Guard with green

In 2011, Randy Samoff, superintendent at The Champions Golf Club in Fort Worth, Texas, turned to the use of colorants on the club’s Member Course to boost the shade of his turf.

“We were not overseeding fairways on our Member Course and I wanted to give the appearance of green color. I started using them just for the color function but found in time that they had other benefits.” He began by using Foursome and then switched to Vision Pro HD.

“I’ve overseeded fairways at other clubs and although it is hard to beat a ryegrass lie, there are many cost issues that come about as a result of overseeding, and conditions are not always top-notch,” says Samoff, whose course has hosted numerous prestigious events, including a U.S. Open, The Ryder Cup and the PGA Tour Championship. “You have to go through two grow-ins a year. With colorants, you can continue the same conditions players have had all year. If you use them right you can keep the color about the same. I like putting just enough color to be able to differentiate between fairway and rough. I try to give it just enough to keep it natural.”

He uses colorants in fertilizer applications to greens at Champions, during winter months every 10 days. “I’ll use a little lower rate than I would on fairways since I’m spraying more frequently. I’ll use them on tees and fairways every three to four weeks.” He also used the product on practice tees and target greens in the club’s driving range. Samoff applies colorants just before the onset of cold weather and then every three to four weeks for fairways until spring arrives and the plant is growing on its own from the warm temperatures.

“A lot of people wait until the cold weather already happens, but I think they miss the point. Once the plant is dormant and leaf tissue is dead I don’t feel like it takes in the pigment and uses it effectively. Spray it while it’s still green and growing and the pigment will be taken up properly by the plant and keep it greener during colder weather.”

Samoff began using colorants on overseeded fairways in 2012, not for color, but to aid fall grow-in because he had such a late overseeding date. “I felt the added green color would increase soil temps to help speed up growth. I also used them in the spring on overseed for the same purpose.”

Samoff says applying colorants is no more time consuming than foliar applications. “I spray in the winter more for plant fertility then I do color. It makes it easy this way because I know I’m going to spray them anyway--just add in the colorant and it’s no extra time needed to apply. They mix well with all of the fertilizers I use to spray.”

Reviews from the paying customers have been nothing short of fantastic, he says.

“I’ve never seen such a response from a membership. They appreciate the effort. They love the color of the fairways and how natural they look. They say `We’ve never seen it this green! What are you doing to them?'"