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Once the range tee is open for the season, it’s important to manage how many days a week practice is permitted on the turf to control divoting and allow time for recovery. Using artificial mats one day per week, usually Monday, regardless of weather conditions, is typical. Even when closing for one day each week, on most normal-sized grass tees the divoting becomes so severe that finding a suitable area to set up the hitting stations is a challenge, especially during the second half of the golf season. Closing the grass tee for a second day each week, or even more often for a severely undersized tee, is an effective strategy for preserving usable space. For example, if the grass tee is in play for seven months out of the year, closing for an additional day each week would save 28 days of usable space over an entire golf season. When a range tee will be closed for two or more days each week, rotating which days are closed is recommended so golfers that only have availability to play on the same day every week are not always affected.

Closing the grass tee during poor weather is also strongly recommended. Wet conditions lead to more-severe divots, more damage from foot traffic, and difficulty setting up and moving the stations without causing turf damage. Temporary periods of extreme heat and humidity for cool-season grasses, or frosty mornings for any grass, are also good times to close the grass practice tee. Basically, any weather condition that slows down growth dramatically or carries a risk of increased damage is a prudent time to close the grass practice tee.

If you do not have enough grass surface to keep up with divots and cannot expand enough, or expectations are that the practice range will be open even when unfavorable weather is experienced, a high-quality artificial hitting surface is a necessity. This makes it possible to keep the range open while divots heal and during unfavorable weather. Ideally, the artificial tee surface is positioned at the back of the grass practice tee so golfers and setup staff do not need to walk or drive on the turf to access it. If the artificial teeing area is located in front of the grass practice tee, it is important that a path be provided for access. One benefit of placing the artificial tee in front is that maintenance can be performed on the grass tee while golfers are working on their game from the mats.
 

Agronomic Program

Having adequate time for maintaining the practice tee is critical. Mowing two or three times per week is necessary to produce a quality playing surface. Additionally, it is beneficial to have the practice tee on the same plant protectant program and cultural management program as the tees or fairways, depending on the desired conditions and grass species present. 

Given the need to promote recovery and possibly germinate and support new seedlings, the practice tee will require more water than the tees and fairways. To efficiently accomplish this, some golf courses have installed quick couplers at each sprinkler positioned at the back of the practice tee, allowing divots to be easily hand watered without overwatering large areas of established turf with sprinklers. Where the hitting stalls are set up and how many golfers are using the tee impacts the timing of hand watering divots, but having quick couplers in place makes providing targeted supplemental irrigation much easier.

From a fertility standpoint, enough nutrients need to be provided to promote recovery and deliver a quality playing surface. Including the practice tee with the yearly nutrient analysis is a sound decision to make sure there are not any deficiencies. The grass practice tee will likely need more fertilizer applications than a normal tee or fairway to promote recovery, but it is important to balance how much additional fertilizer is applied so growth is not overstimulated. It is very common to see thatchy, soft practice tees and excessive fertilizer applications can be part of the problem, especially if a sound cultural management program is not in place. The accumulation of too much thatch also plays a role in how long the tee is closed when moderate or heavy rainfall occurs because of excessive moisture being retained just below the playing surface. If it seems like the tee surface is soft, reevaluating the fertility program and managing organic matter more aggressively is recommended.  

Whether or not to include seed in the divot mix is frequently debated. Seed is typically included with the divot mix when creeping bentgrass is the desired grass. An alternative is chewings fescue seed or a combination of chewings fescue and creeping bentgrass seed. The chewings fescue will germinate quicker and function as a nurse grass until creeping bentgrass encroaches from the edges of the divot.

Perennial ryegrass seed is included in the divot mix at some courses because of how quickly this grass germinates. However, seeding perennial ryegrass into creeping bentgrass can create a mottled look because of the different growth habit and color of each grass. Over time the perennial ryegrass will not be crowded out by the creeping bentgrass like chewings fescue is, and eventually the tee may become almost entirely perennial ryegrass. This may be desirable from a quick recovery standpoint, but perennial ryegrass may not match the playing conditions on the course. Perennial ryegrass is also more vulnerable to disease and does not tolerate extreme temperatures well, which can lead to difficulty in the summer months.

Field observations have shown that slit seeding, especially in areas where divoting is more severe, can accelerate recovery. With improvements that have been made in slit seeder equipment, this practice can be performed with minimal disruption to the surface.

When managing actively growing Kentucky bluegrass, bermudagrass, and zoysiagrass practice tees, sand is applied to fill the divots but seed is not included because there is enough viable tissue throughout the divot for recovery. If a bermudagrass practice tee is overseeded and in play during the winter, perennial ryegrass seed would be included, and supplemental fertilizer applications will be necessary. Recognize that overseeded ryegrass will still germinate and grow more slowly during the short days and cooler weather of winter. In places where there is heavy demand on an overseeded practice tee, some courses have started resodding areas of the practice tee during the winter season to maintain quality playing conditions. The Green Section Record article “Instant Practice Facility Tees” details this process. If practice tee conditions are a priority in the spring, it may be desirable to overseed a portion of the bermudagrass tee and leave a non-overseeded area out of use for the winter. This non-overseeded area will then be in good condition and ready to go earlier in the spring while you transition the overseeded area.

How often divots are filled depends on available labor and maintenance frequency. Ideally, divots are filled weekly at a minimum and more often if labor resources permit. Filling divots more than once per week will start the recovery process sooner and any edge that can be gained will be beneficial in the long term. Careful attention is required when divots are being filled to ensure excessive mix is not being used. Overfilling divots will contribute to undulations developing, so taking the time to educate employees on how to properly fill divots is important. 

Weed encroachment, especially crabgrass and goosegrass, is often a challenge because divots create voids in the playing surface where weed seeds can germinate. Whether or not preemergence herbicides should be used on a practice tee is often debated because of the impact on germination if seed is included in divot mix. In general, preemergence herbicides can impact root development of existing turf and germination and establishment of seed, but how significantly depends on many factors. If you are thinking about using a preemergence herbicide on your practice tee, setting up a test plot for a season is recommended to evaluate how divot recovery is impacted. 

Setup Logistics

Practice tee setup is a major factor in playing conditions and recovery. Hitting stations can either be moved from the back to the front or vice versa and there are benefits and pitfalls to each strategy. Moving from the back to the front provides an opportunity to fill divots while golfers are practicing because play is moving forward of the most recently used areas. Another benefit is that when divots are cleaned up, whether with a blower or sweeper, recently filled divots will not be disturbed. The downside of this strategy is it gives golfers the opportunity to creep forward and take divots in the area allocated for the next day.

Starting at the front and working toward the back eliminates the issue with golfers creeping forward but divot filling then must be performed during scheduled maintenance times when the tee can’t be used. Also, when fresh divots are cleaned up, there is a greater likelihood of filled divots being disturbed. Regardless of which direction the hitting stalls are moved each day, setting up close to the previous day’s divots maximizes the amount of available tee space. From an efficiency standpoint, this approach also minimizes how far range tee supplies have to be moved. 

Careful thought should also be given to how many hitting stations are set up. Enough space should be provided for warming up and practicing. Consideration also must be given to how much recovery time will be provided before a previously used area is put back into play. Ideally, 40 to 50 days would be allocated for divots to recover. By setting up the hitting stations half or a third of the way across the tee – instead of all the way across – the time for recovery can be extended to hit this goal. If space is extremely limited, consideration should be given to using the artificial tee more frequently than one or two days per week. 

How many golf balls are available at each hitting station can impact how many divots are taken. Offering a large number of balls will lead to more divots. Supplying range balls in small bags that are available at the back of the tee or in the golf shop is a simple strategy that has been observed to reduce divoting. The Green Section Record article “Give ‘Em the Small Basket” explains this in greater detail.

Grass Selection

Golfers often say that they want turf on the practice tee to match the fairways and/or tees on the course so that they are practicing under the conditions they will experience during a round. This makes sense, but the reality is that conditions matching the fairways and tees can be unachievable on a practice tee due to how much use it gets and the priority becomes having as much turf cover as possible throughout the playing season. When space is limited and conditions on the practice tee deteriorate quickly, discussions about converting to grasses that are more durable or recover faster are warranted. 

For courses in the transition zone, creeping bentgrass and perennial ryegrass may both struggle on practice tees in the prime summer months. Cold-tolerant bermudagrasses and low-mow bluegrasses are feasible alternatives. For northern golf courses, low-mow bluegrasses are a good option. Because of their rapid growth rate, both bermudagrasses and low-mow bluegrasses exhibit faster recovery than creeping bentgrass and both are durable during the summer. When a divot is taken from these grasses, viable tissue remains in the void, increasing the rate of recovery. Bermudagrasses are also more resistant to divots than cool-season grasses, so the same swing typically produces a shallower divot that recovers faster.

Converting to a grass that recovers faster and performs better during the primary playing season can result in more available days on the grass practice tee and improved conditions. The Green Section Record article “Practice Tee Divot Recovery in the Upper Transition Zone – Hybrid Bermudagrass vs. Creeping Bentgrass” provides results from a Green Section research study that found divots on a bermudagrass practice tee recovered significantly faster during the summer than divots on a bentgrass portion of the practice tee at the same course. That course uses a bermudagrass practice tee during summer and a bentgrass practice tee during spring and fall. While they have a large teeing area available, this strategy of using two different grasses for different times of the year can also work well on smaller practice tees.

If a decision is made to establish a cold-tolerant bermudagrass on part or all of a practice tee, managing play in the shoulder seasons and winter is important. You will also want to take steps to avoid contaminating cool-season playing surfaces with the bermudagrass. Covering the bermudagrass portion of the tee may be advisable to protect it from winter injury. It should also be noted that if a decision is made to establish a different grass on the practice tee than the fairways or tees on the course, the agronomic program will have to be adjusted accordingly depending on which grass is selected. For example, courses in the Northeast find fraise mowing bermudagrass practice tees is beneficial.

Practice tees need to be releveled on a regular basis because of the undulations that develop from routine divot filling. This can be a perfect opportunity to change grasses if a different option will perform better. While regrassing may be viewed as inconvenient, it can often be completed in a short time provided major earthwork is not necessary and the artificial tee surface can be used while the new grass practice tee establishes and matures. This would also be an opportune time to add or repair drainage. Having internal drainage is critical for removing excess water from the rootzone.
 

Summary

Providing a high-quality grass practice tee that is open as much as possible requires special maintenance and careful planning. Having artificial teeing areas is necessary to preserve grass tee space and provide an alternative when unfavorable weather conditions are experienced or when turf growth has slowed. Decisions around the setup logistics and how frequently the artificial tee surface is used are site specific and stakeholders need to work together to develop a program that fits the needs of the golf course and the practical limitations of the grass tee. It’s impossible for most courses to build a grass practice tee that is large enough to handle unlimited use, but there are absolutely ways to optimize the limited grass tee space you have.