Just about every golf course has growing environments that are less than ideal. This leads to weaker turf that is more vulnerable to winter injury. While golf courses and their superintendents should consistently be working to improve growing conditions, the reality is challenges like poor drainage or lack of sunlight in a particular area may be out of your control for this winter. Being extra protective in these trouble spots is usually a good idea.

For example, there will be marginally cold times in the winter when you may not need to protect all of your greens, but you may want to consider covering the most vulnerable ones that are impacted by shade or other issues. There will also be times when temperatures are extremely low and vulnerable areas need more protection than healthier turf. Some site-specific management strategies that you and your team may want to consider this winter include:

• Using netting to protect high-traffic teeing grounds or collection areas during dormancy or prolonged stretches of cold weather. Just make sure your golfers know why the netting is out there and how to handle playing around it.
• Using traffic management strategies to protect vulnerable areas when turfgrasses are not actively growing.
• Covering shaded tees or fairway areas with pine straw when very low temperatures are forecast. 
• The site-specific use of pine straw under protective covers on putting greens that are compromised by shade or poor drainage. 
• The use of double covers on putting greens in poor growing environments when low temperatures are forecast. 
• The use of dark erosion-control netting (e.g., EnkaMat) to gather sunlight and warm the soil in vulnerable areas on putting greens, collars or tees. 
• The site-specific use of covers on areas with a history of winter injury, including range tees, collars and shaded green surrounds.
  
  

This may all sound extreme or overprotective to some, but winter injury is one of the most frustrating and expensive issues to deal with on a golf course, and winterkill struck many courses in the transition zone last winter. While you can never be 100% protected against winter injury, improving infrastructure, reducing shade and using site-specific management in vulnerable areas will be the best strategy for long-term success.

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

Mitch Leininger, agronomist - mleininger@usga.org

Information on the USGA’s Course Consulting Service

Contact the Green Section Staff