Summer time, but the living’s not easy

One of the most frustrating and busiest times of the year for golf course superintendents is at the beginning of summer. It’s a time when essential maintenance programmes kick in as the cool period ends and the temperatures soar.

It certainly isn’t a time that members or management look forward to, as it invariably brings with it negative comments and disillusioned golfers as they see their pristine courses literally ripped apart – not a sight for the faint-hearted!

In order to truly appreciate this necessary process, I encourage all golfers to educate themselves a little on the subject, rather than moan their way through it.

In layman’s terms, the Middle East is a warm-season climate and golf courses are built with warm season grasses. As the cooler winter months arrive around November, depending on how cold it gets and the species of grass, the turf will go into dormancy. To the golfer this means pitch marks appear on the greens and the colour of the course begins to diminish.

At this point there are two choices, either accept slightly weaker conditions for two to three months or overseed with a cool-season grass to produce better putting surfaces during winter.

Throughout the winter months the overseeded cool season grass will mature and establish itself strongly on the golf course where dormancy is still in effect on the warm-season grasses.

The next major challenge for a superintendent is to prepare for when the hot summer months arrive.

The cool-season grass will begin to decline at a time when the warm-season grass is beginning to wake up. Superintendents aim to make transition as smooth as possible by using sound turf management practices to make a minimal impact on the playing conditions for the golfer.

In many parts of the world the slow seasonal change from winter through spring and into summer allows for a gentle transition. In the Middle East we go from winter to summer in a heartbeat, making transition sudden and much more challenging.

To encourage transition, superintendents will start to bring their cutting heights down to more manageable levels as temperatures rise. They will also begin to encourage the warm-season grasses by employing cultural practices such as verticutting and slicing. This will thin out cool season turf while improving growing conditions for the warm season turf.

All in all, it is the nature of the beast and something that all superintendents in the Middle East have to deal with.

We may see bare patches in the rough, around the greens and a general lacklustre look, however remember – we live in the desert and are extremely privileged to have such fabulous courses on our doorstep.