The Rec Centers would like to pass along the following message to the community from our Environmental Services Manager concerning this year’s transition period from winter ryegrass to summer bermudagrass.
Each year the golf courses go through a transition period from winter ryegrass to summer bermudagrass. This usually starts during the month of May and can last through July.
The older golf courses such as Pebblebrook, *Grandview, Stardust and Echo Mesa have what is called common bermudagrass. This type of grass tends to have a slower recovery period during transition.
The newer courses – Trail Ridge, Deer Valley and Desert Trails – have 328-Tifgreen, which normally transitions better than the common bermudagrass.
This year’s transition has been more challenging than previous years due to the weather we’ve had this summer. The month of May included cooler than average temperatures that favored the winter ryegrass and contributed to a delayed transition start for the summer bermudagrass. The month of June then brought high humidity while also going down as the hottest June on record. The high humidity and temperatures resulted in the winter ryegrass being killed off before the summer bermuda could fill in those areas.
We are happy to share that the worst of this year’s transition period is behind us now and members should start seeing improvement on the golf courses over the next several weeks. Staff will continue to push along and address transition areas through fertilization, spot watering, aerification and sodding areas as needed.
This is always a challenging time for our superintendents and their staff. We appreciate your patience as we strive to give our members the best year-round conditions possible.
*We would like to take this time and address some concerns and rumors that last year’s irrigation project at Grandview is contributing to the tough transition this summer. That is not the case. The new irrigation system at Grandview is working perfectly fine and has been a great improvement over the previous system. The tough transition at Grandview has been due to the weather we’ve experienced this summer, as stated in the message above.
Todd Patty does an amazing job giving it his all to give us beautiful golf courses. Thank you Todd and crew
Todd Patty deserves a Pat on the back from every golfer.
As a resident with Pebblebrook in my back yard, I see firsthand the labor and time that the maintenance crew puts into keeping our course looking top-notch year-round.
We really appreciate it!
Stop overwatering the courses. Night time watering is the worst time since that is a higher risk of fungus. I’ve worked on golf courses and simple knowledge knows you are over watering.
Todd Patty has 30 years experience growing grass on our golf courses. The man knows what our courses need. A lot of other courses in the Valley are experiencing the same transitional issues. Thanks Todd and your crews for all that they do!
Todd Patty has always been top notch and cooperative. My encounters with him were on the 4 Lawn Bowling greens back in early 2000’s. To this day he has kept these greens competing with any lawn bowling greens in the USA.
ALWAYS EASY TO TALK WITH AND GET THINGS DONE.
As someone who plays all over the valley in summer, I can honestly say most courses can’t hold a candle to our conditions and value. Two days ago we played a top shelf course in Scottadale– and were shocked at how bad their turf was.
I did contact Todd Patty a week ago expressing my concern about Grandview and received a satisfactory answer. SCW golfers are spoiled with fabulous courses.
You da man Todd our courses are always in tip top shape I always back you 😎
Thank you for explaining the fairway grass issue. After moving here in 2019 this is the first year I can remember where the fairways and greens were not in great shape. My guests have always been impressed with our facilities. You have spoiled us with years of perfection Keep up the good work.
Todd, thank you and your staff for all of your efforts in maintaining and developing our golf courses at SCW. We are fortunate to have quality personnel. Thank you again.
Is there any thought about changing to a newer bermuda grass on the older courses, especially Pebblebrook and Grandview since they have more fairways than Echo Mesa and Stardust?