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BOOK
A TEE
TIME
GREEN
TEAM
Monarch maintenance crew
gets course ready for winter
T
he winter months can be cruel
to a seaside golf course — un-
less you have one of the best
maintenance crews in the business.
The Monarch Beach turf staff once
again tackled the monumental task of
overseeding the fairways, rough and
tee boxes this fall to provide a better
playing surface for the winter
months. Seeding 90 acres with 550
pounds per acre of cold-weather rye
grass — and only closing the
course for two days — takes
round-the-clock dedication.
"It's a big undertaking,"
said Superintendent
Mathew Dunmyer. "The
amount of work we're doing
along with the time and effort from
our staff and the impact it has on our
regular players better be worth it."
The end result is a cold-weather
grass that remains lush and green
through winter. The crew also aerates
the greens during the same time pe-
riod for a complete turf overhaul that
lasts through the season.
"Some courses in the area may
overseed just their rough and tee
boxes and let the fairways stay brown
until the warm-weather months," ex-
plains Dunmyer. "But we know our
effort gives a great and consistent
playing surface and a solid dark
emerald green turf that doesn't get
patchy in cold weather."
The initial effort — in a process
called scalping — involves cutting
the existing warm weather grass al-
most to dirt level, which allows the
turf maintenance team to plant in
abundance (overseed) the cold
weather rye grass seed. A task that at
Monarch Beach is imperative due to
the course's proximity to the ocean.
"The sea air along with the high
salt and chlorine content in the golf
course's reclaimed water is a chal-
lenging combination for healthy grass
in the winter," says Dunmyer.
The entire effort from the initial
scalping to healthy grass takes about
six to eight weeks.
And at the end of the process the
real satisfaction comes from the feed-
back of the players.
"It has a really big impact on busi-
ness during the months of November
through February," says Dunmyer.
"The lush green grass looks great
and the turf is consistent round after
round."
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Following the scalping process, the course turns green and lush.
