Poa Vs Bentgrass

 

I have been discussing the importance of poa vs bentgrass on our putting greens over the years and this picture demonstrates the importance of having poa, especially in high traffic areas.  The top picture is the green expansion on the 8th hole.  This was added 5 or 6 years ago and was sodded with bentgrass from a local golf course.  We did not have poa available at the time.  Over the years, the green would continue to thin out due to the concentrated foot traffic having to walk off the green at the same location, regardless if you were walking or riding.  A simple relocation of the green side bunker would alleviate this problem, but you will see how over the years the poa has been filling in this green expansion.  Bentgrass cannot tolerate traffic and low mowing heights and this green offers both.  Plus we keep our greens open all winter and bentgrass goes dormant much earlier and wakes up much later in the spring, so winter foot traffic will create damage or stress that will take a few good weeks to grow out each spring.  If you look at the bottom picture, you will see the bentgrass is actually still there, it is dormant and not growing.  Ideally in the next few years this problem will be solved on #8 by allowing the poa to continue to out compete the bentgrass or we can go in and relocate the bunker and offer more access points on the green to give this area a fighting chance.  We are now incorporating poa aeration plugs into all our bentgrass practice greens to get all greens to perform the same.