The golf course overseeding process at West Lothian GC

The grass seed experts of Germinal Amenity have been visiting UK greenkeepers throughout 2022 as part of our Proactive Seeding campaign to highlight the importance of overseeding golf course greens. Iain Marshall is the head greenkeeper at West Lothian Golf Club and the latest expert to feature in our Proactive Seeding case studies.

Embracing a golf course overseeding process

Speaking to Germinal Amenity expert Stuart Tait, Iain explained he overseeds to introduce more manageable and desirable species. This is to compete with Poa annua, which is vulnerable to diseases. Stuart soon learned that West Lothian Golf Club’s greens are overseeded twice a year at 7 g/m², starting in spring. A more intensive programme of summer overseeding is then performed as autumn approaches.

“Due to golf and competitions, our maintenance week is in September, so we do as much as we can and get as much grass seed in now to give us establishment for the winter months.”

Overseeding golf greens – the importance of controlling thatch

Stuart also wanted to know what prompted Iain to implement a golf course overseeding process at West Lothian. “We only began overseeding our greens a few years ago as we had to get our thatch levels under control first.” Iain also explained that overseeding has enabled the course to implement a sustainable approach. “We try to manage our greens fungicide-free and keep our nitrogen levels as low as possible.”

When outlining his golf course overseeding process, Iain revealed the club had been supportive when providing machinery. “West Lothian Golf Club invested in a Vredo Disc Seeder last year [2021] to enable us to overseed our greens in spring and again at the beginning of September.”

ForeFront Greens grass seed

Since committing to overseeding greens, Iain has used the same mixture. “We selected Germinal’s ForeFront Greens bentgrass seed from Germinal for the greens.

“This is to try and get finer and more disease-resistant grass species into our greens that can help out-compete Poa annua and tie in with my sustainable management approach,” Iain adds. “The long-term plan is to continue introducing more manageable and desirable species into the greens and compete with Poa annua. This will make them better visually and give our golfers better playing surfaces.”

Germinal ForeFront Greens contains four bentgrass species to provide a mixture suitable for soil or sand-based greens. The mixture also offers year-round green colour and resistance to stress and diseases.

Contact our experts today if you want to discuss ForeFront Greens or any of our other amenity grass seed mixtures.