Grass Q&A

RoadRunner

Understanding the grass you play on is massively important for getting better at golf.. or maybe not. I don't know. I don't know much about grass and it seems like I should. Now that the growing season is upon us, it may be a good time to fill some of these knowledge gaps so I thought I'd try get a bit of a Q&A going here (I don't know if "growing season" is a real thing)

My opening salvo of questions would be:

What type of grass do we have in Ireland (Does it have a name ie bentgrass, I'm guessing we don't have bermuda)? And are there differences between links/parkland?

What are the challenges of maintaining greens year-round in Ireland? Also what does sand and hollow tining do?

Are there differences in grasses that affect how I should approach shots on different types of grasses?

Some things I use for this last Q I can add would be:
- Thick rough can turn your club, so I open face a little, aim a little right, grip hard and swing hard.
- If playing out of light rough and the grass is with me the ball tends to spin less which travels further and rolls more so I'll go a club less.
(It would be cool to add to these, particularly chipping tips off different lies )

eoghan104

RoadRunner wrote: »

Understanding the grass you play on is massively important for getting better at golf.. or maybe not.

Are there differences in grasses that affect how I should approach shots on different types of grasses?

Assuming you are not off +2/3 or better then none of this is important to your game, you have other things to work on.

BigChap1759

eoghan104 wrote: »

Assuming you are not off +2/3 or better then none of this is important to your game, you have other things to work on.

So you don't know any of the answer to the above.......

I'll preface the below as just what I've heard so might not be 100% accurate!

I'm pretty sure almost all fairway grass is the same type in Ireland although greens do have different varieties - I think Bent & Fescue are the two main types found. We don't have Bermuda in Ireland/UK

Hollow tining and sand helps provide drainage to get nutrients down to the grass roots - without this the soil gets too compacted giving poor drainage and starving the roots of nutrients

If you watch the pros playing out of heavy rough, they're doing everything they can to stop the clubface closing - actively trying to hold it open well past the ball

Jawgap

eoghan104 wrote: »

Assuming you are not off +2/3 or better then none of this is important to your game, you have other things to work on.

I'd disagree.

There's a world of difference between playing on a botanically true links and a constructed inland course using much more lush grasses.

Proper links rough is tall and whispy and needs to be played differently compared to the rough on inland courses which can be much lusher but shorter.

Likewise, the lie on a links fairway can be a lot thinner than an inland fairway.

So depending on where you're playing and if you're going to play across different types of courses, you need to understand how the agronomy of the different types of courses is going to affect your game, and make sure you have the repertoire of shots.

Also, I think inland greens tend to be mowed with more of a grain, which is a factor players might want to take account of when putting?

Jawgap

RoadRunner wrote: »

Understanding the grass you play on is massively important for getting better at golf.. or maybe not. I don't know. I don't know much about grass and it seems like I should. Now that the growing season is upon us, it may be a good time to fill some of these knowledge gaps so I thought I'd try get a bit of a Q&A going here (I don't know if "growing season" is a real thing)

My opening salvo of questions would be:

What type of grass do we have in Ireland (Does it have a name ie bentgrass, I'm guessing we don't have bermuda)? And are there differences between links/parkland?

What are the challenges of maintaining greens year-round in Ireland? Also what does sand and hollow tining do?

Are there differences in grasses that affect how I should approach shots on different types of grasses?

Some things I use for this last Q I can add would be:
- Thick rough can turn your club, so I open face a little, aim a little right, grip hard and swing hard.
- If playing out of light rough and the grass is with me the ball tends to spin less which travels further and rolls more so I'll go a club less.
(It would be cool to add to these, particularly chipping tips off different lies )

If you're on twitter, it's worth following a few active greenskeepers or superintendents who are active on the platform.

Dave Edmondson (@festucaman) is very good at explaining what's happening at his course (The Island) and also why certain things are important.

From my understanding, hollow tining is to improve aeration and drainage - it helps alleviate compaction, and gets air into the root zone.

Sanding can also help with drainage but is also intended to change the make-up of the growing zone to promote certain species over others - bents and festuca on links courses in preference to rye and Bermuda.......but I've no particular knowledge.

As for playing out of rough, I've found in heavy dense stuff, the first thing is to accept you have to take your medicine and the objective should be to get out and get back to the fairway, so I usually use a medium iron, and almost chop down and in (if that makes sense) to get the ball up out and moving forward. Essentially, my downswing is a lot steeper than would normally be the case. Others may have a different approach.

RoadRunner

Jawgap wrote: »

almost chop down and in (if that makes sense)

I know that one. Come down steep onto the ball so that you are reducing the amount of grass that you are swinging through. Gotta be careful with injury on this shot though as it puts a lot of force on your right hand.

golfguy1

Jawgap wrote: »

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So depending on where you're playing and if you're going to play across different types of courses, you need to understand how the agronomy of the different types of courses is going to affect your game, and make sure you have the repertoire of shots.

Also, I think inland greens tend to be mowed with more of a grain, which is a factor players might want to take account of when putting?

What repertoire of shots are u talking about that the average handicap golfer should have.
Personally have never found grain on greens in any course that had a noticeable effect on my putts

Jawgap

golfguy1 wrote: »

What repertoire of shots are u talking about that the average handicap golfer should have.
Personally have never found grain on greens in any course that had a noticeable effect on my putts

Whatever it takes to get out of the rough from different positions (relative to fairway/green), lies etc.

Likewise for me on the greens (re grain), but given we were discussing grass and how the potential exists for the different types to affect your game, I thought it worth mentioning.