Saturated Greens - What's the big deal?

Some members are suggesting that we are being too overprotective when we close the regular greens and move to temps under extremely wet, or saturated, conditions.  The damage caused by traffic on saturated turf is not immediately visible, so I fully understand how some may feel this way.  In fact, the damage is being done below the surface so you won't immediately see it, but I assure you that the damage being done will lead to many problems down the road.

#1 green - saturated

In an effort to ensure that everyone understands exactly what damage can be done to the regular greens if we allow them to be played when saturated, I emailed the USGA Director for the Northwest Region, Larry Gilhuly, to ask him to provide some expert advice.  

Larry Gilhuly - USGA Green Section

For those of you who may not be familiar with Mr. Gilhuly, he has conducted numerous site visits here at Quilchena to provide guidance and recommendations on how we can continually improve our Turf Care maintenance operation and the overall conditioning of the golf course.  We are pleased that Mr. Gilhuly will be lending his expertise to us again this summer during a Turf Advisory Service (TAS) visit.

Mr. Gilhuly was kind enough to provide a detailed response to my question and, with his permission, I'd like to share our email correspondence with you.

Jason Hooper wrote:

Good morning Larry,

Thanks again for your response to our Women’s Captain regarding her concerns of playing in frosty conditions.  That provided some much needed expert insight and advice for our membership.

We’ve recently implemented a new policy with regards to saturated greens.  In the past, if the golf course became so wet that the regular greens either had standing water on them or they were foot-printing from being saturated, the course would be closed until they were deemed playable again.  As you know, this is common practice for many golf courses here in the Lower Mainland and the Pacific Northwest.  Our new policy allows the golf course to remain open with temp greens put into play in the approaches for those holes where the regular green is deemed too wet for play.  Most members have been very accepting of this compromise to remain open as much as possible, but we do have some that feel we are being overprotective of the regular greens.

I was wondering if you could provide some insight on damage that can be caused to turf under saturated conditions.

Thanks for your time and I greatly look forward to hearing back from you.

Mr. Gilhuly responded:

Jason,

There is a major difference between walking on frosted vs. saturated conditions. Both cause significant damage to the turf, but the bottom line is one (frost) can be immediately seen with the footprints that are created and the turf that is often lost. The negatives of saturated conditions are seldom seen immediately, but when a hole is placed on a green and the combination of multiple sets of feet are focused in the small area around the hole the impact of compaction will occur. When even a few players congregate near the 4.25” target the combination of these many compactive forces does cause damage. That is one of the main reasons we have advocated the use of sand for decades as a way to minimize compaction while allowing water to move away from the surface. Sand helps add air to the root systems while finer silt and clay does not. However, during major rain events or just regular rain in our area, if an area that receives extensive traffic (soil or sand) is exposed to foot or any other type of traffic it will reduce air space for good root growth.

If good internal drainage exists (my understanding is one of your greens is excellent in this regard) then regular traffic in wet conditions can be achieved, however hole locations should be in seldom used “high and dry” areas with slower green speeds. Since you currently have well drained approaches this is the area that makes the most sense for use during the winter. I previously sent the attached article (Temporary Sanity) that makes the most sense for Quilchena. Having approaches that are well drained and receive intense aeration, thatch control and sand topdressing is the perfect compromise and will greatly benefit playing conditions during the regular growing season by allowing more “bump-and-run” shots. Keep the mowing heights down (approximately .250-.300”) to achieve a reasonable speed.

I hope this assists in explaining this common problem viewed in the Pacific Northwest. However, very few golf courses visited in the past several decades do not have some form of functioning drainage to virtually eliminate this problem. This topic and others should definitely be discussed next year as part of our TAS visit.