September has finally arrived, bringing a huge sigh of relief as golf courses emerge from the dog days of summer, mostly with few scars from what I’ve seen. The days are getting shorter and temperatures will soon decrease across the Southeast. As turfgrass growth slows down, the focus should shift to protecting the course during the busy fall golf season ahead. A proactive plan to safeguard your course from unnecessary damage will help maintain good playing conditions throughout the winter and spring, especially for southern parts of the region where the prime golf season is just about to get started. I’d like to highlight three key areas of concern that every facility should keep in mind as we transition into fall golf.
Properly Timing and Performing Cultural Practices
Can the turf recover? Aggressive aeration and deep verticutting can damage turf as growth slows and it may not recover until warmer temperatures return. Opting for less-disruptive aeration techniques using solid or smaller-sized tines, or newer types such as Ninja or Emperor tines, can be a valuable adjustment to the fall cultural practice plan. This approach helps reduce short-term turf stress while promoting long-term health.
Monitor weather conditions. Keep an eye on the forecast for early frost or cold snaps. These can further stress turf that has been recently disturbed by cultural practices and will slow down recovery. If there is a risk of cold weather, it’s probably best to avoid any significant disruption.
Assess disease risk. Cultural practices temporarily weaken turf making it more susceptible to fungal infections or other issues, so make sure playing surfaces are protected from pests while they recover.
Is the aesthetic and playability impact acceptable? Recognize that aggressive practices during this season can lead to unsightly, bumpy and/or soft playing surfaces that may take a while to heal. Make sure your golfers know what to expect and are OK with it.
Preventing Traffic Damage
Use traffic control strategies. If your course is busy in fall and winter, keep strategic traffic control measures in place. Routinely move the location of signs, ropes and stakes to distribute wear evenly across the course and prevent overuse in specific areas.
Restrict access. To minimize compaction and damage, keep carts on paths whenever necessary and limit golf cart access to vulnerable areas, like wet or stressed turf. Utilizing GPS or geofencing on the golf cart fleet is one way many courses can now restrict and monitor access to sensitive areas.
Educate golfers. Communicate with golfers about the importance of adhering to cart restrictions and using golf carts correctly to help protect the course during the transition to winter.
Protecting the Practice Tee
Manage tee usage. Rotate teeing areas frequently to spread wear evenly and prevent overuse of any one spot. If possible, limit the portion of the teeing ground open for use during the non-growing season. Limiting the number of range balls or the hours of operation on the practice range can help as well.
Use artificial turf mats. Encourage or require golfers to use artificial turf mats to minimize direct wear on the natural grass, especially when recovery is slow or nonexistent. The Green Section Record article “When Should You Make the Move to Mats?” covers this in detail.
Strengthen the turf with fertilization. Apply light, balanced fertilization in early fall to strengthen practice tee turf before dormancy. This will help it withstand wear and tear as growth slows and will speed up recovery once active growth resumes.
Consider overseeding. If conditions allow, consider overseeding the practice tee with cool-season grasses to maintain some green cover and reduce the visual impact of wear during the non-growing season. Just make sure you have a plan to transition out of overseed in spring, so you don’t set back the underlying warm-season turf.
As the seasons shift from summer to fall, it's time to prepare for the unique challenges that lie ahead on the golf course. This transition brings a new set of demands, making early preparations and thoughtful decision-making are crucial to maintaining turf quality throughout the months to come. For expert guidance in preparing for the fall and winter golf seasons, don't hesitate to reach out to your regional USGA Agronomist.
Southeast Region Agronomists:
Jordan Booth, Ph.D., senior director, USGA Course Consulting Service – jbooth@usga.org
Chris Hartwiger, director, Agronomy – chartwiger@usga.org
Chris Neff, agronomist – cneff@usga.org