Introduction
The maintenance of tees should be very similar to that of golf greens, although the work won't be as intensive.
Maintaining tees in a suitable condition for play throughout the year can be a difficult task. However, managing the use of the tees, mainly by the spreading of wear will help considerably in achieving good tees.
Continually move markers forwards and backwards, use less than the full width if at all possible and switch use between tees if the teeing ground is available.
The benefits of separate tees can include:
- the ability to rest and repair paths adjacent to tees;
- helping the renovation process
- spreading wear from traffic routes leading from tees and onto the fairway
- providing different landing areas on the fairway and subsequent divots from the second shot.
Large tees are, however, easier to maintain than smaller tees and so a balance will need to be made between tee size and tee numbers.
Mowing
Mow tees to as high a cut as practical to encourage as much root development as possible whilst at the same time balancing this against the need to encourage a relatively dense sward.
Typically tees will be cut at 6 - 12mm height during the growing season and topped at 12 - 18mm during the remainder of the year. However, this will depend on whether the tees are in use all the year round, when the winter topping will be towards the lower end of the scale, or whether they are rested for the winter period, when the height will be towards the higher end of the scale.
The frequency of cut will vary according to growing conditions and standards, however, 2 - 3 occasions per week would be typical.
Removing clippings should be carried out to maintain as firm a surface and worm free one as possible.
Aeration
Maintaining a relatively free draining surface throughout the year is important for healthy root development.
Surface compaction can be quite considerable due to the action of golfers teeing up and preparing to strike the ball.
A deep spiking of tees can be beneficial at the beginning (March / April) and end of the growing season (September / October).
The amount of slit tining carried out over the autumn and winter period will depend upon soil conditions and on whether the tees are in play all the time or not. Weekly to fortnightly aeration would be typical for tees that are used throughout the winter period.
If a suitable renovation has been carried out in September / October and the tees are then rested until spring, then the amount of slit tining needed should be minimal.
Scarification
Regular scarification will be required to maintain a vigorous, upright growing plant with a clean base.
Verticutting/ grooming
This will be carried out more frequently than scarification and will help to keep the tee in prime condition. Do not over do these operations as the plant may be unnecessarily stressed.
These operations might not be considered appropriate on tees that aren't maintained to very high standards.
Fertiliser
Tees need an adequate amount of fertiliser to balance the needs of the plant with the usage that takes place.
Several factors will determine the amount required and these will include:
- Soil type,
- Grass species content, and
- Amount of use.
A typical fertiliser programme for a fine turfgrass tee might be along the following lines:
April: 35 g/m² of a 12%N fertiliser. (This will provide 4.2 g/N/m²)
August: 35 g/m² of a 12%N fertiliser. (This will provide 4.2 g/N/m²)
The total input will therefore be 8.4 g/N/m²/annum.
A light liquid feed or turf tonic may be considered during June as a mild boost.
Sulphate of Iron can be used as a cosmetic material prior to important events and also during the autumn to spring period to help deter earthworm activity.
Perennial ryegrass dominated tees would probably require additional fertiliser inputs, as would tees specially constructed with high sand content rootzones.
Irrigation
This will not be as intensive as on the greens, however, a regular irrigation programme may still be needed during the summer months, with one application per week being a useful guide to start with.
Don't forget that tees are generally more sheltered than greens and will not be exposed to as much wind and light as the greens. This will reduce the potential for evapo-transpiration as well as the irrigation requirements.
Pesticides
Generally tees do not require nearly as much pesticide as greens and frequently they will not require any at all.
With the longer grass growth experienced on tees, as well as a slightly different mixture of grass species (in the main anyhow) there is usually minimal requirements for disease control.
Weeds can be a problem, especially finer ones such as the clovers and also some slightly broader ones, in particular the daisy.
Earthworm casting and leatherjacket infestation can be a particular problem, especially around October/November and March to April time, and would invariably need some form of chemical control.
Tee Mats/Carpets
These will typically be used for the winter period - either wholly or partly, depending upon the amount of grass teeing space available.
Tee mats are not maintenance free and need to be kept free of debris, soil brought onto the mats by golfers shoes and weed growth.
If tee carpets are present they may be sand-filled, which will help to improve wear resistance, and if this is the case they will need to be brushed and occasionally topped up with an appropriate sand. A pressure hose may also be considered appropriate for washing down tee carpets.
Two of the main benefits often stated for artificial grass tee carpets, in contrast to tee mats, are they provide a more spacious teeing area (sometimes the whole tee is covered with artificial material) and they blend in better with the surrounding area.
Surrounds
- Leaves can be a problem on golf tees, mainly during the autumn for obvious reasons,
- It is essential that fallen leaves are removed as soon as possible to prevent the grass from being smothered and from encouraging disease attack,
- Overhanging branches need to be pruned back to improve light levels and air flow whilst the thinning out of adjacent trees/shrubs/scrub may also be needed to improve air flow over a tee,
- The banks of tees will need to be maintained in an appropriate condition. This will depend upon the steepness of the bank, the type of coverage, such as heather or grass, and the sort of machinery available as well as safety considerations.
Other
An ideal time to carry out the construction of new tees or the reconstruction of existing tees is during the late autumn and winter period.
The cleaning and painting of ball washers, tee markers and any tee furniture should not be overlooked. Ideally this sort of work will be programmed outside of the peak maintenance periods.
Renovation
Where tees are used all year round any renovation that takes place should be when the top-dressing can be quickly incorporated into a growing sward and seed can germinate rapidly.
Turfing should also be carried out at optimum times to allow for a quick root take.
Ideally tees should still be rested for a short period of time to allow the efforts of the renovation work to become established, with heavily repaired areas being rested even further.
Typical renovation programme (September / October)
The summer tees will be mostly taken out of action for the autumn / winter period, although key medals and matches may still be played off the renovated tees, if required.
- Scarify in several directions,
- Mow to provide a clean, tidy surface,
- Vertidrain to address deeper seated compaction,
- Hollow-tine to remove compacted surface cores,
- Either sweep up and remove the cores or pulverise them by scarifying or similar, to be reused as part of the top-dressing - only if the material is suitable though,
- Slit-tine if desired,
- Overseed in two or more directions, to provide an even spread,
- Top-dress using a suitable material, typically a sandy soil.
The seed that may be used can be quite varied depending upon requirements, however, the following is a typical guide:
Seed mixture 1: Chewings Fescue, Slender or Strong Creeping Red Fescue, Browntop Bent.
Seed mixture 2: As above but with Smooth-Stalked Meadow Grass included as well.
Seed mixture 3: As mixture 1 but with Perennial Ryegrass (Dwarf cultivars) included as well.
There are various mixtures in between, or maybe even just Creeping Bentgrass for certain specific courses.
Perennial ryegrass can sometimes be seen as an unacceptable species for inclusion on the golf course. The reasons given for this are usually based on
- the more open sward produced,
- the sward being more prone to annual meadow grass colonisation, and
- perennial ryegrass's inability to blend in with the finer turfgrasses.
The production of a hard wearing, fine surface composed of fescues and bents is usually seen as the ideal, however, this is not always easy to achieve, especially where
- usage is very heavy,
- users are not of a good standard,
- tees are of a general standard and
- tees are in enclosed situations with trees/scrub encroaching onto them.
The use of dwarf cultivars of perennial ryegrass in such circumstances is therefore usually considered appropriate, although this would be argued against by some purists.
Divoting
This is often seen as a tedious task, yet it is very important in maintaining an even and hopefully dense surface from which a golfer strikes the ball.
If carried out on a regular basis, with small amounts of grass seed included within the sandy soil/humus mixture, this will greatly increase the ability of the tee to maintain an even surface with good grass coverage. A typical divot mixture might be 1 part sand: 4 parts humus rich sandy soil.
Besides regular divoting, it can also be a good idea to lightly top-dress the whole of the tee (this could easily be done in sections on different days if need be) to ensure the whole tee maintains suitable level of evenness.