Golf Course Superintendent
Tim Barrier, CGCS
Golf Course Maintenance
The month of November was the warmest in my memory with Santa Ana winds and 80 and 90 degree days. Winter is coming and even now our fairways, tees and other bermuda grass surfaces are not growing fast enough to recover from damage. We will eventually have frost and the bermuda will go dormant.
I had a question asked of me by one of our members, “how do we treat a divot on the bermuda fairways and tees when we are dormant”? The answer to this is a process called “chop and top” or using the leading edge of your golf club to chop the edges and shrink the divot. We will be using a darker brown divot mix when we go dormant; this creates a warmer environment and encourages at least some bermuda growth.
My assistant Kevin Carroll and I will demonstrate this process using a video that we will post in the Divot along with other care of the course tips. Remember, it’s always important to do your best with your care of the course and it’s critical in the winter time when the damage is slow to recover.