The Driving Range Tee is and will most likely continue to be an area of debate and discussion. I have written posts about this area in the past keeping the membership informed as to why certain practices are performed. Well here's another post, but with information regarding overseeding. Let's keep the discussion to the facts.
1. We have three tee decks. Each is about 2,500sqft, not a lot of hitting area by modern standards.
2. The primary turf on our driving range tees is bermudagrass.
3. In our geographical area, bermudagrass begins to green up in late April. It will not be healthy enough to recover from injury (divots) well into June. By Labor Day it is done growing for the year, but will stay green until the first frost.
4. We overseed our range tees in the fall, after Labor Day, with perennial ryegrass.
5. Overseeding allows players to hit off turf for an extended period of time in the fall and earlier in the spring. The added time is typically one month in the fall and up to two months in the spring. For example; divots seen today would not heal until June if we did not overseed. Since we do overseed, divots seen today will have the ability to heal with ryegrass seed starting in mid April.
7. The Club has invested in quality synthetic mats, allowing use of the range year round.
To sum it up from mid October until mid April no turf will grow and no seed will germinate. No divot recovery at all. Once we are into April, we will begin to seed divots, the seed will germinate, and players will again be able to hit off natural turf. If players were to hit off of the turf now, we would be left with tee decks that are mostly dirt in the spring. We are saving what turf we have for those beautiful spring days when the golf bug has bitten, the Augusta Syndrome is in effect, and the Membership is ready for another golf season.
