati Recreation Commission and Kemper Sports Management for the CRC's seven golf facilities actually moves in the other direction.
CRC approved an additional $40,000 not originally budgeted to attempt to make long-term improvements in the turf conditions at its courses.
Course conditions have suffered over the last six weeks because of a combination of heavy rains followed by periods of high heat and humidity.
“We've seen fairways that are just burning out,” said Steve Pacella, director of golf operations for Kemper Sports in Cincinnati. Kemper operates CRC's golf courses. “The combination of high humidity, high soil temperatures and the kind of clay soils we have, and then rain from pop-up thunderstorms, just bakes the grass. It fries the roots.”
Bent grass, which is in the fairways at five of CRC's seven facilities, can withstand those conditions. But in some fairways, the bent is only 65 percent established, with the remainder of the grasses being poa annua or fescue and bluegrass that have migrated from the rough.
Those are the grasses that have been wiped out. CRC and Kemper are now planning to overseed problem areas on fairways, tees and greens during the current aeration program by planting more than 3,000 pounds of bent grass seed.
“If we get a good germination on this, by the end of September and October, our courses should really begin to look phenomenal,” Pacella says.
Aggressive action this year, he said, should bring bent grass percentages up to 80-90 percent for fairways by next year.
Currently, California Golf Course is having the most trouble with poa anna. California, Glenview, Avon Fields, Reeves and Neumann will see major efforts with the bent overseeding, while the short nine-hole courses at Dunham and Woodland will have overseeding to their tees and greens.
Cincinnati.com golf page
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