PGA Tour Courses

The photos below are of some of the higher profile courses that you have heard of and tournaments that you may have watched in TV.  To achieve the outrageous speeds and firmness delivered at some of the major tour events the golf course plays so difficult that even the better amateur club players would have a difficult time breaking 100 on the scorecard.  The greens are targeted to be firm and fast at some events.  They are as hard as concrete and the tour player must be able to spin the ball just to stay on the green.  When tour players "fear" a 3 to 4 foot putt then you know the course is not only tremendously difficult but many times it is on the verge of death. 

Most importantly, these courses are not maintained in this stressed condition year round.  They are maintained in this way for only several weeks slightly before and the week of the event. 

In preparation for hosting the 2013 U.S. Open, Merion Golf Club made artificial mats mandatory for golfers hitting approach shots from its fairways.  The mats, rectangles about 5 inches wide by 15 inches long, were used as a way to control divots from last October until June of this year.

It’s a simple concept. Each caddie at Merion, which is a walking-only course, carries a mat in the pouch of his caddie bib. By the time his player reaches his tee shot, the caddie has lifted, cleaned and placed his ball on the mat.
"They’re just like something you’d find at the driving range," one Merion member said of the mats. "I actually find them easier to hit off of than turf."

In an effort to preserve prime landing areas of the fairway, the mats are mostly used on second shots on the course's shorter par 4s, Nos. 1, 7, 8 and 10, according to the report.

Greens at Merion Golf Club for the US Open. Notice how brown the color of the green is.  These are not member golfing conditions.  These conditions challenge the best PGA tour players in the world.  The greens are not maintained at this level of intensity all season, rather just for the Open.
                                           

The 2013 British Open at Murfield.  Can you imagine a US course looking like this.  More-over can you imagine how difficult it would be to play?  You cannot imagine what a Golf Course Manager has to do to get greens to this condition and then to keep it alive.  

This is a pretty ugly green

The fairways at Murfield were as hard as a rock.  Yes, the golfers got 50 to 100 yards of roll but the lies were so tight it would be like you hitting a ball off of a sidewalk. 

Notice that the player is chipping off of the greens surface to the cupping location.  Due to the shape of the green, he has to chip off of the putting surface.

The photo below is at Oak Hill CC site of the 2013 PGA

Notice that there are areas on the green where the player may have to chip off of the green's surface to get to the cup.

Notice the brown spots in the middle right of the photo.  This is at Augusta National during the Masters. This is the extreme that is demanded to achieve the "off the chart speeds" for putting surfaces.

Without the use of the green filter used on the TV cameras, you can see the difference in the color of the greens compared to the less stressed and greener fairways.

Congressional Golf Club during the US Open

Notice the dead turf on the green during the US Open to meet the

 demand for hard and fast putting surfaces for the tour pros.  

Congressional GC  US Open - dead portion of green

Olympic Club - US Open  Firm Dry Dead Turf

Unfortunately the new Golf Course Superintendent at this site inherited a difficult situation as the  greens were "pushed" to faster speeds for member and tour players.

Big time hazards

Merion - US Open Championship "knee-high" roughs

Merion roughs- US Open

This exhibits the levels some courses go to in order to achieve rock hard putting surfaces for a single week's major event.  The greens are not kept like this year round. 

Another US Open Course -The green is half dead and as hard as concrete

These conditions are impossible for country club membership play

When the tour players are playing greens with 12 to 13 foot stimpmeter readings, they take significant amounts of time to read the putts.  Even short putts at these speeds give the Pros  a tough time.  Our green speeds are rolling at these speeds at times.  This is very difficult for our members.

Jim Furyk took almost 5 minutes to line up this 6 foot putt.

The approach to the 18th green at Oak Hill is defended by a 30 foot rise in front of the green with 6 inch rough.  The golfer is forced to hit the ball with a very high trajectory and still try and stop it on the green.  Any approach short of the green and you are looking at a 45 degree slope and 30 feet into the air to try and hit your chip shot onto the green.   There is definitely no "run-up" on this hole.

I am a former college player and currently carry a index in the 6 range but I am not sure I could break 90 on these major tournament courses with the conditions they demand for a tour event. 

Why is the driving range surface different from the fairways?

                                         
Why is the turf on the driving range different from the fairways?

The answer is that the fairway turf reaches a state of maturity from many years of growth. 
The range turf never reaches a state of maturity because we seed the divots 2 to 4 times a year depending on how many times we rotate through the range tee.  When we begin the season on the lower level at the front of the tee we rotate back to it in a matter of 4 to 6 weeks.  In that short time, the new seed that we have planted has germinated and begins to grow but it simply has not had time to become dense, thick and mature.  We are constantly hitting on immature turf.  We are re-seeding daily with the most aggressively growing seed variety on the market.  There is no other turf variety that will solve the tight lie issue.

The photo below shows the thatch or pad that accumulates our fairway.  This is a double edge sword.  This pad allows your ball to sit up very nicely allowing you to sweep the ball off the turf.  However, this same "pad" is one of the factors that limits ball roll on your tee shots. 
                                         

That is a layer of organic material (decomposing roots, grass blades, etc.) located below the grass blades and the soil.  It accumulates over time.  Aerification and sand topdressing are measures used to maintain thatch in acceptable levels in the fairways.   Zero thatch control is required on the range turf because the turf never reaches a mature enough state to begin developing this thatch layer.

 The range is very actively used.

The photo below is of a cross section of the range tee turf.  Notice there is no thatch or pad layer so the leaf blades are directly on thop of the soil.  This would be representative of laying carpet in your home directly onto the concrete foundation without installing a layer of padding under the carpet. 

    Below shows the condition of the range tee before the renovation. 

   This is the condition of the range

tee following the renovation

 This photo shows how much of a small area of the range tee is displaced during a single day of hitting.  It willl take this area 6 to 8 weeks to germinate, grow and begin to fill in.  It would take several years for this area to mature and become dense like a fairway.  However, we rotate the tee back to this same spot 2 to 4 times a year so the young turf is barely growing when we are hitting off of it again.  It simply never has time to reach maturity. 

This photo shows a complete row of used turf during a single day.  It takes 6 to 8
 weeks for this area to cover again.                                                

                                       

What a Difference A Year Makes

No two years on a golf course are ever the same.  We only have to look back to last year to confirm this fact.  We all like to control as many situations in our lives as possible but we have no control over the weather and how it affects a golf course.  We have a high degree of control over many functions and areas of the club.  For example, indoor dining, golf shop shopping, clubhouse parties, etc are all indoor functions that can proceed without a "hitch" because they are held indoors.  The golf course is different.  It is a outdoor living entity that is significantly influenced by sudden and extreme weather conditions.  Course conditions change not only year to year but can change day to day depending on the weather.
Below are some examples of the extremes in weather from 2012 to 2013. 

Last year at this time it was pushing 100 degrees for extended periods
                                                            

This year temperatures are in the 60s on the 1st of July.  Members are still wearing jackets
                                                         
                                            
                                             2012 Headlines

Emergency drought aid expands as Midwest bakes!!!!!!!!!

US Drought Disaster Worst In Over 50 Years


Forecast: More Heat, More Drought

The 2012 drought disaster is now the largest in over 50 years, and among the ten largest of the past century, according to a new report released by the National Climatic Data Center today.
The current drought actually covers more area than the famous 1936 drought, though other droughts in the Dust Bowl years – particularly the extreme drought of 1934 – still rank higher
 Heat Wave Smashes Records as Drought ExpandsThe heat wave continues! O'Hare's hit 103, Midway 102. The heat's to run thru Sat AM. Afternoon temps are within striking distance of Chicago's all-time record hi of 105 set July 24, 1934. It's the 2nd day in which century old temp records have fallen.

Wednesday's record-tying 102-degree high, the hottest July 4 temperature here in nearly a century, appears only the opening act of an intense heat wave which still has several days to run.

The 102-degree peak reading marked only the second time in 142 years an Independence Day has recorded a triple digit temperature here

Photos of the effects that the record setting heat and drought had on the golf course in 2012

NCC 2012

NCC 2012

                                                               

2013 Weather Headlines

Wednesday morning’s deluge is just the latest to hit portions of the Greater Chicago area in a year which has been producing precipitation at a record rate. There hasn’t been a single year since official weather records began 142 years ago in 1871 which has produced a year-to-date precipitation tally greater than the 27.54" currently on the books

Month’s rainfall running at 12 times last June’s pace; 2013′s precipitation tally remains the heaviest of any on record in the past 142 years
From a 140 year drought last summer to 140 year rainfall records this year

NCC golf course flooding

Chicago flooding

                                     

                                     

Red Greens and Merion GC

As recently as yesterday, NCC members were playing golf in coats.  The 55 to 65 degree temperatures here on the lake really slow the growth of our two new greens. We need warm weather for the two new greens on red to get going.   Daytime temperatures need to be in the mid to high 80s for several weeks to stimulate growth.

   June 12th and NCC members are still in fall and winter attire.    

Below is a photo of #3 red green.  We have sodded and plugged the green in some of the thinner areas and once we get the warm weather, the green will be ready to open 2 to 4 weeks after that.  There thinner areas are around the edges of the green's surface here on #3 green but the interior of the green is doing good. 
                                               

The photo below is of the volunteer workers cleaning up after the thunderstorm at Merion GC two days ago.  This type of effort happens at many courses around the country, including NCC, before members ever get to the first tee.  It doesn't look like this year's US Open will be firm and fast.  Superintendent Matt Shaffer and his staff will have the course shining by the time the golfers tee off in the US Open.  Literally thousands of man hours go into turning a mess like this into a US Open quality venue.  There are 10 workers on this hole alone. 

New Red Greens

Now that the weather is cooperating, the turf on the new #3 and #9 red greens is beginning to react as anticipated.  Sunshine and warmer temperatures are just what the new turf needs to establish quickly. 
We are still hoping for a late June opening but the final opening date will depend on the weather.  Every agronomic practice is being implemented to expedite the turf establishment to a stage where the new young turf can withstand mowing, golfer and foot traffic. 

                                            #3 Red Green

#9 Red Green

New seed is germinating in the bare areas

                Larger thin areas on the greens are
                 being plugged and sodded