Here is an excerpt from an upcoming newsletter article you'll see in the Highlands CC, Piper Newsletter...
Grass
Clippings
April
2023
Brian
J. Stiehler, CGCS, MG
Despite the
title Golf Course Superintendent, the
position has responsibilities that go far beyond that. One of our main areas of responsibility outside
of golf are the croquet lawns. Interestingly,
more money is spent on a square foot basis on the lawns, than anywhere else on
the golf course, including golf course putting greens. As croquet continues to grow, I receive
several calls a year from fellow Superintendents who recently built croquet
lawns at their facilities and are now charged with their maintenance. What they think will be an easy part of their
job, is about to become the most challenging.
By the time I get their call, it is usually at a time when they’ve come
to the realization that this isn’t going to be easy because they are inundated with
complaints and suggestions. So, why is
that?
First,
maintaining a croquet lawn is the equivalent of maintaining a putting green but
never having the ability to move the hole location. On any kind of sporting lawn, wear and tear
is just going to happen. It’s
unavoidable. Look at Wimbledon Tennis
Courts, for example. Another would be
the center of a football field. The
wear and tear is likely to out pace the rate in which the turf can heal from the
damage. Being able to shift the
wickets a foot to the right or left certainly helps, but this doesn’t get the
traffic out of the general area. On a
golf course putting green, there are ideally anywhere from 6 to 9 pin
locations. This means the traffic in an
area only occurs every 6-9 days. Many
golf courses spend considerable resources rebuilding putting greens that don’t
have this many pin locations so they can create more pin-able area and not have
to putt on thin or worn turf. On top of
this, our lawns receive a lot of winter play, at a time of year when the grass
isn’t growing, but dormant. Any wear and tear they
receive this time of year will impact the condition of the lawns in the Spring.
Unfortunately, there is no cool season grass that grows during a Highlands
winter.
Second, croquet
is a growing game, and more and more beginners are learning to play. Unfortunately, beginners aren’t always the
most user-friendly players on the lawns.
Four people that don’t understand the game or are playing “backyard
croquet rules” can do a tremendous amount of damage in a very short amount of
time. Once this damage occurs on a
Bentgrass turf lawn mowed at 0.180”, it’s not going to heal right away. Using the example of a divot in a fairway, it
takes weeks for one to heal. A divot on
a lawn mowed just over 1/8”, the divot likely won’t heal in this growing season
unless it is plugged and moved to a nursery.
Third, the
demand for the croquet lawns is very high.
With play starting at 8AM on some days, we don’t have the staffing nor
the equipment to be able to put a dedicated team on the croquet lawns. Any job tasks that are done on the croquet
lawns are done quickly in the morning, and lumped in with golf course
maintenance. Compare this to maintaining
a golf course where play starts at #1, which essentially gives us till 11:00am
or later, to work our way around the golf course. Back on the croquet lawns, if a task isn’t
completed by 8AM, it likely isn’t going to get done.
Croquet is a
wonderful sport and croquet lawns are meant to be played on. The lawns are a
playing surface and there must be some level of understanding that wear will
occur. To think the lawns will remain in
pristine condition, year-round, just isn’t a realistic expectation. If that was the goal with our level of play,
artificial turf would be the only option.
Unfortunately, there is no magic grass that withstands all forms of
excessive traffic. As the year goes on,
please know that we’re doing everything in our power to keep the lawns looking
and playing beautifully. If you ever
have any questions about croquet or golf in terms of maintenance, I would love
the opportunity to listen to you!
