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Rabid golf fans drool when they watch professional golf tournaments on television – and it’s not just because of the silky smooth swings of the pros. They see the perfectly-manicured, impossibly-green, decoratively-striped and healthy turfgrass those pros play upon and think to themselves, “Gosh, how could I get my lawn to look that good?”
Of course, golf course superintendents know that achieving such a look for all to admire can only be accomplished through a heavy dose of blood, sweat and tears. Keeping turfgrass healthy is only part of the battle – it has to look good, too. Whether caring for a private club or a public course, it has to be aesthetically pleasing to many parties. After all, golf is a great escape, and part of that escape is the illusion of stepping into an impossible wonderland.
So how to achieve both healthy turfgrass and a course by which an artist would be inspired? On a scale of one to 10, how concerned are most superintendents about aesthetics? Tim Anderson, superintendent of Naperville Country Club in Naperville, Ill., says he’s at about an eight or nine.
“It’s an important part of what we do,” says Anderson. “Everyone wants to see that. I talk with my assistant about what members see and how it’s different than what we see. You have to learn to look at things like members do. They pick up on little things that aren’t directly related to the agronomic health of the turf.”
With aesthetics ranking so high, how does a superintendent walk the fine line of maximizing the look of a course while not sacrificing turf health? Anderson says that’s not always easy.
“You have to be aware of what the turf needs are and make sure you don’t push the turf past that point,” he says. “It’s easy to lose track of that – especially when there are events at the club like the club championship or member-guest and you want everything to look the best at the time when maybe the turf isn’t capable of standing that.”
Anderson has explored all types of striping patterns on his fairways. He always mows his greens in alternating directions, and does the same for approaches.
“We walk-mow them for a series of days one direction and then switch directions up and down or across so you’re burning the lines in a little for a really distinct look,” Anderson says.
Of course, a superintendent needs the right equipment to achieve the look he or she wants. Anderson goes with Toro Sidewinders to mow the rough because he says they produce a “high-quality cut.”
“Plus, there’s a rear roller that produces a striping effect,” he says.
Anderson also uses 38-inch Ransom walk-behind rotaries on greens and tee banks because of the terrain and the way they produce a nice striping effect and good quality cut.
“They produce a striping effect like you would see at a commercial industrial park in front of a nice corporate office,” he says.
Tommy Witt, director of golf course operations for Northmoor Country Club in Highland Park, Ill., can relate to Anderson as far as members seeing the course differently than others. And not all members see it the same way, either, he says.
“Every golf facility has an employer, golfers or members who have different tolerances for off-colored but healthy turf,” Witt says. “I would describe my membership as being highly motivated by green turf rather than leaner, healthier turf. Therefore, it’s a challenge to convince them that certain agronomic procedures are necessary.”
 Turfgrass health is important, but aesthetics play a big role for superintendents as well.Like Anderson, Witt emphasizes the extreme difficulty of balancing good-looking turf with healthy turf. He cites a project in the last decade in which they renovated each of their three nines. The fairways, which were 90 years old, had been bent-Poa and the members liked the way the ball set up on the mature turf. But Witt says they also wanted firmer and faster fairways, which he warned would be much tighter and not have the old “fluffy” lies of the original fairways.
“When the new bent was planted and the course opened, the membership didn’t like the tight lies,” Witt says. “Instead of managing a healthy, thatch-free turf, I had to promote a pad as quickly as possible so the ball would sit up better for our players. This is the type of agronomic practice that might not be recommended, but it’s what my employers prefer.”
Witt characterizes his striping patterns as ordinary – normal mowing patterns using different angles or lines for the fairways, approaches, tees and green surrounds.
“The bentgrass as well as other cool season species stripe up nicely,” he says.
Witt does several different cuts outside the greens which he feels create a stunning look. He does a collar cut on the bentgrass greens, then a 21-inch short bluegrass cut with the bluegrass surround mowed an inch higher.
“These three distinct cutting heights result in a nice visual distinction,” Witt says.
To achieve the deep green color his membership craves, Witt uses various iron sources in lieu of excessive nitrogen. Also, using varied mowing heights, he says, easily identifies different turf areas and offers a different look in color and perception.
Van Cline, agronomist with The Toro Company, might be surprised at how high Witt and Anderson rank making a course look nice. He agrees that aesthetics should be important to superintendents but doesn’t think most would describe it as a top priority.
“Playability would likely be the stated priority, with turf health the understated or understood management goal,” says Van Cline. “The USGA’s ‘firm and fast’ initiative is an example of putting the focus on playing conditions while using fewer inputs and reducing operating costs.”
Van Cline says keeping turf healthy is key since he believes it’s the foundation of aesthetics, uniformity and playability.
“The trend toward rolling greens to maintain speed while raising the height of cut to reduce turf stress is an example,” he says – most superintendents would probably agree healthy turf is the best-looking and gives them the most options for influencing playability.
Grant Young, Toro’s senior marketing manager, understands the superintendent can sometimes be put in difficult situations when membership’s No. 1 demand is a course that looks like the ones they see on television. And ownership knows that a good-looking course helps attract and retain members.
“A great look doesn’t always mean the practices used to achieve it are the best for turf health,” Young says. “For example, one practice we often see is a course ‘burning in’ a certain pattern on their fairways. Because the membership or ownership or both like a particular look on a hole, they opt to mow it in the same direction in the same pattern the entire season to preserve the look. In the end, however, not varying the pattern and letting the grass be conditioned to a certain direction of growth can cause other issues down the line.”
Young cites another example of cutting fairways almost as short as greens in the name of aesthetics. The stress on the turf can be greater, especially in high-heat conditions; it can actually be harder to play from as a member and superintendents may be required to mow the area more often to keep the look.
The good news, says Young, is that most equipment innovation over the last 10 to 15 years has been geared toward improved playability and aesthetics.
“From the quality and adjustability of cutting units to the addition of accessories to achieve almost any desired look, the changes have really been significant,” says Young. “There have been other advancements in fertilizers and chemicals that have also changed the way superintendents do their jobs and achieve the looks they’re after.”
Jacobsen has focused on height of cut (HOC) and frequency of clip (FOC) in regard to its equipment advances.
“If a little more leaf on the plant can be maintained during the cutting process, it certainly encourages turf health,” says Jacobsen product manager Rachel Luken. “Therefore, a superintendent should focus on the FOC and HOC correlation for establishing desired stimp readings or ball speeds.”
To achieve a tight FOC, Luken recommends the Jacobsen Eclipse, which features an electronic dual motor that she says gives superintendents the ability to adjust the FOC independent to mow speed so the operator can adapt to course requirements and conditions and increase run time.
“Turf health is always on a superintendent’s mind, because if not correct or maintained, it may turn into an aesthetics issue,” says Luken. “The two are connected – there is no way to avoid it – and so equipment and techniques must be employed to help the balancing act.
“Groomers remove horizontal runners and organic material under the turfgrass canopy typically left behind with horizontal clipping alone,” she says. “By removing this thatch, the turfgrass canopy is opened to allow for improved water penetration, soil gas exchange, seed and fertilizer penetration and a drier turf surface that is less likely to fall victim to leaf disease.”
Luken says techniques to achieve high aesthetics are trending toward less aggressive, more frequent practices to reduce disruption to playability and aesthetics.
With the current state of the economy and the golf business, Young says there is a greater emphasis on productivity, reflected in the mowing pattern of fairways. For instance, the highly-coveted checkerboard pattern on fairways isn’t seen as often, he says.
“What the average consumer/golfer doesn’t realize is the time it takes to make this pattern,” he says. “The number of turn-arounds needed to the left and right of a fairway make the time to mow that fairway two to three times what it would take with a different pattern – not to mention the abuse the turf in the rough takes with all the tires turning on it.”
So courses have gone back to a vertical pattern on fairways, also called “antiquing” the fairway or a “dark and light” pattern.
“It’s interesting to hear superintendents talk about how their membership says, ‘I really like this new look on the fairways,’ when the reality of it is that the pattern is old and originated out of necessity as this was the only way to practically mow a fairway with a tractor and gang reels.”
Young says it comes down to balance and knowing the difference between a good, long-term turf health practice and what might be a quick fix or short-term solution. He says there are situations where the latter is needed, but it can’t be all the time.
“The ultimate aesthetic appearance of a golf course could be described as the façade of a building or house,” Young says. “If it’s new, it may look like a fantastic property. But if the foundation is cracking and it has a termite problem, it may not be standing in two years. The trick is to have both.” GCI
Jason Stahl is a freelance writer based in Cleveland.
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