From Lance Allen, Golf Course Superintendent at Rumbling Bald on Lake Lure

Recently, I have received several questions about the small dead areas in the fairways, so I wanted to explain what causes them. 

It is not an old divot, dead weeds, or animal urine you are seeing. As a matter of fact, these areas used to be much larger than they are now, but that does not make it any less annoying when you must hit a 9-iron shot out of the area in an important spot in your Saturday morning match. The truth is that this story started back in early fall and is a long tale when it comes to plant pathogens.

Spring Dead Spot (Ophiosphaerella) is a soil borne pathogen that infects the roots and stolons of warm-season grasses such as Bermuda grass. It becomes active in early fall when soil temperatures drop below 70 degrees and affects the plant during dormancy. In spring, while healthy turf greens up, infected areas remain bleached, sunken, and slow to recover. By July, these spots have typically shrunk during the warm growing months, which is why they can be mistaken for something else. This pathogen is difficult to control because it lives in the soil profile, and we must apply treatments preventatively before symptoms are visible. Timing for applications in Western NC is early September with a follow-up application 28 days later.

There are treatments for the pathogen that are getting more effective with every passing year. In 2012, the US EPA and manufacturers voluntarily pulled the product of choice (Rubigan) off the market, but advancement in chemistry has given us other effective tools to use in recent years. We preventively treat this fungus on our Bermuda grass greens at Apple Valley and could treat our fairways as well, but these products are very pricey. Treating the worst fairways is certainly possible and we have figured out which ones those are, but treating 20-30 acres of tees and fairways is a considerable expense. We will weigh our options at budget time and hopefully find the combination of control and affordability that works for us. Courses with limited resources have allowed the fungus to go unchecked and fertilize these areas extra during the growing season to get the areas to cover as quickly as possible, which is a pricey option as well.

With the state of the current economy, goods are going up exponentially on a day-to-day basis and we must figure out the most cost-effective ways to grow great turf improving the courses and meeting expectations.