Mowing the native area behind 11 North.

Mowing the native area behind 11 North.

With the summer winding down we are completing mowing of the “naturalized areas” on the golf courses. We are also taking the opportunity to improve the native areas by removing weeds and incorporating in desired grass variety. Native areas are typically best suited on golf courses consisting of a fine fescue grass variety, which is very fine leaved, has a slow growth tendency, and under proper conditions doesn’t become very dense. This allows a golfer on most occasions to find a ball and advance it from the area. Fine fescue also requires less water and nutrients which makes it easier from a maintenance stand point, however, weeds can be a major issue in these areas and require intensive herbicide programs to keep them uniform.

We have reached a point of significant total native area. This fall we will be treating the native areas with two different maintenance techniques. The areas on 7 & 8 North, 10 & 11 North and between 13 & 18 North will be mowed down to 6 inches and we will be applying herbicides to try and strengthen the already present fine fescue population. This is a process typically done every fall to native areas in this area.

Unfortunately, the area to the left of 13 North contains almost no fine fescue and for this reason we have applied Round up to remove all present grass species. This area will be seeded in the next few days and with proper weather, fine fescue will begin growing in the next few weeks. Due to its slow growth habit and current cool temperatures we are expecting slow seed growth in this area. Establishing the seed before winter is ideal so that it can go through a “hardening off” period before the following summer.

Process left of 13 North: