"Home on the Range"
By Larry W. Gilhuly
Director, Western Region, USGA Green Section
Reprinted from the USGA Green Section Record
1989 March/April Vol 27(2): 2-3
Where seldom is heard
A discouraging word,
And the skies are not cloudy all day.


These words may have been true for the early settlers of the West, but they certainly don't apply to today's heavily used golf course practice ranges.

Fortunately, on visits to golf courses in the West over the past few years, several ideas have taken shape and are beginning to improve the turf quality on practice range tees. Combined into a working package, these ideas can provide outstanding playing conditions, with only a moderate increase in expense and little increase in labor.

This simple program of improving turf quality begins with controlling where the golfers may practice. Ropes should be placed approximately seven feet apart across the width of the tee. After the ropes have been placed and anchored into the soil so they cannot be moved, individual practicing stations should be established approximately 10 feet apart. This can be done with various dividers, but placing bag holders and small buckets of topdressing for divot repair at regular intervals is especially effective.

Once these boundaries have been established, the method of rope movement must be very precise. Players generally tend to favor the right half of each practice station. With this in mind, moving the individual stations in a sideways pattern following one day's use allows two days of use in each seven-foot-wide area. The ropes must be changed after each two-day period. Rather than consuming seven feet with each move, the ropes can be moved to use approximately four feet at a time. This can be done since the players also tend to shy away from the ropes when they're practicing. By following this rope movement pattern, a practice tee 40 yards deep can last as long as 60 days before the pattern is begun again.

While this program will help to distribute traffic evenly, the key to long-term success is the frequency of overseeding. At this point, the question of who will take care of the rope movement and overseeding operations must be addressed. If your golf professional realizes income from the facility, it would seem proper that he participate in maintaining the practice tee. By improving turf quality, more players will use the facility and generate more income for the professional. If this is the case at your club, worn areas on the tee should be topdressed and overseeded at the end of each day by the person responsible for range cleanup.

This operation is quite simple, with the person using the remaining topdressing mixture in the buckets and other seed/soil material provided by the golf course superintendent. When this is done faithfully, the same 40-yard-deep tee will allow two months for perennial ryegrass regrowth before it is used again.

If the golf professional is not involved with the practice tee at your club, the maintenance staff must complete the daily overseeding operation in early morning, before play begins, if labor is available.

As a final note concerning this program, other cultural programs must be practiced to achieve long-term success. Include a complete fertilizer and organic material in the topdressing mixture to help retain moisture and establish seedlings. Also, aerify the teeing surface at least twice a year with a 5/8- inch tine putting green aerifier, and a generous fertilization program should be maintained to sustain adequate turf vigor. Finally, best results occur with the use of triplex mowers, and remove clippings for further improvement in turf quality. The mowing operation can be completed early in the morning, and if rope movement is coordinated with the golf shop, the mower operator can be finished and on to the next job in no time.