Sports Turf Research Institute

REPORT ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF GOLF GREENS USING CORONET TURF AS COMPARED WITH OTHER METHODS

By P.M. CANAWAY
The Sports Turf Research Institute, Bingley, West Yorkshire, BD16 1AU

SUMMARY.
A trial of Coronet turf was established in late April 1990 along with grades of mature turf, and areas established with conventional seeding. The trial was allowed only four months to establish before being subjected to simulated golf-type wear. Following establishment data were collected before and after three months of artificial wear on: grass ground cover and species composition; water infiltration rate; distance rolled or green 'speed', and hardness.

Before wear, all treatments established satisfactorily although differences in species composition were evident. Infiltration rates were also all >200 mm/hr. Playing quality tests showed differences among treatments in green 'speed' and hardness, the sown treatments being hardest at this stage.

After wear, cover was reduced but no treatments were unacceptable. Ingress of annual meadow-grass occurred in some treatments but the Coronet turf remained weed-free. Water infiltration rates were reduced as a result of wear and to the greatest extent on the mature turf plots. Seeded plots and Coronet turf retained infiltration rates >100 mm/hr.

INTRODUCTION.
With increasing commercial pressure to bring newly established golf courses into play as quickly as possible, it is often no longer feasible to allow eighteen months for greens to establish following sowing. The temptation, or indeed the necessity, is to use mature turf for establishment of new greens to minimise the time needed before play can commence. However, the use of mature turf carries with it risks. Modern methods of golf green construction involve the use of rootzones with a very high sand content, sometimes pure sand, to provide free-draining conditions and hence the ability to play even after heavy rainfall. The importation of turf on to such rootzones brings with it the indigenous soil on which turf was grown and the risk that fine silt and clay particles within this soil will 'cap' the sand rootzone, much reducing its drainage capacity. A further risk is that weed grasses such as annual meadow-grass present in the turf production fields will also be imported along with the turf.

Coronet turf, a juvenile turf grown on an organic mulch placed on plastic sheeting isolated from the underlying soil, in theory overcomes these drawbacks associated with mature turf in that:

[a] it is soil-less;
[b] if pure seed lots are used for production, it can be produced with little or no weed content.

However, since it is as little as six weeks old when harvested it is much younger than mature turf (typically 12-18 months) and it was not known whether Coronet turf could be used to produce an acceptable playing surface for golf in a relatively short time.

The objective of the work was therefore to study the effects of different establishment methods including Coronet turf on the cover, botanical composition, water infiltration rate and playing quality of golf green turf.