Beating thatch with 007 creeping bentgrass seed at Otley GC
In 2021, Otley Golf Club course manager Phil Dodds identified that a few of the greens had thatch issues, going out of the back end of the year.
Beating thatch
“When we did some investigation into it, the thatch on some of the greens was particularly high,” Phil explained. “And we started looking at other ways of speeding up the process of reducing the thatch.
“One of the processes that came to the forefront was to blade the whole area off and start again from scratch with the seed. We took the top 50 mm off and introduced some new Rootzone completely. “That’s when we started looking around at golf grass seed providers and began speaking with Germinal.”
007 creeping bentgrass seed
“When we started talking about 007 creeping bentgrass, we decided that it was the best for us to go for. Basically, for the sustainability side and the reduction in disease once creeping bentgrass has been established for a couple of years.”
Phil highlighted a few standout benefits of 007 bentgrass seed: “The reduced nutrition that’s required, the fact that it looks after itself, and especially with the ups and downs of the weather – it can handle variations in temperatures.”
007 bentgrass greens performing well
“We have seeded at the back end of August 2021. The green has been out of play for 10 months."
“Through winter, the amount of ingress and vigour it had when it was going and growing was great. Going forward, it’s just a fantastic opportunity for us to look at other greens,” Phil declares.
007 creeping bentgrass seed has been an effective product for Phil: “The feedback we’re getting from the membership is great. We’re opening it tomorrow and I can’t wait to hear what they all think of playing on it. I think this will be a fantastic project when it comes to a close.”
Overcoming disease with Proactive Seeding
“We had a little bit of disease in the back end of 2021, just going into winter. Within three weeks of the grass stock waking up from dormancy, the diseased areas were filled in and gone,” Phil reveals.
“For me, that’s one of the biggest things, especially with the fact we can’t spray quite as vigorously as we used to do. And it’s all about sustainability and trying to bring the plan on yourself without relying on chemicals and this is the absolute ticket for that.”
You can learn more about reseeding and overseeding golf greens by checking out the resources in our Proactive Seeding area. Alternatively, feel free to contact our golf grass seed experts.