For the past few years their has been a push to clean up the golf course of grasses that are unwanted or out of place. For current members of HCC "turkey heads" is the key term. Even before I came on board, my predecessor made great strides in this area. Our golf course is a mixture of numerous types of turf. Both warm season (bermudagrass) and cool season (bluegrass and ryegrass) are learning to live harmoniously here. Our goal is to create a cleaner definition between each type. Agronomically, a decision is made where and what herbicides will be used to produce this scenario. In the winter round up is our herbicide of choice simply because the bermudagrass is dormant and we're primarily going after poa annua and some winter annuals. Also, winter is the best time to view this contamination. During the season all the types of turf are green, and it becomes more difficult to see the differences. We have been able to identify three different turf "looks" were are aiming to achieve.
The first being pure bermudagrass shown below.
The second is a clean mixture of bermudagrass and bluegrass/ryegrass
And the third is predominately a mixture of bluegrass/ryegrass. As shown left of the defining line between the fairway and the rough below.
This process is not a "one and done" scenario. It is our duty to stay diligent in our pre and post emergent herbicide applications. A golf course that is 75 years old has millions of weed seeds just waiting to germinate.
