Ankeny, IA Meaningful research is necessary if superintendents are to make confident changes in their golf management program. The actual research location may not be so important but the take-home message here is that researchers must begin to manage field plot facilities under the same level of stress that actually occurs under golfing conditions. For example, intense traffic, extremely low mowing height, and excessive ball marks are seldom found in research plots. Further more, research greens are usually perfectly flat, often deep rooted, and seldom require a regiment of hand watering even during hot and dry summers. Difficult summer growing conditions, such as high temperature and moisture extremes, can dictate the fate of problem greens even when the best turf management practices are used.
Excessive rain followed by high humidity and heat leads to a shallow dysfunctional root system.
Dry spots develop and greens require more frequent watering. Summer diseases begin to show up and fungicide application is increased. Some turf loss occurs and algae begins to invade the moist surface where grass is thin. The amount of turf loss in any given year is unfortunately dependent upon the weather and how long the adverse conditions persist. Turf management practices are usually applied uniformly across a putting surface, however problem areas on a green are anything but uniform.