Scottsdale Golf Club Reveals Plans For Spring Transition

The Country Club at DC Ranch, based in Scottsdale, AZ, is pleased to share details regarding their spring transition, especially with regard to their future seeding practices. Maintaining the health of the grass on their courses is of vital importance to preserving the quality of the experience at the Club, and the staff wants to reassure their community of golf enthusiasts that every concern is being addressed.

According to the Club, overseeding is among the most hotly debated subjects regarding turf management on golf courses, specifically when it comes to determining whether or not the grounds in question should be overseeded with perennial Ryegrass. Many will be aware that the practice of overseeding has many benefits, chief among which is healthier turf that is more resistant to weeds and insect infestations. Since this directly contributes to a better surface for games like golf, it may appear to be a simple decision to make. The issues, however, is that perennial Ryegrass can — and often does — have an adverse effect on Bermudagrass.

Fortunately, this adverse effect can be mitigated by certain best practices that the Club’s management team is already planning to execute. The Scottsdale golf club states, “The most important of those practices at the best golf course in Scottsdale is getting rid of the perennial Ryegrass by late spring. One of the troubling trends occurring on golf courses is the increasing practice of overseeding too early in the fall and keeping the Ryegrass too late in the spring/summer. If Bermudagrass does not have sufficient time to grow during the summer without competition from the Ryegrass the Bermudagrass will decline. This may occur in as little as one year and more often occurs gradually over a period of several years.”

This occurs because Bermudagrass needs a lot of light to flourish, and it tends to emerge from dormancy in spring. In overseeded environments, this is when perennial Ryegrass growth is at its maximum, thereby preventing much of the available light from penetrating through to the bottom layers.

Five key components are needed to encourage Bermudagrass recovery. First up is the height of the cut — the Club will begin to lower the height of all cut on all overseeded areas in late January (and they continue to cut at progressively lower heights throughout the following spring). Alongside this, the team will take several steps to manage soil moisture. Bermudagrass fares poorly in dry conditions, preventing its recovery during later spring and early summer. The Club asserts that this is critical to prevent areas from becoming chronically dry (as it will delay Bermudagrass transition).

The next step is to ensure that chemical removal techniques are employed well before the Bermudagrass has a chance to falter. Overseeded Ryegrass can be chemically removed without harming the understory Bermudagrass, but waiting too long can mean the course risks losing too much of the latter. Instead, the team believes the tactic is much more effective when deployed at the end of April through mid-May. Chemical removal is also accompanied by a nutrient application. The overall effect of this is that the Ryegrass will be stressed during warm daytime temperatures while the emerging Bermudagrass will receive more nutrients.

The Country Club at DC Ranch concludes, “To stick with the baseball analogy, it would be nice to give Bermudagrass 162 days of growth in the absence of competition from Ryegrass. However, 100-120 days is the guideline courses should keep in mind when planning overseed dates and timing chemical removal of overseeded grasses. If Ryegrass growth is retained well into June, the ability of Bermudagrass to develop the rhizome growth necessary to recuperate the following year will be severely limited. In other words, maintaining Ryegrass into June could result in a season-ending injury for Bermudagrass.“

The is widely recognized for their dedication to exemplary customer service and hospitality. All who visit are welcome, be they members or guests, families or individuals, and there are few ways to learn the truth of this than for an interested party to visit The Country Club at DC Ranch themselves.

Visit the Club’s website and learn more about their facilities at the following link: https://www.ccdcranch.com/. Melanie Halpert of The Country Club at DC Ranch can be reached for further details as well.