Birdies with Brian (#14)

Simple Turf Grass Explanation

Living in North Carolina, we are in what you would call the “Transition Zone” for turf grass. Basically, you have two types of grasses. A warm weather grass, and a cool weather grass. If you can come up with a grass that likes both climates please let me know so we can become billionaires. This is why in the winter all of your warm season grasses like Bermuda, Centipede, and Saint Augustine go dormant and turn brown. At Carolina Colours we have two different grasses that we use on the golf course. There’s a common bermuda grass on the fairways, tees, and rough. Then we have a cool weather Bent grass on our greens, which stay green year round. If you’ve played the course lately you may have noticed we’ve starting running fans around the greens. This is because at 85 degrees bent grass will start to wilt and die. Being able to keep the air flow moving will help cool them down, and prevent overheating. During the summer months it’s common to see a maintenance worker carry around a hose and water the greens regularly.

A person that’s in charge of the golf course turf grass is called a Superintendent. And one that works in these transition zones has to work extra hard to keep the grass looking nice. Next time you’re out there on the course and see someone working on it, be sure to thank them. It’s not a easy job, but it certainly makes it a more enjoyable experience to play on a well maintained course.

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