Greenkeeper competence

[Lacessit]

Today, playing golf after an overnight soaking, I observed one of the ground staff mowing a fairway along with a fair amount of water. Did not bother to deviate from the pools.

 

The military course I play at has just sanded all its greens. I fail to understand what the greenkeepers think they are achieving, because without coring a green before it is sanded, all that is going to happen is extra wear on the mower blades. There are two more upmarket courses in Chiang Rai that also sand without coring.

 

I also don't understand why a greenkeeper would apply fertiliser to a green, then fail to water it in.

 

Of course, as a farang, if I raised these observations I might cause loss of face.

 

Anyone else see these things happening at the golf course they play on?

[scubascuba3]

Look at the result, are the greens usually good? if so it must work out ok. We have one of the navy courses here ACDC where the greens are poor, they haven't moved a decent greenkeeper there yet. Two other navy course nearby have good greens

[topt]

20 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Anyone else see these things happening at the golf course they play on?

In the Pattaya area courses greens are seemingly regularly sanded without coring having taken place - or at least not noticeably in the past. This appears to be fairly normal practice.

 

I do agree that in many cases I wonder why at certain courses the greens can look in places like they have set the cutters too low and you have bare earth but the rest of the green is good......

 

When cored and sanded some courses greens seemingly can take multiple weeks to get back to a decent condition but other courses are in good condition very quickly........I have no idea if different grass types make much difference or is it just down to the greenkeepers.........

 

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

Look at the result, are the greens usually good? if so it must work out ok. We have one of the navy courses here ACDC where the greens are poor, they haven't moved a decent greenkeeper there yet. Two other navy course nearby have good greens

It's a matter of knowing why they are doing it this way. Claude Crockford, the legendary Royal Melbourne greenkeeper, would core the living daylights out of a green he thought had developed too much root mat, and hence was not draining properly. No-one ever produced greens as true as his. Fast to the point of insanity on a stimpmeter, but if one hit the ball on the right line, it would go in.

 

He famously remarked to Ben Crenshaw " You guys in America want to grow grass, we are trying to stop it."

[farmerjo]

Do they have a coring machine?

My little army course only got a proper mower 2 years a go.

[scubascuba3]

25 minutes ago, farmerjo said:

Do they have a coring machine?

My little army course only got a proper mower 2 years a go.

That's the same with my Navy courses, mowers are giant flymos, they use what they got, equipment is as old as Walton's

[Lacessit]

4 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Do they have a coring machine?

My little army course only got a proper mower 2 years a go.

Probably not, due to a lack of knowledge of greenkeeping. Every greenkeeper in Australia would know what a coring machine is, and why it is used.

[farmerjo]

42 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Probably not, due to a lack of knowledge of greenkeeping. Every greenkeeper in Australia would know what a coring machine is, and why it is used.

Sometimes they are stuck in their ways.

When i started playing here the caddies did all the work on the course barr a couple of army guys cutting the greens and fairways,greens were hand watered every morning by the caddies and fairways flooded by pumps.

Didn't make for early morning starts.

Since every green had a hose under pressure of a pump they could have used a copper rod with water to aerate the greens,i did suggest it but fell on deaf ears.

With most of the greens here being postage stamp in size i guess the sand helps to stick the ball on the greens more than improving the green itself.

[Lacessit]

9 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Sometimes they are stuck in their ways.

When i started playing here the caddies did all the work on the course barr a couple of army guys cutting the greens and fairways,greens were hand watered every morning by the caddies and fairways flooded by pumps.

Didn't make for early morning starts.

Since every green had a hose under pressure of a pump they could have used a copper rod with water to aerate the greens,i did suggest it but fell on deaf ears.

With most of the greens here being postage stamp in size i guess the sand helps to stick the ball on the greens more than improving the green itself.

Sanded greens are about as true as a politician's promise. Sometimes, I just pick up my ball after reaching the green. I can't be bothered wasting my time putting out.

If the sanded green is played when the morning dew is still around, no doubt you have seen how the ball accumulates sand as it rolls.

[scubascuba3]

13 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Sanded greens are about as true as a politician's promise. Sometimes, I just pick up my ball after reaching the green. I can't be bothered wasting my time putting out.

If the sanded green is played when the morning dew is still around, no doubt you have seen how the ball accumulates sand as it rolls.

Sounds like you need new green staff at your course, the two Navy 9 hole courses i play have good greens, but you can't expect them to have good equipment when Thais are only paying 50 baht a round

[farmerjo]

13 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Sanded greens are about as true as a politician's promise. Sometimes, I just pick up my ball after reaching the green. I can't be bothered wasting my time putting out.

If the sanded green is played when the morning dew is still around, no doubt you have seen how the ball accumulates sand as it rolls.

I grew up on sand greens so doesn't bother me to much and an afternoon golfer.

A lot depends on if the army guy in charge here at the time is a golfer or not.

Our course being located on a hard claypan makes it difficult to establish a good grass covering unless you flood it to death and they don't have a nursery for grass replacement on the greens and tees.

My bugbear has always been the uneven tee boxes.Sometimes they are like 2nd cut rough.

There is a lot to be said about astro turf in these situations.

Still it's close to home,a good layout and fun for a game of skins with mates.

A few beers are required if you get stuck behind the mayor and his 10 ball group.

[Lacessit]

31 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Sounds like you need new green staff at your course, the two Navy 9 hole courses i play have good greens, but you can't expect them to have good equipment when Thais are only paying 50 baht a round

Same with my course. I pay 50 baht for nine holes, 120 baht caddie fee. More expensive if I was not a member.

IMO Thai golfers are quite stingy, I have yet to see one give more than the minimum tip.

The greens would be reasonable if they left them alone, although I suspect several have far too much root mat.

[Lacessit]

8 minutes ago, farmerjo said:

I grew up on sand greens so doesn't bother me to much and an afternoon golfer.

A lot depends on if the army guy in charge here at the time is a golfer or not.

Our course being located on a hard claypan makes it difficult to establish a good grass covering unless you flood it to death and they don't have a nursery for grass replacement on the greens and tees.

My bugbear has always been the uneven tee boxes.Sometimes they are like 2nd cut rough.

There is a lot to be said about astro turf in these situations.

Still it's close to home,a good layout and fun for a game of skins with mates.

A few beers are required if you get stuck behind the mayor and his 10 ball group.

I played on oiled sand greens for six years in Port Hedland and other Pilbara townships, quite slow but very true. If I had more than 26 putts for a round, I was having a bad day with the putter.

 

I'm usually teeing off at 6.30 am, the mayor would probably just be getting out of bed. Don't play afternoon golf, too hot.

[Royl111]

well...I faced this a couple of times