Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr
I think that the reason that The Villages courses are in such bad shape is that they don't over seed.
It all comes down to money. But that doesn't explain why there are courses just outside The Villages that we can play for a lower green fee and better conditions and The Villages courses.
|
They are in bad shape because of a)it is dormant in winter as you said b)they lose some parts of greens due to fungus and improper maintenance. The root systems on those courses where there are issues(bare spots, black fungus)will have next to no root systems...thus they die off. Just fix a pitch mark on those greens and you only get dirt. I've played many of the courses outside of the villages and they are no better at maintaining the course unless they overseed.
Overseeding doesn't improve the Bermuda grass it only provides a playing surface for those months in which the Bermuda is not growing. It usually dies off on it's own when the Bermuda starts to grow, but on occasion must be poisoned.
The money part seems to be caused by the lack of available water a number of years ago where they over seeded with a winter rye and due to lack of rain the winter/spring before the retaining ponds were very low or even dry in some cases. So they couldn't water the winter rye to promote growth. The overseed in most cases didn't take so the powers that control that purse lost all that $$$. The next year they only used the rye grass in a few areas and the year after that almost no winter rye was utilized.