Fairway patches

I am sure that you have noticed the patches of brown grass in the fairways over the past month or so.  These are patches of bermudagrass that have encroached into the zoysiagrass fairways over the years.  The brown color is the result of herbicide applications that we have been making targeting the bermudagrass encroachment.  The herbicides will not kill the bermudagrass, but merely suppress it and put it in a state of dormancy for about 3-4 weeks, which means that those patches should play similar to bermuda fairways in the winter as opposed to bare ground.  By making the herbicide application every 4 weeks during the growing season and keeping the bermudagrass suppressed, we will provide the zoysiagrass the opportunity to retake those areas.  Zoysiagrass has a slow growth rate so it will take some time, several years likely, for the zoysia to completely retake those areas. 

The herbicide application dings the zoysiagrass a little and consequentially slows the growth of the zoysiagrass for a couple of weeks following the application.  We normally apply growth regulators on the fairways during the growing season to help make the grass more manageable and to also help maintain the consistency in playing conditions.  Due to the growth regulating effects of the herbicide application coupled with allowing the zoysiagrass a better opportunity to fill into these patches, we will not be applying the plant growth regulators this year.  Subsequentially, we will be mowing the fairways more frequently to help keep playing conditions consistent.

So why are we just starting to treat these areas?  Well, actually we have been making these applications for over 10 years.  However, in the past, we only spot-treated the fairways.  The problem with that is the bermudagrass can be very hard to distinguish, without the aide of morning dew, while driving through a fairway on a spray rig.  Our consistency with applications has not been where it needed to be in the past either.  We made a commitment this year to make it a priority to treat the entire fairways every month during the growing season.  By spraying the entire fairways, we eliminate the possibility of missing any bermuda with our application.  We also increase the consistency of the fairways as well, due to the aforementioned  growth regulating effects immediately after the application.

a view of the patches in #4 fairway

looking toward #4 green

a closer view of some patches

an up close view of a patch