The Oaks Course in Covington, Georgia, has a mutually beneficial relationship with the USGA based on our shared interest in improving golf course sustainability. This includes minimizing the cost of operation while maintaining high-quality playing conditions for golfers. The primary owner, Dick Shultz, approached me earlier this year with a specific request – he wanted to reduce maintenance costs for the roughs and fairways. Here is how we approached that challenge and the results we observed:
Background: The Oaks Course lost revenue in 2020 due to the cancellation of several important events because of the pandemic. The course also had an aging equipment fleet that limited productivity and required expensive ongoing maintenance. Led by superintendent Colten Beattie, the maintenance crew consisted of four people for 18 holes. Chemical, fertilizer, equipment and fuel costs had all increased substantially, which put a squeeze on the budget. During a USGA Course Consulting Service visit in March of 2021, I was asked to develop a plan for the course that built on the success of an imazapic trial we conducted on the driving range in 2020. This trial reduced mowing frequency and eliminated pre and postemergence herbicide and growth regulator applications.
Potential Benefits: We worked through the numbers – acreage of roughs and fairways, normal mowing frequency, labor costs of mowing versus spraying, fuel costs, herbicide and growth regulator costs, maintenance and repair costs of mowers and tractors, and the opportunity to extend equipment life through decreased use. The potential savings looked extremely promising.
Implementation: Applications of imazapic were started on fairways and roughs in early June on a four-week interval, alternating applications every two weeks between fairways and roughs. Three total applications were made to each surface from June through August and then the program ceased. No other growth regulators or preemergence herbicides were applied. A spot application of a postemergence herbicide was made for lingering Virginia buttonweed.
Results: There were only eight total mowing events on fairways and roughs from June to mid-November, a significant reduction from what would normally be required! Weed control was phenomenal outside of some goosegrass and the bermudagrass density has never been better – increasing while weed populations decreased. Approximately $50,000 was saved by taking this aggressive, alternative approach to cut costs while maintaining good playability and turfgrass quality actually improved.
I played the course with the owners recently and it was difficult to find any weeds and the density and quality of the bermudagrass has never been better – especially in the rough. A program like this has a lot of potential for many courses in the Southeast and I would be more than happy to discuss options for your specific facility.
Southeast Region Agronomists:
Chris Hartwiger, director, USGA Course Consulting Service – chartwiger@usga.org
Steve Kammerer, Ph.D., senior consulting agronomist – skammerer@usga.org
Jordan Booth, agronomist – jbooth@usga.org