Yet Taylor was able to hang out a sign and exchange his turf for the surf.
Taylor owed his“ first summer vacation in forever” to Bermudagrass. Specifically, the strain of ultradwarf Bermuda produced by Champion Turf Farms that Independence’ s new ownership installed in 2014.
In Virginia and across the United States, varieties of bentgrass remain the overwhelming standard for golf greens. They have cool-season characteristics that tolerate low mowing heights and are relatively inexpensive to maintain, although they struggle in excessive heat.
But with Bermudagrass, the hotter, the better.
“ It’ s changed my life,” Taylor says.“ June to August, we’ re here at 5 in the morning till 5 in the evenings most days, including weekends, having to watch the greens for wilt. We’ re not under that pressure anymore.”
As the new golf season approaches, superintendents wonder whether last summer’ s drastic circumstances were a perfect environmental onslaught that defied prediction and precaution.
Weather warming trends charted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mean similar and even more severe summer conditions should now be considered par for the course.
And given Virginia’ s presence as a climate transition zone— where the plusses and minuses of warm- vs. cool-season grasses present a classic toss-up— supers wonder whether Bermuda is the way for their clubs to go.
“ I think people are putting more thought into Bermuda,” said Jeff Holliday, president of the Virginia Golf Course Superintendent’ s Association. Roughly five percent of Virginia’ s courses have taken that leap to 18 Bermuda greens, at a ballpark cost of $ 120,000 or more, he said.
“ I think everybody’ s looking at Independence right now,” Holliday said.“ If it succeeds there, it would succeed most anywhere from Richmond east.”
Taylor’ s club actually enjoyed an extra busy summer. Local golfers who were temporarily unable to play in July and August at such courses as Salisbury Country Club, where Holliday is superintendent, Richmond’ s Willow Oaks Country Club and
“ the Federal Club in Glen Allen migrated to Independence.
“ I’ ve been in the business 25 years and I’ ve grown to hate summers, just because it’ s so stressful,” said Holliday, whose membership endorsed an 11-day closure in late August to save the greens.“ It takes a lot of time out of your day for those two months when you don’ t spend a lot of time with your family.”
Upon reopening, Salisbury used 15-minute tee times to help manage the foot traffic on and around bentgrass greens approaching 20 years old. Through segregation, the blending of different seed varieties over time, the grass grows more vulnerable to environmental changes with age, Holliday explained.
I think everybody’ s looking at Independence right now. If it succeeds there, it would succeed most anywhere from
Richmond east.
”
There was plenty to be vulnerable to last summer. Multiple weeks of 90-degree days followed by night temperatures no cooler than the 80s literally kept the heat on non-stop.
The trouble started with an unusually wet spring that prevented the bentgrass from establishing its normal deep roots, said John Marshall, director of agronomy at Ford’ s Colony in Williamsburg.
The harsh heat and humidity that followed prevented the soil from cooling or the grass from recovering, despite typical seasonal precautions as venting, raising mowing heights, less frequent cutting and hand-watering.
Ford’ s Colony’ s Blue Heron course, which has Bermuda greens, thrived. But its Marsh Hawk bentgrass greens struggled with nematodes, which are microscopic soil parasites that feed on roots and are difficult to expunge. That forced limited play and the use of some temporary greens.
“ It was so hot for so long the bentgrass basically shut down,” Marshall said.“ It wasn’ t able to sustain itself no matter what we did to it.”
Marshall said he and his staff used the trauma to re-evaluate their maintenance programs going forward.“ We want to make sure we stay ahead of the issues we think we’ re going to see.”
In Virginia Beach, Cutler Robinson, director of golf course operations at Bayville Golf Club, saw average daily temperatures close to Richmond’ s last summer, according to NOAA figures. A saving difference was Hampton Roads didn’ t get belted with the number of mid-day thunderstorms as the Richmond metro area.
“ Our greens are notoriously as nice as you can find,” Robinson said.“ When it’ s hot and humid and wet, we have to do things to help the grass get through that period. Green speed is the first thing we need to give up on.”
Superintendents agree that’ s a small sacrifice for players to make during the time when“ you can literally lose your greens in the blink of an eye,” said Independence’ s Taylor.
Bermudagrass hasn’ t necessarily relieved Taylor’ s 12-hours a day pressure, it’ s just shifted it. He’ s found monitoring Bermuda for potential winter kill is no day at the beach. He and his crew cover their greens and close the course when the forecast calls for a run of 25-degree days.
That’ s a labor-intensive chore that involves five hours to lay the covers and three to remove them. It’ s a tradeoff Taylor believes affords his club the best playability options and surface year-round.
“ We have firm, fast greens all summer,” he said.“ And you don’ t have to have a crew out hand-watering greens at 6 o’ clock every evening.”
Holliday said he’ s seen more clubs employ more fans on their wettest greens over the last decade to provide critical air flow. Proactively, mowing heights can be raised earlier, he said, and venting of the greens performed more frequently.
But sometimes, the latest turf strain or technology method notwithstanding, golf courses are simply at the mercy of the skies.
Tom Robinson is a Virginia Beach-based freelance writer.
vsga. org J ANUARY / F EBRUARY 2017 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 17