How Long Should Your Golf Course Infrastructure Last?

At many facilities, improving the physicality of the golf course has been put second to capital gains. Slowly but surely, course officials have begun loosening their grip on the budget. It is important to stay on top of maintenance, repairs, and upgrades. Assessing the quality of every course component, from the greens, tees, and fairways to the bridges, tunnels, and retaining walls can make all the difference in your golf course infrastructure.

Establishing a regularly updated golf course infrastructure assessment and business plan should be a top priority.

Greens and Collars

Regardless of how they are maintained, greens and collars should have their performance checked about every seven years by sending core samples of the green’s profile to a soil testing laboratory to determine its health. It also examines a wide variety of factors such as clay and gravel particle content, sand sieve sizes, sand fractions, and pH levels, just to name a few. You can then determine whether these factors need to be addressed, such as the drainage gravel breaking down prematurely. Push-up greens may last a while but commonly call for restoration throughout their lifetime to maintain or boost their performance. Sand-based greens have comparable longevity. Re-grassing is inevitable and will offer newer turfgrass varieties with improved green speeds, hole location considerations, firmness, and aesthetics. Contours and elevations of green surfaces change over time no matter what it is made out of. Greens are known to become smaller over the years, even with the smartest of layouts due to constantly mowed edges. It is helpful to stay on top of restoring the surfaces to where they were or should be.

Tees

It is important that tees are addressed on an annual basis with continual topdressing. They commonly become unlevel over time and should be stripped to have the soil mix replaced, releveled, and re-grassed accordingly. Colder regions may not need this care as frequently—Tees design and playability concept frequently.

Fairways, Approaches, and Collection Areas

Re-grassing may be needed to replace contaminated or outdated turfgrass. Sand capping can be added after having a moisture-release test done to assess proper drainage. Lower mowing heights are calling for the placing of sand cap and drainage piping to be done more frequently so that these areas can remain firm and fast. If a sand cap cannot be installed due to budget, it is wise to create a frequent, annual sand topdressing plan to take care of these factors regularly. Specific timing will depend on your individual course needs.

The Roughs Explained

Well-maintained roughs will be re-grassed simultaneously with fairway re-grassing. Keep in mind that cool-season grass courses may want to kill their existing turf to renovate it and seed it with new turfgrass that is able to hold up through the winter conditions. Basamid should be used when conditions call for it. In warm-season regions, intermediate roughs will need to be re-grassed when it becomes segregated, mutated or contaminated. Natural vegetation will need to be thinned out and eventually replaced in the warm regions. Contaminated cool-season grasses should be stripped and solid-sodded with a low-mow turf type. Native roughs in the cool-season and transition zone regions should be reseeded as needed or renovated if vegetation wears out. Native grasses should be mowed down in spring or fall.

Bunkers and Driving Range

Bunkers are quick to wear out. Replacement is needed if there is silt contamination, clay and gravel arising. Too much sand accumulation from adding it throughout the years rather than replacing it will need to be addressed as needed. The sand may take 90 days to settle properly. Irrigation may be needed to keep sand moist for better playing conditions. Routine edging of bunkers also changes the shape and contours, so this is a good time to restore bunkers to refresh them. Target bunkers call for renovation so that bunker sand remains firm.

Your course management will need to assess when re-grassing of practice tees is needed. A soil-improving structure may need to be added and be laser-leveled depending on its specific conditions and needs. Since target greens and practice fairways get so much foot traffic, it commonly needs to be re-grassed frequently.

Irrigation System and Drainage

Total replacement is likely needed in all three climates for above-ground irrigation equipment. Since they don’t last long, it may be smart to update with the latest pipes and fittings as they require less routine maintenance and are more cost-effective in the long run. Fittings should at the very least get replaced when pipes do. New irrigation wells and recycled effluent water are helpful for long-term viability. Drainage maintenance should be a top priority, and work is typically needed once a year at a minimum. With all that goes into golf course management, Tee to Green Insurance is vital to the well-being and golf course infrastructure.