To Overseed OR Not To Overseed, That Is The Question.

Does it look prettier when you overseed? Yes. Is it always practical? No.

And no, the operators have not stopped watering because the course is struggling financially.  The answer is that the Bermuda grass – which is the primary turf throughout mopst San Diego area courses – goes dormant for the winter. like an animal that hibernates, warm-season grasses like Bermuda “shut down” until the warm temperatures return in the spring. this “shut down” occurs when ground temperature (not to be confused with the air temperature) goes below 62 degrees. Since the grass is no longer growing, the playing surface turns an off-color yellow or white and becomes very fast and “tight”.

So why are the tees and greens green? First, different grasses are for different purposes. Second, the tees are green because most courses overseed them with a winter rye grass, and the greens are green because they are Bent grass; which also grows less during the winter months but does not go dormant.

If you overseed the tees, why can’t you overseed the fairways like courses that do overseed? Sometimes when a course is new or may not have a strong foudation, it takes several years for the turf to mature and establish a solid base. If you introduce a different grass outside your primary turf, you are creating a scenario where the grasses will compete against one another to survive. While the rye will look green and thrive during the winter months, it will also be choking out the Bermuda. This is because even though the Bermuda is dormant and not growing, it still needs sunlight to survive.

Why don’t you use rye year round? Since rye grass is a cool season turf, it will need more and more water to survive as the weather warms. Rye is also a less durable turf than Bermuda and will struggle and thin during the summer months especially under all the cart traffic. Add the drought and water restrictions California faces along with the use of reclaimed water (which is much harsher and contains a much higher salt content than potable water) and the conditions for the rye to survive diminish even further. This leads back to a solid and healthy Bermuda base that goes dormant during the winter is still a much better alternative than struggling with your turf conditions over the summer months. The bottom line is this: the course’s turf is the most important asset of any golf course. I can assure you he management team and the course operators are committed to making the best decisions for the course’s long-term health and longevity.

The previous article was paraphrased from a newsleeter put out by The Crossing’s at Carlsbad’s General Manager, Jeff Perry in reponse to some member questions about overseeding.

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