USGA official advises Bella Vista POA
Posted on Friday, September 5, 2008
BELLA VISTA - "Keep 'em on the path."
That's the short-term recommendation of U. S. Golf Association agronomist Bud White when it comes to the controversy of overseeding versus not overseeding Bella Vista's golf courses.
Overseeding is the spreading of a short-lived rye grass on top of the existing Bermuda grass so that when the latter goes dormant later in the year, the rye flourishes and the greens and tee boxes stay green.
However, not overseeding, which is what the Bella Vista Property Owners Association approved this past summer, generally forces officials to keep all cart traffic on the paths so as not to damage the young Bermuda sprouts. Driving on the chutes is detrimental to their development, said White, who met with course officials and residents at Riordan Hall on Thursday.
"Traffic promotes winter kill, and when you add shade and overseeding, it gets worse."
White's recommendation was only for this year and was based on one bottomline issue - cost.
He said with the rise in fuel prices, fertilizer prices and the cost of seed, it does not make sense to overseed this fall and winter.
"This is a good year to eliminate it," he said. "That will set up your Bermuda grass and increase its health on all your courses."
Having that year off would also allow maintenance crews to catch up on, and even get ahead of, some of their projects, he added.
Then, beginning this time next year, prepare to overseed a few of the courses and not the others, he said. And in the long term, he said, a three-year cycle of overseeding and then not overseeding should work here.
A plan to keep carts on the paths between the beginning of 2009 and for up to three months thereafter has brought about a great deal of debate in the city recently.
A number of people have contacted the POA Board of Directors, some of them attending meetings, offering their opinions and speaking directly to the board members.
More often than not, those opinions are against not overseeding, with many of those people saying they will not be able to play during the winter because of physical limitations if they are not allowed to drive their carts off the paths.
Those comments apparently have not fallen on deaf ears.
POA General Manager Tommy Bailey said last month that he was prepared to recommend that the board reverse itself on the issue and allow overseeding. However, at the board's monthly meeting Aug. 21, Bailey said he wasn't prepared to address the issue and put it on hold indefinitely. He was not available following Thursday's meeting with White to comment.
Overall, White said, the courses look good.
"The Bermuda grass is recovering well from the summer," he said. "The greens' root systems had shallowed up some, but they just came out of the stress of summer."
He said with the coming of fall, things should improve all over.
The recent rain was a good thing, he said.
"It was a perfect rain for the Bermuda. It's always good going into the fall with good soil moisture."
He said one thing the golf officials might consider is upgrading to some of the higher-technology fans on the market for keeping moisture off the greens. While the fans are more expensive, he believes they would produce better results than what the POA has in place, he said.
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