Grass man: From fescues to creeping bentgrass, Gilhuly talks turf

Larry Gilhuly is a grass man.

The Kelso native works for the United States Golf Association and his job is to help public and private golf courses in Washington, Oregon, Hawaii and British Columbia grow the best possible grass.

He advises them on new techniques, products and environmental matters. He "cross-pollinates" ideas that are working at one course to other courses.

Gilhuly (pronounced "Gill-WHO-lee") attended the University of Washington and Washington State on an Evans Caddie Scholarship. He is a scratch player at Canterwood Golf and Country Club in Gig Harbor and co-coaches the Peninsula High School boys and girls golf teams.

His daughter, Ashleigh, recently received a golf scholarship to WSU.

Here are Gilhuly's answers to golf and agronomy questions asked by The Times:

Q. Golf courses have been criticized as bad for the environment because of extensive pesticide use. You believe otherwise. Why?

A. I don't believe otherwise, I know! While golf courses are not native forests or totally natural, they are definitely not bad for the environment and are definitely better than the alternative — more strip malls or other forms of development. The problem is hard surfaces, such as driveways, streets and walkways, not turfgrass!

The USGA has devoted over $21 million during the past decade to look at environmental issues and let the chips fall where they may. The results at over 30 major nonbiased universities have shown that when products are applied at the proper rates at the proper time, turfgrass offers a negligible potential impact on our environment. This is due primarily to the one component of turfgrass that is not available to other plants — thatch. Thatch acts as a natural sponge that literally ties up pesticides and fertilizers to keep them from causing problems with runoff or leaching (the removal of nutritive or harmful elements from the soil).

In the Pacific Northwest, the situation is less of a problem regarding runoff and leaching. Thatch accumulates in our area much faster than other locations in the country due to our low pH levels. This creates more thatch and more of a natural filter.

Q. Do Western Washington courses use less pesticide and fertilizer than courses in other parts of the country?

A. Far less. It's because of our mild climate, the lack of humidity and the virtual lack of damaging insects other than the European crane fly.

Several of the fungicides and insecticides used on golf courses are the same chemistry used for athlete's foot and flea collars. When they are used on our own bodies or those of our pets, they are called medicine. When they are used on turf they become pesticides. What would happen without them? Almost every green in the Northwest would be virtually unputtable because of the scourge called pink snow mold.

Q. You once described single-digit handicap players as "the bullies of golf." What did you mean?

Q. What are some of the breakthroughs in recent years that have helped courses?

A. The biggest breakthrough has been the switch to spikeless shoes. As a result, putting surfaces are much smoother.

Another breakthrough has been the introduction of hand-held radio controllers that control sprinkling systems. Superintendents at courses with these systems have been able to significantly reduce water usage. Most watering used to be done at night and a lot of it amounted to blanketing an area with water. Now, the superintendent can pinpoint the areas he wants to water and apply water at different times during the day when it is most needed.

Finally, while not a technological breakthrough, fairway topdressing with sand has had a profound impact on golf courses in the Pacific Northwest. At some courses that were extremely wet a decade ago you now find power carts riding on fairways and roughs in the middle of winter or spring.

Q. Does golf on television cause problems because everyone expects municipal courses to be as lush as Augusta?

A. Golf on TV is a huge problem. The week after The Masters is always the toughest for golf course superintendents across the country as golfers spend hours viewing conditions that are not possible to achieve at most golf courses in America.

Upon completion of this green extravaganza on TV, out they come to their local course and some actually expect conditions to be the same.

The best way I've ever seen to combat the problem is to take two 7-Up bottles, tape them together, hand them to golfers who want green all the time and tell them to look through them.

Q. How many kinds of grass exist on a typical Western Washington course?

A. Usually between 50 and 100 different types of Poa annua, along with perennial ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, fine-leaf fescues, tall fescue, velvetgrass, colonial bentgrass, creeping bentgrass and other weedy grasses.

Q. Most Northwest greens are Poa annua. Some courses plant "bentgrass" greens but the common perception is that sooner or later the Poa annua will take over. Is this still true?

A. With the exception of only those golf courses built during the past decade, virtually all of the putting surfaces in the Pacific Northwest are poa annua.

Poa annua or annual bluegrass is a highly adaptive grass that readily invades greens, tees, fairways, roughs, home lawns, parks, cemeteries and anyplace where grass grows. Poa annua is prolific because of its ability to outcompete whatever grass was originally planted. Poa does this by being a prolific seed producer and by withstanding shade and traffic.

With the exception of only a few golf courses that diligently hand-weed their greens, poa eventually will take over a bent-grass green.

Creeping bentgrass provides a better late spring, summer and fall putting surface. That's because bentgrass doesn't seed at mowing heights and thus generally produces a smoother surface.

Bentgrass also has fewer disease problems than poa annua and generally requires less water. But like I said, bentgrass doesn't do as well in shade or in climates with constant cloudy conditions. I consider poa superior in the winter and early spring.