Bentgrass Removal Trial

Last week we sprayed out some of the bentgrass that is in the fairways of Lake 5, Mountain 4, 5, 8 and Canyon 2 approach.  We are trying two different rates and two different products.  In the meantime, the bentgrass will have a bleached appearance. After the second application on the 20th we will verticut multiple times, shave the areas down with a low height of cut mower, seed and topdress.  I hope to have the process dialed in for 2018 and we can remove the bentgrass that has contaminated the fairways on a much larger scale.

Why would I want to remove the bentgrass?  Bentgrass thatch accumulation is very fast and that thatch holds onto water like a sponge.  For the player, this leads to a plugged ball.  For the maintenance department, we can't get water past the top inch and some products we apply need to get into the soil to work.

Roundup on the left with the crabgrass still green on the right.