Golf Course Maintenance Begins before Construction

Native grasses are used in out-of-play areas to conserve water and reduce turf maintenance.

First impressions endure: a firm handshake; shiny shoes; a freshly painted front door; and for golfers the condition of the first tee and fairway at a golf course they are about to play for the first time. Golf is undoubtedly a game played on the ground, but even more so in the mind, and the golfer's first impression can mean the difference between a walk in the park and a good walk spoiled.

Golfers routinely judge the quality of a golf course by the color of its grass. The greener the turf, the better the course. Due in large part to tremendous media coverage of professional golf events, even the casual golfer has come to expect manicured tees, fairways and putting greens, not to mention roughs. Fair or not, a golfer's initial perceptions are often based on what he or she sees. Over the next four hours, this impression will impact the golf experience and the perceived value of the green fee. Even with a winning design, if the golfer's first impression is negative, great service, playability and strategy may not make up for perceived flaws in course conditioning.

In the early days of golf, courses required relatively little or no maintenance, compared to the "round the clock" attention given to today's courses. Today, maintenance costs typically account for the single largest annual expenditure in a golf course operating budget. As labor, insurance, supplies and equipment costs continue to rise superintendents are being asked to do more with less. In the current economy, many superintendents are being asked to trim maintenance budgets and to further stretch already thin maintenance dollars. Forward thinking golf course developers are increasingly mindful of the long-term maintenance costs and frequently look for ways to reduce these costs during the design phase. Proactive owners of golf courses are seeking ways to make their courses more maintenance friendly without sacrificing the golf experience.

Golf course construction is a one-time expense, usually amortized over several years until the loan is paid off. Maintenance, on the other hand, goes on in perpetuity. As long as the golf course is open for play, it must be maintained in some fashion. It is the golf architect's challenge to design courses that can be maintained efficiently and cost effectively while offering an enjoyable golf experience to a broad player profile. Strategic challenge, aesthetics and playability need not be sacrificed to make golf course maintenance friendly. Gentler slopes that don't require hand mowing, integration of natural drainage patterns, use of indigenous grasses and less manicured turf often results in reduced maintenance costs. In addition, these courses are usually more environmentally sensitive.

Paying attention to the design details to ensure a course can be cost effectively maintained can pay dividends in the long term. Every effort should be made while the plans are on the drawing board to identify areas that may pose maintenance challenges. It is far more economical to revise a drawing than to rectify the situation during or after construction.

Native grasses provide a stark visual contrast to the maintained turf areas and physically separate golf holes.

Design Considerations

The most intensively maintained areas of a golf course are the tees, fairways, sand bunkers and putting greens. Paying attention to some basic design guidelines will ensure that these areas can be maintained in a cost efficient manner.

Tees

The teeing area is perhaps the most intensively used area on a golf course. Day in and day out, golfers of every shape and size compact the soils, tear turf and literally remove the turf from the tee surface. Teeing areas too small in size to allow the superintendent to distribute wear results in bare ground, increased disease problems and less than optimal playing conditions. Through routine maintenance divots are filled with seed mix and the turf regenerates. However, if the usable tee area is so small that the turf never gets a chance to heal properly the superintendent must use labor and budget resources to sod and level the tee. Sizing tees to handle the anticipated level of plan can reduce this maintenance outlay. As a guideline, usable tee area on a par 3 should range from 10,000 - 12,500 square feet, and from 7,500 - 8,500 square feet on par fours and par fives.

Fairways

Collectively fairways comprise the largest area of intensively maintained turf on a golf course. Fairway design is largely dependent upon the location of hazards, landforms and the direction of play. The area where the majority of golfers hit the tee shot, referred to as the landing zone, is usually wider than the rest of the fairway. Judiciously narrowing fairway in front of tees and between the landing area and the green is one way of significantly reducing the total area of maintained turf. This approach reduces mowing, irrigation, spraying and fertilizing costs that can result in substantial savings over several years. Positive fairway surface and subsurface drainage is essential to the maintenance and playability of the golf course. Poor drainage results in turf that cannot be mowed, is prone to disease and impedes play. When a course must be closed after a heavy rain it is usually because the fairways do not drain properly, resulting in lost revenue and increased maintenance costs to mitigate disease problems.

Grass faced bunkers with mowable capes and bays tend to require less handwork than those where the sand is flashed high on the capes.

Roughs

Native grasses integrated amongst the golf course landscape in out-of-play areas can provide tremendous wildlife habitat, while reducing the area of maintained and irrigated turf. Aesthetically, native grasses can frame a golf hole, providing a striking visual contrast between emerald green fairways and large swaths of naturalized area. Native grasses can also be planted on the back sides of mounds and bunkers to add character and visual contrast. Planting large areas with native grasses reduces the amount of intensively maintained area and, over the long term, can reduce maintenance costs significantly. But it is very important to emphasize that these areas should remain in out-of-play areas. Most golfers look at native grasses that encroach upon the course too closely as a hazard where many golf balls may be lost or found during their round, resulting in slow play.

Native grasses bring a dramatic backdrop and visual seperation between golf holes, and can provide a wildlife habitat.

Sand Bunkers

Sand bunkers are widely considered one of the most controversial, yet humbling features on a golf course. Perhaps only putting green contouring and green speeds garner more attention; however, neither one of these architectural features defends par quite as well as a well positioned sand bunker. Sand bunkers are also one of the most labor-intensive features on a golf course. Golf architects and superintendents are frequently at odds as they banter the aesthetic and creative elements of bunker design with maintainability. Sand bunkers have always contributed to the strategic and aesthetic character of golf courses. Most often used in a penal, heroic, or strategic fashion to protect par, sand bunkers are also used to direct and contain play, and for purely aesthetic reasons.

From a maintenance perspective, bunkers can pose several challenges, due in large part to their design. The shape and severity of some bunkers require routine maintenance by hand raking, while others can be maintained with a motorized rake. Hand raking is labor intensive and thus less cost efficient. Bunkers designed to be mechanically raked should be sized to allow the operator to turn the bunker rake and to enter and exit the bunker from different locations to avoid wear patterns.

Good drainage is fundamental to maintaining sand bunkers. Water enters a sand bunker either from precipitation or from the surrounding ground area. It is important to understand the drainage patterns surrounding a bunker and how maintenance will be impacted. Limiting the amount of surface drainage that enters a bunker is essential. This can be accomplished by creating landforms that divert water away from the bunker edges, and by the use of hollows and drain inlets that intercept surface water within close proximity to the bunker. It is nearly impossible to catch all of the surface water before it reaches a bunker. Bunkers with steep capes require more hand work after a rain, as sand washes off the face into the bottom of the bunker. Few tasks are more labor intensive than shoveling sand back on to a steep cape of a bunker after a thunderstorm. Grass faced bunkers with mowable capes and bays tend to require less handwork than those where the sand is flashed high on the capes.

Surface runoff into a bunker and poor internal drainage are evident by washed out sand and "the pond".

Putting Greens

Similar to tees, putting greens receive a tremendous amount of wear per square foot. Putting greens designed with multiple pinning or flagstick locations tend to allow the distribution of play resulting, in healthier turf and fewer maintenance challenges. Surface drainage should flow off the green at several points into adjacent hollows - not into greenside sand bunkers. The width between the green and greenside bunkers and hollows should be sufficient in width and gently sloping to allow operators to safely turn a mower. The surface of the putting green should flow gently with no sharp ridges or depressions that could result in scalping or uneven mow patterns.

Design and maintenance are interrelated; however, there is a fine line between designing a dramatic, visually exciting golf course that will tantalize the golfer and designing for cost efficient maintenance. It is paramount that the designer considers the maintenance budget and be flexible during construction to modify the design to ensure that the course can be efficiently maintained. Vigilance to maintainability during the design will yield dividends and substantial return on maintenance dollars.

Douglas Hellman is vice president of Schreiner Golf, Inc., a multidisciplinary golf course design / land planning firm known for design of award winning, maintainable golf courses. Hellman, LCN associate editor / golf course design directs the Wauconda, Illinois office (www.csgolf.com) of Schreiner Golf, Inc.