Parkland Style Course

Trees and Turf

 It may be a surprise to some people that trees and turf don't mix-in fact, they are natural competitors. Think about a dense forest. The trees are growing in close proximity with a dense shade canopy and little light penetrating the surface. Rarely is grass growing in this environment. Conversely, think of a grass plain, with small rolling hills of prairie grass, where little, if any trees are growing within. This is by design and each plant's survival strategy is distinctly different. A tree survives by growing tall with a big canopy and large roots. The canopy shades out competition and the large roots win the battle for moisture and nutrients. On the other hand, turf survives by growing close together and choking out the tree saplings before they take root.

 Also, grasses can survive drier/drought areas by shutting down photosynthesis and going into a dormant state, while trees do not have this capability, and without supplemental watering, will show decline immediately or in the proceeding growing seasons. This is why forests usually occur in high rainfall areas. Further, many grass and tree species transmit chemicals from their root systems to inhibit the growth of the other. For example, some types of fescue produce a chemical that inhibits growth of young trees, while walnut trees have been known to produce a chemical that inhibits growth for grass and small vegetation. In addition to the biological differences the way each plant is maintained is unique. Trees require deep and infrequent watering with precise and limited fertilization, while well maintained turfgrass requires light and frequent irrigation with heavy fertilization. Add in the damage done to trees by canopy raising, cart traffic, mower damage, and frequent knocks from flying golf balls and you have a recipe for a difficult situation for tree survival on golf courses.

 At WHCC we have a parkland style golf course. The trees on the golf course have many benefits including: providing shade for golfers, providing safety from errant golf shots, contributing to aesthetic beauty, adding natural habitat for local animal species, and helping to improve local air quality (turf also improves air quality and some debate that it does even better than trees). However, Western Hills Country Club is a golf course and not an arboretum. If it were the latter we would maintain the grounds much differently beginning with 40 foot mulch rings and entire areas blocked off for tree health and vigor along with many other different cultural practices. Since turfgrass is the courses' number one asset it takes precedence over trees, especially in high impact areas. The negative effects trees have when planted in close proximity to putting surfaces has been well documented (click here for more information from the USGA!). Also, trees produce a significant amount of debris that takes a weighty part of our labor budget to eradicate.With this in mind we have chosen to cut down some trees, recommended by the USGA agronomist during his visit last May, that contribute to declining turf health around high impact turf areas (ie. putting greens, collars and approaches).

 We are not now, or in the future, going to cut down all the trees on the golf course. Trees are a big part of what makes the WHCC experience so unique. Yet, we are trying to improve areas of our playing surfaces by increasing turf health which will decrease the amount of inputs needed and help to make the golfer's game more enjoyable.  In order to accomplish this we need to take a both/and strategy and be smart about what kind of trees we plant and where we plant them. For example, the Kentucky coffee tree is a good native tree to plant in remote rough areas because of its thin canopy that allows more light for the underneath grass to consume.  Another example would be planting redbud trees as a backdrop for a green because of their short stature and smaller root system. Planting pin oak trees, that get over 75' tall, very close to a green's collar is not a smart or efficient idea for maintaining a high quality putting green. The majority of the trees eradicated in the winter are trees that are dead or diseased (written about in a previous post). Currently, we have only two healthy pin oaks trees that were removed because of turf quality.  By eradicating some of the problem trees and planting better species, in proper places, we will be more able to accomplish our goal of maintaining the parkland style look of WHCC.

For more information about trees and turf click here for an article by the University of Kentucky.

Weak and thin turf caused by the row of pin oak trees to the right of #18 green

Maintenance Update

  The warm winter weather has caused the grounds department to continue mowing into January. We have been mowing the greens, approaches, and fairways several times in the last month. It has also allowed us to continue to sod bad areas located throughout the course such as spots on the practice tees, the raising of low fairway areas, and fairway areas where mowing and/or cart damage has occurred.

Raising of the catch basin in #18 fairway

  Other projects being accomplished are the eradication of the honeysuckle located between #15 and #17, the replacement of some defected irrigation heads, tree removal, equipment maintenance, leaf removal, and limbing up of low branches.

Removal of blue spruce tree infected with rhizosphaera needle cast disease

Thick honeysuckle between #15 and #16

Removal half way accomplished

The new MT52 mini track loader making the pickup of ash wood much easier

Interesting picture of a golf ball that was embedded in the middle of a blue spruce tree. It must have lodged into a branch intersection point and the tree grew around it, eventually engulfing the entire ball.

 With the abundant amount of snow-cover and cold air currently up in Canada combined with the time of year, I feel winter is ripe for a comeback. Hopefully that does occur, ending our mowing practices, and giving the grounds department a chance to finish tree removals, design new landscape areas, attend turf/horticulture seminars, do bunker drainage work, staff recruitment, and work on our maintenance policies for the 2020 season.

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent