Turf Maintenance –Malaysian Golf Course Experience
By: Normas Yakin Md. Arifin
Who am I
• Assistant Golf Course Supt 1993 – 1996
• Golf Course Superintendent 1996 – 2003
• Club Manager 2003 – 2009
• Consultant 2009 onwards.
• Part-time Lecturer KDU university-college
• Member of GCSAA since 2001
• Member of GCSAM since inception
Turf Maintenance –Malaysian Golf Course Experience
Main points
• Myself
• Golf Course maintenance
• My experiences
Take away points
• As Pros/user of golf course
• As person; use of resources or pollutant.
• As part of management
Turf Maintenance works:
• Pest control
• Disease cure
• Drainage
• Irrigation
• Etc.
• Fertilising
• Mowing
• Vertical cutting
• Aeration
• Topdressing
• Etc.
• How much?• 1.75 kg/100 square meter• 1 bag per green• Spray and pray
• When?• Once a week? Twice?
• What?
1. Fertilising
• Slow release? Quick Release• Methylene Urea, PSCU, IBDU
Three ways
1. Follow old/previous/neighbour
2. Follow supplier
3. Do soil test
Which one you think Malaysians use?
Fertilising: in Malaysia
2. Cultural Practices
Definition: all mechanical work
done to improve turfgrass or soil
without the use of fertiliser or any
other chemicals
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Cultural Practices: Types
i. Mowing
ii. Top dressing
iii. Vertical cutting
iv. Aeration
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i. Mowing
• Defined – Long
grass cut short
• Cutting height
• Which is how high
grass from ground
level
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How often?
• Health
• Growth of grass
• Do not cut more than
one third
• Photosynthesis
• Greens 1x a day
• Fairways 2 – 3x a week
• Rough 1 – 2x a week
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Stripes
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Striping a fairway
• Caused by grass
leaning in 1 direction
• Light reflected by leaf
surface
• It’s the roller behind
the knife; not the knife
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Malaysians love stripes
Who doesn’t like stripes?
• Me. Because of tyre
marks
• Esp. during wet
weather
• Pros.
• Because long grass
bending away can
prevent good shot.
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ii.Topdressing
• The act of
distributing a thin
layer of sand, soil
or amendments to
reduce surface
deformities or to
give a firmer
surface.
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Application
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Distribution
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Topdressing – Other reasons
• To reduce or control ‘Thatch’
• To change soil structure
• To help in root development
• To add other amendments that will assist in:
1. Store water
2. Improve biological activity
3. Improve nutrient absorption
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IntroducingThatch
• Is an organic layer
• Consisting of stems,
leaves, roots whether
still living or dead.
• This layer is between
grass and soil.
• It may be already
decaying or in the
process.
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iii. Vertical cutting
• Normal cutting –
horizontal
• Vertical cutting –
vertical
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•
Vertical cutting - Why?
• Remove thatch
1. Thatch – fungi
2. Thatch – hydrophobic
• Other reasons
1. Add new grow points
2. Create new plants
3. For stolons
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Vertical cutting: Why?
1. Grooming
2. Dethatching
3. Scarifying
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• Raise the grass
• Better cut
• Done often
• Slightly deep
• Remove thatch
• Cutting rhizomes and stolons
• ‘initiate’ growth points
• Done irregularly
• Not so deep
• Remove mat
• Improve soil structure
• Space for new roots
• Quite deep and aggressive
• Rarely done
Vertical cutting: grooming
• No grooming
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• Yes grooming
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Vertical cutting : dethatch
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Scarify
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• Stolon is produced
this way
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Stolon (planting material)
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Cultural Practice iv. Aeration
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• Daily use – soil particle crush together.
• Push air out
• Micro organisme need oxygen
• Water needs pathway to follow
• Divided into:
1. Coring
2. Slicing/spiking
Pengudaraan (2)
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3. Pest Control; Insects
• English: Pest
• “Any creature that causes harm to humans or human belongings”
How or why pest harm
• Some are good and beneficial
• Some harm because they suck the juice from root or leaf.
• Some eat root or leaf
• Some live in the soil and destroy root.
• Some destroy quality of grass
• Some causes diseases.
Insects
Ants don’t harm grass but quality
Earth worm
Greens eaten by insect
Diseasesneeds three conditions
1. Host: Grass that can be infected (unhealthy, less fertiliser, not enough sun etc.)
2. An active pathogen
3. A suitable environment e.g. Low temperature or high moisture.
Signs of disease.
Symptoms of disease.
As compared to
dry Eaten by insects
The problem in Malaysia
• Most have condition 1 and 3. (poor health & condition)
• All it needs is a pathogen
• Cannot tell difference (insect, dry or disease)
• Don’t know what to do
• Worse; some continuously spray
4. Drainage & Irrigation
“There are three important
things on a golf course;
Drainage, Drainage and Drainage”
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What happens poor drainage
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1. can’t play golf
2. Can’t play golf
3. Can’t play golf
4. Can’t mow
5. Can’t fertilize
6. Cannot spray
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Weeds
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Algae
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Straight lines
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Irrigation
Problem in Malaysia
• Not enough drainage
• Whether subsoil or through soil
• Too much irrigation
• By schedule and not by needs
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Turf Maintenance; Recap
• Pest control
• Disease cure
• Drainage
• Irrigation
• Etc.
• Fertilising
• Mowing
• Vertical cutting
• Aeration
• Topdressing
• Etc.
Malaysian Golf Courses
• Some are very good
• Some should be closed
• And some are very average (being polite)
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Malaysian Golf Courses
• Some are professionally run
• Some are not run professionally
• Some … just run
• Don’t want advice even when free
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Being a consultant
• Is tough
• Talking to friends or about friends
• Don’t want to put people down
• Old habits are hard to break
• Some myths are too strong
• Some clubs prefer foreigner advice
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Normas Yakin Arifin
Call 012 511 3353
www.mynormas.com
www.slideshare.net/normas98