Shades of Bermuda

Bermuda is a fantastic turf for golf. It can take all sorts of abuse, drought, traffic, and maintenance practices and bounce back quickly. Recently, we've really put bermuda to the test, with some scalping in new low-cut areas and aerification of the fairways. Below is a good example of recovery from scalping. The green surround on the par-3 9th hole was trimmed down and went brown for a couple weeks. It's now green, heathy and smoother than ever. These new areas are giving our members more shots to consider and helping to eliminate undesired grasses.

Over the past two weeks, Bernardo Heights has installed 62,000 square feet of new bermuda grass. This new turf replaces half an acre on the 18th hole, all the collars, a long strip along the range tee, and many locations in the fairways.










I've had many questions about the project and the new turf, so here are some of the most common:

Will the new collars go dormant?

The collars are Tifgreen 328, a fine leaf, hybrid bermuda. This was chosen for a few reasons. It can be mowed very short, it moves laterally less than other warm season grasses, we can overseed it, and it plays well. Yes, it will go dormant, but not like the paspalum we've been dealing with. Also, we will seed in winter with Poa trivialis, which provides a green cover in the cool months, but transitions quickly and dies when it warms. 

Is the sod OK, it looks a little brown?

Whenever we lay bermuda sod, it is very common or standard that the sod goes off color, sometimes solid brown. This is the turf going into a defense stage. It puts all its effort into sending down roots and the leaf tissue above will turn brown. It will green up soon and already has roots down 4 inches in about 10 days. Please don't going looking for roots like this yourself, you'll have to take my word for it.

Why do some fairways look better than others after aerification?

I've always felt that the fairways that get torn up the most are the ones that need the most work. This past week, we have been solid tining (not pulling a core) the fairways with our big tractor-mounted aerifier. Hybrid bermuda sections show very little damage. This includes most of #5 and #17. It almost looks like we didn't do anything, but there are many, many holes to get oxygen into the soil, improve infiltration of irrigation, and relieve compaction. Where we have common bermuda, most of holes 4, 7, and 10, the turf gets ripped up. Lateral runners of 4-6 inches are severed and pulled up during the process. We drag the fairway with a large mat and then mow off the plants above our cutting height. This is excellent for bermuda. It might turn brown for a few days, but where the bermuda is cut, new growth is stimulated and fresh, healthy leaves replace old tired stems.

 Why did we renovate #18?

This area is shaped like a bowl. Insufficient drainage caused sodium from our irrigation to pile up and turf to thin and die. Instead of continuing to core out and replace patches, we spent some money and did it all the right way. The root zone is deeper and healthier with quality sand blended into the existing topsoil. There is 1000 feet of new drain lines which will prevent the sodium from building up again. Irrigation heads have been moved and added to improve coverage. Finally,  3 to 4 types of bermudagrass is now one uniform variety.


I love the strength and durability of bermudagrass. I appreciate the many shades, and this summer, I'm sure you'll all be seeing more green than ever before.