The first to show

Scouting for disease on golf course greens is an essential practice of golf course maintenance. Superintendents often handle this task themselves, although having multiple sets of eyes on the crew assisting with this important task is something most superintendents utilize. I lean on our staff to help us get ahead of disease.

Assistant superintendents are obviously essential disease scouters, but also morning cup cutters, greens mowers, roller operators and hand-waterers should be trained to know what to look for and when to look for it. Having your crew know which diseases they are likely to see and what those diseases look like, as well as knowing when conditions are favorable for disease spreading, is a vital tool for superintendents.

Having greens or particular areas on certain greens that tend to show disease first are a big help when scouting for disease.

Here at Avalon Golf Club in western Washington, we have three or four of our 29 greens (we’re a 27-hole course with two practice greens) that frequently show disease first. We have labeled these surfaces our “indicator greens.”

Although we’re on a preventative, planned fungicide schedule throughout the entire year, disease will often have a mind of its own and appear out of the blue — or even early. Keeping an eye on those indicator areas is essential in not getting caught by surprise.

In my 20 years as superintendent at Avalon, the indicator greens have always been a source of intrigue for me. When I first arrived, a few greens would show disease first. Three nines comprise our 27-hole layout: the North, West and South courses. Years ago, our indicator greens were No. 8 West, No. 6 North and No. 6 South. We heavily scouted these greens when getting close to the end of a fungicide window or when conditions seemed extremely favorable for disease.

Over the years, however, those greens gradually lost their indicator status, while other greens like No. 9 South, our practice chipping green and No. 2 West became the new indicator greens. And, oddly enough, in the last several years, those greens have lost their indicator status as well. Our new indicator greens are No. 1 North, No. 2 North, and Nos. 2 and 7 South.

Our main diseases here in the Pacific Northwest are fusarium patch, anthracnose and, in the summer, yellow, take-all and summer patch. Interestingly, the indicator greens seem to be disease specific. No. 1 North is the green where we get fusarium first now (the back right of the green, to be specific). While Nos. 2 and 7 South — two greens where we constantly battle thatch — show us anthracnose and the summer patch diseases first.

I have some pretty good theories as to why the current disease greens are indicator greens. Shade and air movement tend to be the biggest factors for us with fusarium patch. The back right of No. 1 North, our most prevalent fusarium indicator area, is shaded by a thick stand of alders to the east and the southeast. No. 2 North green also is tucked and has the least air movement of any green on the course.

Thatch and poor drainage have made a couple other greens, Nos. 2 and 7 South, indicator greens for our other, thatchier disease problems.

I’ve also wondered over the years if having indicator greens is really all that bad of a thing. It’s kind of nice to get a little preview of disease before you actually get it everywhere. Having specific areas to look at on the golf course quickly, first thing in the morning, can be a valuable tool.

For instance, I know if the back of No. 1 North green doesn’t have fusarium, I most likely don’t have it anywhere.

The concept of indicator greens got me wondering: If other superintendents have their own indicator greens, what are some of their thoughts about them and do they also utilize these areas?

James Bryson, the superintendent at The Bedens Brook Club in Skillman, New Jersey, just outside Princeton, has four USGA spec greens; the rest being the original push-up greens. For him, it’s those four greens that have become his disease indicators.

Bryson says shade and poor drainage contribute to certain areas of his original greens that seem more susceptible to disease outbreaks. He also agreed with my thought that having a green or two where diseases show up first can be used to his advantage.

“Indicator greens can definitely be helpful and are a key factor in IPM,” Bryson adds. “Sometimes it’s hard to walk on every playing surface each day, so making sure that you scout for disease, insects and even drought stress on greens where you have past issues is crucial.”

Bryson pointed out that he is less comfortable with any kind of curative approach to treating his greens. He doesn’t mind using this approach when scouting for dollar spot and brown patch on fairways. “Indicator areas on our 30 acres of fairways, showing us when dollar spot or brown patch is just showing up, can help stretch my fairway applications. This is where we try to cut back and push to the limits.”

Carl Wittenauer, the superintendent at Brookside Golf and Country Club in Columbus, Ohio, believes his indicator greens are caused by a few different factors.

“Our indicator greens have remained pretty consistent over the years,” he says. “Those greens have a higher percentage of Poa, and one of the greens where we tend to get disease first has a different subsurface mix than the other greens.” Wittenauer also listed such factors as shade, air movement and poor drainage as contributors.

The main diseases Brookside sees first on indicator greens are anthracnose, dollar spot, brown patch and Pythium. Wittenauer agrees that having an indicator green or two may have that silver lining bonus for early detection.

“It is helpful to have a green that is usually one of the first to show disease,” he says. “It’s not 100 percent though. You need to keep an eye elsewhere. You also need to know why the green is the problem green and try to solve that problem if you can.”

Pat O’Brien, who has led the maintenance efforts at Hyde Park Golf and Country Club in Cincinnati for 19 years and has his own challenges specific to the cultivars of creeping bentgrass on the club’s greens. “Cohansey, Penncross and other unknown bentgrass cultivars that are very susceptible to summer patch, Pythium root rot and anthracnose, tend to show those diseases first,” O’Brien says.

He also mentioned that a possible future plan at Hyde Park is to replace the old cultivars with new varieties of bentgrass bred for disease resistance. In essence, O’Brien would like to eliminate these indicator greens that struggle with disease resistance more than his other greens.

While O’Brien is definitely not in the camp of leaving greens intentionally unprotected, he agreed that multiple varietal differences of bentgrass provide him and his crew with unintentional scouting opportunities. “I have found that the Cohansey bentgrass, for instance, will show anthracnose sooner than another cultivar adjacent to it. We do utilize this as an indication that other varieties, such as Penncross, will exhibit symptoms soon after.”

We would prefer that none of our greens ever show signs of disease, but that is not realistic. Having a couple spots that might help us in our scouting at the end of treatment windows, or when conditions are highly favorable for an outbreak, is not such a bad thing.

Ron Furlong is the superintendent at Avalon Golf Club in Burlington, Washington, and a frequent Golf Course Industry contributor.