A method for "any golf course, anywhere, at any level"
“The ability for us to stay consistent from a green speed standpoint has really just gone almost off the charts. We can really just do it every single day and repeat it over and over.”
I heard this on a podcast recently, and I thought it was really well spoken. Please read, and perhaps read again, the quote below.
Here’s the quote:
What this kind of information has done for us, and what I think it can do for any golf course, anywhere, at any level, is allow the putting surfaces to be managed at a level that is at or near tournament performance all the time, on a daily basis.
What you’re going to end up doing is you’re going to end up providing the right amount of inputs and only the inputs that are absolutely necessary to gain the type of performance that you need. So the amount of grass that’s growing or should be growing, the GvX is not just the only thing. You have to be looking at the performance levels as well.
But once you get to the point where you say, “Okay, I want to get to a 12 and I’d love to stay there. Our members are really happy when our greens are at a 12.” I really believe that if you’re measuring that every day and you’re measuring this information, you can find the right amount of grass to grow to keep it that, to stay at that 12 every single day and not, not do yourself any sort of undue harm. That’s a big key. I will say that since I’ve added turf growth metrics into what we’re doing, the ability for us to stay consistent from a green speed standpoint has really just gone almost off the charts. We can really just do it every single day and repeat it over and over.
And Darin [Darin Bevard, director of championship agronomy for the USGA] is 100% right. All of the other things that you see at a tournament, you know, that’s not realistic to do all the time. But I do think that managing a putting surface at a championship level for any facility, anywhere, at any level, with any budget is within their capabilities, especially with this.
This happened to be Chris Tritabaugh on the USGA Green Section podcast, in the Chris Tritabaugh on Using “Turf GvX” for Better Putting Green Management episode. It’s about growing the grass at the rate that works right now for your facility.
I recommend the entire episode, but if you want to jump right to that section, Chris and host John Petrovsky talk about that starting at the 20 minute mark.