This year, I was fortunate enough to be chosen to be a delegate from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America to go to the British International Greenkeepers Conference in Harrogate, England.

The tea house in Harrogate where I had afternoon tea with three other American Superintendents.  We had a table of eight, but half our party felt their masculinity was under attack and promptly went to a more macho pub.

The conference in England pulled together some management questions I have been having for some time.  My main goals were to learn as much as I could about traditional greenkeeping, get a sense of why American maintenance budgets can be three to four times as much as some of the best courses in the United Kingdom, and see how the Royal and Ancient's sustainability movement is being implemented and received.

The Greenkeepers I met were extremely knowledgeable and passionate about their courses and the environment.  However, they are not as highly regarded as American Superintendents in their society...which I found interesting.  I thought Greenkeeping was supposed to be one of the most regarded and honorable professions in any town over there.  The American Superintendent is much more business savvy, manages a larger crew (two to three times as large), manages a large budget, and spends a good deal of time communicating to the membership.  My sense is that in the U.S. we have been very serious about our image as being key to the success of the facility, just as are the other department heads.  We have also been able to demonstrate that the skill set of agronomy, finance, human resources, communication, dealing with government regulatory agencies, plumbing, electrical, and mechanics is unique and valued.

Budget Comparison

I believe the budget differentiation between the two countries is due to expectations. Visiting Royal Birkdale, the host of the 2008 Open, the turf stand was good, but not as good as U.S. courses.  Our courses provide a turf stand that is so tight and uniform it can be mistaken for a carpet.  Their greens are mostly made up of fescues, mowed 50% higher than U.S. greens, and the stand is thin.  This is a perfectly fine surface to play off of, and some will argue that it is a superior surface to play off of, but it doesn't pass the American definition of "pretty".  

Royal Birkdale...the fescue is beautiful, but thick..it is definitely jail.

Additionally, the greens do play slower with the best courses stimping out at 8.5'.  The firmness and the semi dormant qualities of their greens provide the challenge that speed offers in the states.  They will be able to get speeds up to 10.5' (Dedham's daily greenspeed) for the Open.  They don't want them faster than that because the wind would be blowing the balls off the greens at that point.
 

This is a small patch of Yorkshire Fog in a fescue stand on a green.  You can see the void betweem the plants and can see how fuzzy it looks.  While it will play well, the look doesn't work for the American golf market as it stands now.

One of the main money savers for them is the lack of chemicals and fertilizers that their courses require. This saves labor as well.  Irrigation is sparingly used, if at all, so all the labor, parts, water costs, electricity, and repairs are saved.  The surfaces do not require as much care as a bent or poa surface (verticutting, topdressing, rolling, close and frequent cuttings) which is another labor saver.

Traditional Greenkeeping

This is a great picture that shows what a stacked sod bunker looks like new (left) and after it ages (right).

The Disturbance Theory, an off shoot of traditional greenkeeping, is huge over there.  This basically promotes the idea that once thatch has been minimized, aeration should be implemented carefully.  Aerating during poa germination time (April/May, September/October) is just making a perfect seed bed for poa infestation.  Fescue and all bents except for creeping bent, prefer a non disturbed surface to hold its dominance.  So alot of brushing is implemented rather than verticutting, spiking instead of solid tining, etc.  Less is more is the central tenant to this program.  Don't aerate or verticut just because it has always been done, look at the plant and playing surface to determine what needs to be done.

However our courses would not be allowed to mow high enough to allow the promotion of fescue and colonial bents that this theory relies on.  However, with our creeping bents and velvets in the states, we could all take a lesson when it comes to the timing of aeration.  Aerating when it is convenient to the golf schedule (early and late in the season) will only lead to more poa coming in.  The other lesson might be less is more...lets not fertilize or aerate or whatever just because we always have, look at the plant and the soil and give it what it needs and no more.

The North Sea is just over those dunes...I couldn't believe how big the dunes are...look closely and you can see cars from a ahighway that runs through the dunes.

R&A Sustainability Movement

It is amazing how environmentally conscious the greenkeepers are in Eroupe.  During a talk given by the USGA that highlighted the removal of over 5,000 trees at Oakmont, the question was asked about mitigating for their removal by planting them somewhere else.  While the greenkeepers are impressed with what they see their American counter parts doing with turf management, they do look at it as not keeping with the traditions of the game or in tune with the environment.

The greenkeepers don't need to buy into the sustainability movement, they already do.  The R&A's movement is to sell the idea to the golfer.  The European Union is really going to start cutting back on the amount of pesticides, water, and fertilizer that is allowed and the R&A is trying to help clubs be proactive.

To learn more about the R&A's Best Course for Golf click here and watch the video.

All of the above has led me to believe that economical and sustainable golf course management can be achieved over here in varying degrees, but golfer's expectations would need to change.  That change would have to start at the top with the PGA Tour.  If they could showcase a facility that focused more on the playability of the surfaces rather than the color of the surfaces, golfer perceptions and expectations could change. It cannot start with the superintendent, we are hired to provide a specialized surface with all the tools available to us that the budget allows.  The following link brings you to comments made by Greg Norman at the GCSAA Conference that support and shed light on this point of view.

http://www.turfnet.com/view_news.php?obj_id=95

Applications to DCPC

One or our goals at Dedham has been to eliminate as much poa as we can.  This is a difficult process as we are trying to slowly remove one type of grass and replace it with another type without anyone noticing.  We are using many of the traditional greenkeeping methods (low fertility, acidifying fertilizers, water management) and some American approaches such as growth regulators and pre emergence poa control.

This dovetails nicely into the American conference where I attended a day long seminar on poa control. There are many strategies for us to try now, and we are.  In addition, there are products in production that will be available next year to help us convert.  We will be testing a product with an experimental use permit at Dedham...on a test plot on the first or second green.  This product has shown in university trials to transition a green from poa to bent over three years in a way that is unperceivable.

These goals at Dedham should not sacrifice quality, but provide a good looking surface that is more sustainable than the lush, soft, green conditions of many country clubs.  It is my belief, especially after this past summer and the comments we received, that the surface we want to provide is a superior surface to the country club conditioning.  Firm and true, not soft and lush.

The main impetus for this management style is our limited water supply.  We need to make a tougher grass stand so that we do not use as much water.  This summer was a good example of good the course can be without water.  It isn't as simple as just turning off the water, we have to train the grass to withstand that type of stress and we have to encourage and grow the heartier grasses.  If we don't do this, much of the course will die during low water times.  Grass that is used to getting water everyday will miss it the day it is gone, where if we train our grass' roots to look for water deeper in the soil, we can survive a severe cut back in water.
 

In the end, we are are the right track at Dedham, and we will continue down the road that we started.  We had the philosophy of doing what is best for the course in the long term.  This meant some unexciting work had to be done like drainage, topdressing, and thatch removal.   But this long term apporach will certainly payoff as our course becomes more resilient to what mother nature can throw at us.  We want a course that handle winter ice, the rain as well as the droughts, and the disease pressure.  The drought this summer proved the validity of the program and how member satisfaction and economic stability can be achieved using a program focused on the long term health of the course.

More pictures from England:

A Cathedral in York, where we took a train to one afternoon from Harrogate.  The city is old and huge with tiny side streets and lots of shops...

...and a wall leftover from Roman times.

This is Aintree where the Grand National Horse Race is held.  The turf here has to be kept soft and wet to provide cushioning to the horses racing.