Golf Styles; Turf Talk, April 2008
Town & Country’s Paul Geer Works Diligently to Maintain Best Conditions Possible at Public Course in South Jersey
Since it opened in 2001, Town and Country Golf Links has enjoyed a reputation as one of the best conditioned public courses in South Jersey. This month, Golf/Styles talks with Paul Geer, superintendent at Town and Country Golf Links in Woodstown since 2001.
GS: Town and Country is known for consistently being in good condition. What are the challenges in keeping it this way?
Geer: We get a lot of play – more than 30,000 rounds annually. There are a number of things that ned regular attention: heavy play areas, fungus and pests; watering; rainage; and some design feature.
GS: Which design features cause concern and how do you deal with them?
Geer: Town and Country is a flatter course with little appreciable elevation indifference. There are some problem wet areas. The 14th and 15th greens are next to each other. One is slightly higher. The Apron in between collects water. Installing drainage was the best way to resolve this problem. The 16th green is very undulating and the dips can catch water. The issue here is a bit more complex because it’s a California style green with a tunnel running under. The temperature can get very hot with the greens thicker layer of underlying sand, the undulations, and tunnel. It requires hand water, which is labor intensive and expensive.
GS: What are California-stlye greens?
Geer: All our greens were built in this manner. The sand layer under the surface’s topsoil is deeper and there’s not a layer of gravel under the sand as found in greens built using the USGA construction method. California-style greens do have advantages. The allow direct water flow to underlying drainage so water is eliminated more quickly and they are less costly to build.
GS: What about dealing with pests and fungus?
Geer: Both require constant attention. They are best addressed preventatively as part of a regular applied IPM (Intergrate Pest Management) plan.
Turf Talk is a regular feature of GolfStyles Magazine. It serves as a tribute to golf course superintendents across the state by providing better understanding of who they are and what they do to better serve golf clubs, courses and the industry.
