Virginia Golfer Jan / Feb 2017 | Page 18

THE SCORCHED EARTH CONUNDRUM

Summers in Virginia aren ’ t getting any cooler . Is Bermudagrass the answer for soothing overheated greens ?
by TOM ROBINSON

Dan Taylor took his wife and kids to the beach last summer . There is something very unusual about that sentence .

Taylor is director of golf course maintenance at Independence Golf Club in Midlothian . And golf courses throughout the Richmond metro area last summer were stressed to the point of reducing or halting play during the season ’ s most oppressive weather days .
Violent storms combined with relentless heat and humidity delivered unyielding angst to superintendents and maintenance staffs charged with keeping their baked greens alive , let alone playable .
16 V IRGINIA G OLFER | J ANUARY / F EBRUARY 2017 vsga . org