Substantial Cold Weather Damage

Most golfers who have lived here for long know Greensboro sits right in the middle of the transition zone.  The simple definition of the transition zone as it relates to grasses is the fact that neither warm season or cool season grasses seem to thrive except for a few months out of the year.  A clear illustration of this condition has become very noticeable this year with large stands of the warm season Bermudagrass showing significant signs of cold weather damage at courses all throughout Greensboro and surrounding counties,  Every course has it own unique site characteristics but a few of the ones that have the biggest impact on cold tolerance of warm season grasses are as follows:

Warm Season Grass Type and Variety Cold Tolerance Ratings
Zoysia - High
Common Bermuda - Moderately High
Common Bermuda Improved Varieties (Vamont, Latitude 36, etc.) - Moderately High
Covered Ultra Dwarf Bermuda - Moderate to moderately high
Hybrid Bermudas (419, Tifsport, etc.) - Moderate
Non-covered Ultra Dwarf Bermuda - Moderately low
Centipede - Low
St Augustine - Low
Paspalam - Low

Other Site Conditions - An excessive amount of any of the following conditions will result in a weaker plant with a shorter root system, which will have a negative effect on the plants ability to withstand very cold conditions:
Poor Drainage
Excessive Shade
Compaction from High Traffic
Winter Traffic
North Facing Exposures
Short Mowing Heights

Cold Weather Symptoms on #13 Irving Park Course

With the small amount of information listed above put together with the month of February, 2015 being 10 degrees below average, a late freeze on March 28 with temperatures dropping to 24 degrees and a very cool month of April it is not hard to understand why large areas of our Bermudagrass this year have either succumbed to Mother Nature or in the very least are extremely slow to come out of dormancy.

What We Are Seeing - April 28,2015
It has become quite apparent large portions of our shortly mown Bermuda are showing signs of damage ranging from complete kill to just the top portion portion of the plant showing damage to healthy plants that just have not greened up due to cold soil temperatures.  The Irving Park course is showing signs of damage on approximately 9 acres of Bermuda turf.  The Farm course has fared much better than Irving Park as a large percentage of the shortly mown areas are planted in Zoysia. Where there is Bermuda and it falls into one of the site conditions listed above there is some damage. The amount of damage on the Farm course measures out to be approximately 1 acre. Unfortunately, this does not include the practice facilities.  The practice tee, the range landing area and the chipping fairway are all showing signs of damage ranging from significant down to just a delayed green-up.  The amount of damaged turf currently showing signs of damage within the practice facilities measures out to be approximately 7 acres.

What Are We Doing In Response To What We Are Seeing
1) The first step has been to closely observe areas showing signs of damage in an effort to begin to formulate a repair plan. The next step has been to measure the affected areas.  Based on those measurements we have began to formulate early cost estimates and are in conversations with our sod supplier to ensure they can meet our needs.  This is especially important in a year with widespread damage that will result in critically low sod and sprig inventories.

2) The second step is to begin applying cultural management techniques that will assist the grass wherever possible to come out of dormancy and to begin to fill in and effectively shrink as many damaged areas as possible.  The will include fertilizing a little earlier than normal, aerifying earlier than normal and keeping soil moisture at an optimal level.  Beyond that we just need soil temperatures to increase to allow the warm season plants to take advantage of improved growing conditions.

3) We then plan to begin sodding some of the worst areas in the next few weeks that are in the most important areas of play, such as around greens.  From there we will try to remain patient and wait for the warmer weather to arrive and give us a better understanding of exactly how we need to prioritize our repair efforts.

4) Finally, if the worst does come to be true and areas too large to sod remain in place we will develop a schedule to sprig certain parts of the courses during the middle part of summer to take advantage of peak warm season growing conditions. If and when a formal schedule is produced the members of the club will be notified.

Summary
Unfortunately for everyone Mother Nature has dealt us a tough hand on the golf courses and golfers at courses all throughout the Piedmont will experience less than optimal playing conditions for the early part of the year up and to the point the plant can recover or the repairs are made.  Going forward we will work closely with the leaders of the club and other involved parties to develop an ongoing strategy that will return the course to conditions the members of Greensboro Country Club have come to expect over the past many years.