converting bent tees Cancel The title field is required!

1. Wilson Paul J

   
   9/25/2012 10:09 AM

   I am at a public golf course thats very busy (30,000 rounds) in the northeast. My tees are 100% bentgrass, my problem is they are small and are getting beat up bad. I am actually thinking about filling divots with rye and or sodding the bad ones out. Just curious if anybody has done this or if I am crazy for getting rid of bent on my tees.
   Willy

   
   
   
   
2. Edward Doda

   

   0 posts
   
   9/25/2012 11:09 AM

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   We had the same issue and over the years we have been filling divots with rye grass to get coverage. Started using the RPR rye a couple of years ago and found that we could reduce the amount of seed used to fill divots after the grass had been established for a year. It is a busy driving range that is only half an acre plus a strip that has the artificial turf that is used twice a week.
   
   This summer we enlarged/leveled some tees and RPR was available as sod so we tried it. Established fast and is cut at .400. So far so good
   
   ed doda, barrie cc, an hour north of toronto

   
   
   
   
3. Clay Putnam

   

   33 posts
   
   9/25/2012 6:09 PM

   If divot recovery is the concern then yes I think you're crazy for converting your bent. Bent is one of the fasted germinating seeds and it will spread laterally. IMO, rye is a weed unless it is a mono-stand of rye on the playing surface. Otherwise the rye sticks out like a yourknowwhat in a punch bowl. Penn Cross is a great grass for tees; super aggressive.

   
   
   
   
4. Wilson Paul J

   
   9/26/2012 5:09 AM

   Clay you are correct about it looking like crap. my other thought was sodding the par 3 tees in rye or short cut blue. I have 3 acres of tees but only a third of it is usable for various reasons. I need coverage and fast!

   
   
   
   
5. Baumgart Robert H

   
   9/26/2012 6:09 AM

   Clay is correct. We are also a busy public course. We were built with "low mow" bluegrass on all our tees. Recovery takes place at a snails pace. We went to ryegrass at first. Now a select # of tees are bentgrass. We spend fewer $ in seed now for these tees than we did as rye/blue. We actually only add seed once a month to divot mix. However, we fill divots on a weekly basis. All it takes is a regular filling of divots with straight sand and a good fertility program. I know it works because i stopped hearing about the tee divots from all our leagues.

   
   
   
   
6. Bruce Gregory

   

   0 posts
   
   9/26/2012 10:09 AM

   I would agree that unless you have the budget to continually fill divots/overseed with rye. I would pitch constructing larger/additional tees and keep the bent.
   
   Does anyone have any suggestions on taking rye out of bent. I know Corsair? is labeled to do that, just not much success in getting it to work well. Any suggestions?

   
   
   
   
7. Wilson Paul J

   
   9/26/2012 10:09 AM

   Constructing new/larger tees isn't going to happen any time soon. I have divot boxs and bottles on every tee filled with sand. I have a retired fellow who fills divots 3 days a week with a seed soil mix. they just dont germinate and recover fast enough. I used a tip seeder on a out of the way dead tee with rye and had seedlings coming up in 5 days. I also tried some mushroom dirt in a row of divots using bent seed and have a good catch and seedlings in 10 days. only draw back with it is its $10 a bag

   
   
   
   
8. Daniel Jurgens

   

   2 posts
   
   9/28/2012 7:09 AM

   I had the same situation here 10 years ago when the course was brand new. Beautiful bent tees but the majority are real tiny, some only 5 paces wide and long! They are round and built up so adding on was too costly. I kept them fairly pure the 1st couple seasons but with the tough climate(Norway) Poa came in gradually. About 6 years ago decided to start using Blue/rye/fescue mix once a year after the spring hollow coring and dressing.
   
   My tees still have quite a bit of bent but more importantly are green season long with minimal input. We do not use the divot bottles any more(was more work for us really with the sand getting wet in the bottles and unusable). We divot as much as possible and will throw some handlfuls of seed down if an area is really bad, otherwise am fertilizing every three-4 weeks in the growing season. We mow at 7mm which really suits the bent/poa and fescue.
   
   It all depends on your budget and how much you are willing to use to keep them bent, I chose keeping them green and haven't looked back!
   dan, kragero golf, norway