Sunken patches of turf Cancel The title field is required!

1. Dalton Andrew

   
   5/19/2012 5:05 PM

   I have a few spots on the course where the grass grows very tight to the ground. I have seen this type of thing at other course, but never gave it much thought on what could be the cause until now. I guess, I have my own theory, but just curious if anyone else has any thoughts. Here are a couple of photos to look at.
   
   Andrew
   
   [attachment=1">Sunken turf.jpg[/attachment">[attachment=0">Sunken turf 2.jpg[/attachment">

   
   
   
   
2. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   5/19/2012 5:05 PM

   Andrew,
   
   Where are you located? It looks like to me a different species of that is a low grower compared to the surrounding turf.
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
3. Dalton Andrew

   
   5/19/2012 7:05 PM

   I'm from Michigan. It's deffinately a differnt type of blue grass. I've just never really seen a blue grass grow so tight to the ground. Not really in play just looks a bit odd, someday maybe I'll get rid of it.
   
   Andrew

   
   
   
   
4. Hardy Andrew

   
   5/20/2012 6:05 AM

   Could it be that turf was mowed at a lower height at one time? We made our collars smaller and the areas where the triplex used to cut look exactly like that. Just a thought.

   
   
   
   
5. Dalton Andrew

   
   5/20/2012 8:05 AM

   From what I understand there used to be an intermediate cut around all the fairways years ago. I didn't really think about that. This grass is a very low grower, it isn't a 1/4 inch tall. The pictures are hard to tell how low it is actually growing.
   
   Andrew

   
   
   
   
6. Rosenthal Gregg

   
   5/20/2012 9:05 AM

   Mel,
   
   To me it definitely looks like a varietal differential separation. This is something seen typically in the transition zone turf-grass where many varieties of turf live together and over many years of seeding and separation varieties may become dominant in one spot over another. In your picture the patches clearly show the lower growing variety dominating some spots, over the taller turf in others. This is often seen in older golf courses in transition zone roughs, fairways, collars over time without a doubt not uncommon! The next fun question is how do you deal with this issues? The true answer is a big ? no perfect way to resolve this issue except to remove it all and re-sod/reseed with new turf. removing the varieties causing the issues and replacing with ones that get along together...If life were so simple we could all just get long easy.....Bermuda would just grow with bent-grass...oye vey (we say in Yiddish)!
   
   Gregg Rosenthal

   
   
   
   
7. James Smith

   

   112 posts
   
   6/8/2012 6:06 AM

   Have you pulled a sample of the soil that has the edge from both heights in it to see if there may be some soil issue (shorter root system). Just curious is all, I am from the south so I do not know as much as others may about northern grasses.

   
   
   
   
8. Dalton Andrew

   
   6/9/2012 8:06 AM

   Everything is the same except for the turf. I haven't given it much thought because I have bigger issues to tackle, but I bet it's from aerating and some of the annual bluegrass plugs ended up out in the rough. There are several spots on this course that are like that. One day I'll spray round-up and take care of it.
   
   Andy