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In an informal (and anonymous) survey, we asked a half-dozen superintendents across the U.S. to count the ways that golfers get course upkeep wrong. Here are seven common course-care cockups — and how to do the jobs right.

1. Repairing pitch marks

What too many golfers do: Jam their divot repair tool underneath the ball mark and lift the soil to level it. Like a bad acne treatment, this leaves a scar.

What you should do: Work your divot repair tool in a circle around the edges of the ball mark, gently pulling the turf toward the center until the crater is closed.

Superintendent says: “We can blame PGA Tour pros for this one. Most of them do it incorrectly on TV.”

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2. Filling divots

What too many golfers do: Over- or under-fill the divot, creating either a bump or a depression when the grass grows back.

What you should do: Fill the divot with sand or sand/seed mixture until it is level with the surrounding turf, then tamp the filling down gently with your foot to smooth it out.

Superintendent says: “This one is so easy, a 4-year-old child could do it. I wish we had more 4-year-olds playing our course.”

3. Replacing divots

What too many golfers do: Nothing. Or they collect tiny shards of turf and tamp them down haphazardly into the divot hole, where they’ll have little to no chance of taking root again.

What you should do: Assuming that the toupee of turf is still intact, replace it, ideally in the same direction that it was laying before you tore it up. Then tamp it down gently with your foot to help its roots reconnect with the soil.

Superintendent says: “If you can’t do it right, better to do nothing. Think of the golfer playing behind you. They’d rather play out of a divot than out of one filled with scraps.”

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4. Raking bunkers

What too many golfers do: Take a passing swipe at the sand with their feet or a club, or drag the rake lazily behind them, like a petulant child doing a household chore.

What you should do: If you’ve made deep footprints, start by smoothing them over with the back of the rake. Then flip the rake around and, using long sweeping motions, finish smoothing the sand as you backtrack out of the bunker, covering your steps as you go.

Superintendent says: “And don’t forget to tap the sand off your shoes before you tramp out onto the green.”

5. Entering and exiting bunkers

What too many golfers do: Take the shortest route to the ball, even if it means stomping up and down the steep side of the bunker, leaving deep footprints and triggering avalanches along the way.

What you should do: Get in and out on the low side, even if it’s not the closest point to your ball

Superintendent says: “What do you think this is, mountain climbing?”

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6. Replacing flagsticks

What too many golfers do: Leave the flagstick leaning, which can damage the edges of the hole.

What you should do: Return the base of the pole securely into the hole at the bottom of the cup

Superintendent says: “I can’t believe I have to even say this but … make sure the thing is standing up straight.”

7. Retrieving balls from the cup

What many golfers do: Force their hand into the cup while the flagstick is still in it, damaging the edge of the cup. Or, dig the ball out with their putter blade, which has the same effect.

What you should do: If the flagstick is still in, remove it, then reach down and pull the ball out — with your hand.

Superintendent says: “The theme of this entire article should basically be, ‘Stop being so damn lazy!’”

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Seems like yesterday that we were raking the last leaves of 2021. But now another autumn has arrived, slapping us with seasonal obligations. Ryan Bourne, a former Class A superintendent at Terradyne Country Club, in Wichita, Kan., and a longtime member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, is an area manager for Van Diest Supply Co., a company specializing in crop protection.

In the interest of protecting our own turf, we asked Bourne for a check list of important lawn-care tasks.

Fertilize

Like a bear preparing for hibernation, cool-season grasses benefit from a feeding before they go dormant for the winter. It’s a good idea to beef them up. Warm-season grasses are a different story. Fertilizing them in fall can be problematic. For starters, it risks promoting growth of unwanted cool-season intruders. “You’re basically feeding weeds,” Bourne says. Fertilizing with nitrogen can also promote new sprouts in the turf itself that will be vulnerable to disease and damage if a sudden cold snap hits.

Run the Mower Dry

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In cold climates, get the gas out of your mower before you store it for the winter, either by emptying the tank or by running it dry. If you can’t do that, add some fuel stabilizer. Gas that sits around for months can go bad, leaving you with a gunked-up machine in spring.

Water Deeply and Infrequently

After a long, hard summer, grass has been through hell and back, especially in drought-stricken regions. There’s a good chance the roots have gotten shallow, which isn’t want you want heading into winter. Watering deeply but infrequently will help draw the roots down into the soil. The longer the root system, the more resilient the turf for the colder months ahead.

Aerify

Fall is a prime time to punch cool-season grasses, as it promotes air and nutrient flow through the root zone — a healthy practice as turf heads into winter. It’s not bad for warm-climate grasses, either, but it’s best not to do it if you plan to overseed in the same window, as those seeds will collect in the aeration holes and you’ll wind up with polkadots in your turf that will remain until the lawn has a chance to grow them out.

Blow Out the Irrigation System

Before the brunt of winter, you’ll want to empty out your irrigation system, so water doesn’t freeze and damage the pipes. If you’re reasonably handy and own a compressor, this can be a DIY job. But don’t be afraid to hire an expert.

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Give Your Trees a Little Drink

In this age of accelerating climate change, vast swaths of the country have been hit hard by drought. The damage is easy to see in turf. But don’t forget that trees get thirsty, too. Winter is coming. It might be cold and dry. If you’ve got trees your hard, Bourne recommends setting a hose on drip around the trunks.

Rake and Mulch

Piles of leaves can be damaging to turf, especially when they get wet and matted. As they start to drop, you’ll want to rake them up—but not necessarily all of them. The timing will vary depending on the climate and the type of tree, but keep an eye on how many leaves remain on branches. When it looks like you’re down to the last one or two rakings of the season, start mulching instead. Pulverizing those leaves into bite-size nutrients and pressing them into the soil will be good for the turf in the months ahead.

Plant for Spring

Spring showers bring May flowers. But some of those flowers need to be planted in the fall. Tulips. Daffodils. Hyacinths. If you want to see their pretty petals next year, fall is the time to get those bulbs in the ground.

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Terry Buchen is a retired superintendent and 51-year member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America who remains active in the business as a consultant.

In search of flagstick-related trivia, we asked Buchen to reel off fun facts that we might repeat around the clubhouse bar. Here are 11, including a few extra we tracked down on our own.

1. The origin story

It’s hard to say when flagsticks were first put into use. But the first mention of “flagstick” in the Rules of Golf appeared in the R&A code of 1875. Decades prior, references to flagsticks had already popped up in the popular press, including in the Fifeshire Journal in 1857, referencing a two-flag-per-green setup at the Old Course in St. Andrews. “To prevent mistakes,” the story read, “the out-going hole is supplied with a white flag, and its neighbor sports a red one, that being the color of all the return holes.” In Famous Golf Links, a book published in 1891, there is mention of flags being used to indicate not just hole location but also direction on blind shots.

2. Tall orders

Unlike amusement park rides, flagsticks do not have minimum or maximum heights. The USGA used to recommend that flagsticks be at least seven-feet tall. But that language is no longer in the governing body’s guidelines.

3. A notch below

When Buchen was a young superintendent, flagsticks were more likely to tilt or even topple in strong winds. That changed with the advent of the ferrule. A ferrule is the notched end at the base of the stick, which fits securely into a grooved hole in the cup. It became an industry standard around the late 1990s, Buchen says.

4. Yellow world

Next time you’re watching a tournament broadcast, check out how the fans are attired. Very few will be wearing yellow. “That makes yellow a great color for flagsticks,” Buchen says. “They really stand out against the backdrop of the gallery and the green of trees.” Works nicely at Augusta. And it’s looking good this week at the Presidents Cup.

5. Standard practices

Just because there are no rules regarding height doesn’t mean there aren’t customs. On the PGA Tour, tournament specs call for eight-foot-tall flagsticks. The taller the flag, Buchen says, the easier it is for depth perception. The tallest flagstick he ever came across was a towering 12-footer, at Seven Canyons Golf Club, in Sedona, Ariz.

6. Short end of the stick

In decades past, at especially windy Open Championship venues, the R&A has used flagsticks slightly shorter than Ian Woosnam, who stands 5-foot-4.

7. Material issues

The PGA Tour and the USGA both use fiberglass flagsticks. Many flagsticks are also made of wood and plastic. But fiberglass, Buchen says, is best at deadening shots.

8. Letting freak flags fly

Baskets. Windsocks. Maritime bunting. There’s nothing in the rules that says a flagstick must have a flag on top. There are also no specific strictures on how large a flag can be, though the rules do state that they should be a “reasonable” size. You don’t want too many shots getting caught up in them. In most cases, the flag is bolted to the top of the flagstick. At PGA Tour events, Buchen says, it’s not uncommon for caddies whose players are in contention to carry pliers during the final round, the better to remove the flag as a souvenir should their player win.

9. More material issues

Most flags are either fashioned out of nylon or cotton. The problem with cotton, Buchen says, is that it stays damp longer, so if a ball catches a cotton flag in wet conditions, it’s more likely to get tangled up.

10. Flagstick lifespans

Most flagsticks, Buchen says, are good for a full season. The flags themselves wear out faster, though their longevity depends a lot on weather. At high-end clubs, Buchen says, they’ll often get swapped out several times a year.

11. Flagstick width

If you don’t hit many flagsticks, don’t feel bad. Under the rules of golf, the maximum diameter is two inches from the top of the stick to a point no less than three inches above the putting green. From a point three inches above the green and down, the maximum diameter is three-quarters of an inch.

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The first rule of real estate is also relevant to superintendents, whose job involves deciding where to set the pins.

It’s an important choice, influencing everything in the golfer experience from the pace of play to the health of the greens.

But what, exactly, are the considerations?

Terry Buchen, a 51-year member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and the former superintendent at Riviera Country Club, in Los Angeles, remains active in the business as a consultant.

We asked him for the hole story.

Where is fair?

There are no set rules, only recommendations.

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In section 5E(1) of its Committee Procedures, the USGA offers general guidelines for competitions, including the suggestion that holes not be placed too close to the collar or on slopes where a ball will not come to rest. But those aren’t inscribed in the Rules of Golf. There is no such thing as an “illegal pin.”

An unfair pin? Sure. Those exist. But what qualifies as a reasonable hole location depends on a range of factors, such as the speed, firmness, and slope of a green as well as the skill of the player. Which means the proper place to cut a hole is mostly a matter of common sense.

The three-feet rule

In the absence of written rules, superintendents have commonly accepted practices. The consensus, Buchen says, is that you want to cut the hole on an area of the green where it’s relatively level, with three feet of flat ground around the pin. If you drop a ball from waist-height near the hole, it shouldn’t roll away.

Setting the hole on or at the edge of a steep slope is pretty much a no-no. A putt struck at the proper speed shouldn’t roll back to you. Or off the green. “You want people to be able to get the ball to stop around the hole,” Buchen says.

At what point does a sucker pin become just silly?

When Buchen was starting out, it was widely accepted that a hole should never be cut closer than five paces from the edge of the green with each pace measuring about a yard. Over time, that minimum shrank. Nowadays, Buchen says, you might see holes cut as close as four paces from the collar, depending on the course, the superintendent and the seriousness of the competition.

Mixing it up

Contrary to popular belief, most supers aren’t sadists trying to torment golfers with punishing hole locations. They strive for a balance of easy and difficult cups, cut in the front, center, back, left and right. Barring budgetary constraints, they also change their hole locations every day, so that regulars don’t get bored, the holes themselves don’t get dried out or misshapen, and no section of any green gets overly abused.

The tic-tac-toe method

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Many pin sheets show three positions: front, back and center. But that’s not how every superintendent sees it, Buchen says. Many use a system inspired by tic-tac-toe, splitting each green into nine sections, which they rotate through from one day to the next. This is good for the turf (it distributes wear and tear).

It’s also good for golfers, Buchen says, because it prevents repetition. If you play on Tuesdays, say, you’re guaranteed not to get the same pins every week.

Keeping the hole round

The diameter of the hole is 4.25 inches, and — this just in! — the cups are meant to be a circle. Too bad golfers often knock them out of round by digging balls out with a putter, or failing to replace the flagstick properly, leaving it leaning in the hole.

Cutting new holes, filling old ones

While choosing a hole location is something of an art, cutting a new hole is more like a science: It requires good tools and sound technique. Buchen says that most supers sharpen their hole-cutters at least once a week to ensure clean edges.

As for plugging up an old hole, there’s a right and wrong way to do it. You must make sure that the grain of the grass on the plug aligns with the grain on the rest of the green or the turf won’t heal up seamlessly. You also need to ensure that the plug is level with the rest of the putting surface. Set it too deep, and you’ll be left with an indentation. Leave it too high, and the mowers will scalp it.

Properly filled, most old holes heal in a week to 10 days, Buchen says. At courses with big budgets, maintenance crews use water and divot-repair tools to help the plug blend in. You would have to inspect closely to know that a hole was ever there.

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What’ll it be: rotary or reel?

As its name suggests, a rotary mower cuts with a spinning blade. A reel mower functions with a reel and a bed knife, with a slicing action akin to shears.

How to decide between them?

That depends on a range of factors, including your budget, the type of grass your tending, the purpose your turf serves and the terrain itself.

So says Matt Guilfoil, superintendent of Desert Canyon Golf Club, in Ariz., and co-host of the turf-care podcast, From the Jingweeds, a podcast devoted to the turf-care trade.

We asked him to help us cut through the considerations — for supers and the rest of us at home.

Field of Play

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For finely conditioned turf, Guilfoil says, reel mowers are the way to go, as they can cut lower with greater precision. The cut with a reel mower is also sharper and cleaner, Guilfoil says, which is healthier for the grass.

“It’s more like snipping compared to the ripping and tearing you can get with a rotary mower,” he says. On the flip side, though reel mowers can be set lower, rotary mowers are easier to adjust. The taller the grass, the better they perform.

Turf Type

As a general rule, warm-season grasses have tougher blades than their cool-season counterparts, which can make them the harder to cut. Reel mowers tend to be better at slicing through coarse turf.

Cost

Rotary mowers are cheaper to purchase and maintain, with blades that can be swapped out or sharpened at home, assuming you are reasonably handy. Not so with a reel mower.

“Unless you’re a retired superintendent or mechanic who took a bunch of fancy equipment with you when you left the job, you’re not fine-tuning a reel mower at home,” Guilfoil says.

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Terrain

On contoured ground, reel mowers are generally better at following the lilt of the terrain. Try to run a rotary mower over the same subtle humps and hollows, and you’re more likely to dig into the grass or scalp the turf.

On the course and at home

At Desert Canyon, Guilfoil and his crew use reel mowers on greens, fairways and tees — pretty much everywhere. The exception is the rough along the edges of the desert, where rocks and other hard debris can cause expensive damage to reel mowers. In those shaggy areas, rotary mowers do the trick just fine, and if the blades get nicked or dinged, the repairs are cheaper.

Given the higher purchase price and cost of repair, reel mowers are rarities for homeowners. “If we are talking about someone’s yard, it makes no sense to have a reel mower, unless you want that lawn to look like a fairway or a green.”

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A year ago this August, the tail end of a tropical storm swept through North Carolina, causing devastation that made all things golf-related seem inconsequential. Still, courses were hit hard.

Jeremy Boone, a long-time member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, is the superintendent at Springdale Resort, in the mountains near Asheville, where some 20 inches of rain fell in a matter of hours, flooding the grounds and closing the course for two months.

We asked Boone about the ill-effects on turf when there is water, water everywhere, and what courses — and homeowners — can do to minimize the damage.

What happens under water?

Like the rest of us, grass needs to breathe.

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“Imagine trying to drink a 20-ounce bottle of Coke while holding your nose,” Boone says. That’s what it’s like for turf underwater. The soil beneath it is composed of solids and porous spaces, which in turn are occupied by water and air.

Those two elements, Boone says, need to be in balance for the plant to “operate correctly.” When the root zone floods, the grass can drown. Over time, saturated roots can also rot or get devoured by fungus.

The perils of puddling

Puddles aren’t just bad for playability. They’re especially problematic when the sun shines brightly and temperatures rise, as is often the case in the wake of an afternoon thundershower.

In those conditions, Boone says, “the puddle heats up and scalds the grass. The turf, he notes, becomes “like an ant under a magnifying glass.”

How long can flooded turf survive?

For days, Boone says, though there’s no set rule. The timeframe depends on a range of factors, including temperature, cloud cover and the amount of contaminants in the water.

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The safest bet is to remove as much water as quickly as you can. If you’re Augusta National, simply switch on your SubAir system. Otherwise, Boone says, a squeegee should do the trick. In the most heavily flooded areas, you can even scoop out the water with a snow shovel.

Keys to recovery

Flood is over, land is dry. What to do next? First things first, assess the damage. If the grass is still green, it should be okay, Boone says. But, he adds, you should still carry out the turf-care version of CPR and “aerify, aerify, aerify,” which promotes the flow of air and water through the root zone.

Depending on the time of year, applying fertilizer can also help. Rotting grass stinks, Boone says, so if you detect an unpleasant moldy funk, it might be too late. The same is true if the turf turns straw-colored. It’s probably time to reseed.

Impurity problems

Excess water is not the only problem. There are also the contaminants that come with it, such as silt, rocks, limbs and (worst of all, Boone says) petroleum products.

“Rocks and limbs can be picked up,” he says. “And silt can be hosed off.”

But when gasoline and oil seep into the ground, they tend to stick around. Though bacteria in the soil can help degrade those products, especially with the help of fertilizer, that process takes time, which is bad news for your turf, because, Boone says, “you need good soil to grow good grass.”

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When it comes to turf, a lot us have two expectations: that our courses should look like Augusta National, and that our lawns should be vast swaths of uninterrupted green.

Superintendents have a different perspective.

They understand that less is often more.

Witness the prevalence of turf-reduction projects at golf properties from coast to coast.

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Grass is nice, no doubt. But maintaining it is costly and labor-intensive. Removing it can save all kinds of resources—time, money, water, fertilizer, and more — even as it improves how a course looks and plays. Done right, it’s an economical, eco-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing move.

Dale Hahn, a certified golf course superintendent (CGCS) and a longtime member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, is the director of golf course maintenance at TPC at Summerlin, in Las Vegas. Since 2003, his course has worked in phases to remove 21 acres, or 14 percent, of its irrigated turf, yielding a cumulative savings of 29 million gallons of water per year.

We asked Hahn what it takes to tear out turf, which materials work best as substitutes, and whether he had tips for those of us looking to remove grass at home.

Turf Removal 101

On the course, the standard multi-step practice is to spray the turf with herbicide; mow what remains as low as possible; till it or tear it up; and then plant into the area or blanket it with ground cover. At home, Hahn recommends using a sod cutter, a walk-behind machine with a vibrating action that peels up the turf as it goes. Sod cutters can be rented from many home-improvement stores

Which Turf Should Be Removed

Non-essential turf, though ‘non-essential’ is open to interpretation. One useful definition, Hahn says, is “the stuff that you don’t walk on.” Steep slopes, for instance, or windy decorative swatches that get little foot traffic and are also tricky to maintain. In some areas around Las Vegas, ‘non-essential’ turf includes those grassy stretches between the street and sidewalk, and a newly passed law calls for their removal by 2027. Turf-related regulations vary by jurisdiction. Before you embark on a turf-removal project, it’s worth looking into government-rebate programs. They can serve as good incentives to complete the job.

What to Plant Instead

As with course design, it doesn’t hurt to let nature be your guide. Hahn has found inspiration by walking into the Nevada desert and taking note of the plants: indigo, brittle bush, Mormon tea, and on. Wherever you live, you can strive for something similar. Take a hike and take a survey, then do your best to mimic the natural surrounds.

Choosing Ground Cover

Here, again, choices abound, and vary from one region to the next. Around Las Vegas, courses often use ‘rock mulch,’ the natural top layer of the local desert. Rock mulch, Hahn says, is filled with microorganisms, which create a crusty shield that help keep down dust.

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Pea gravel is another go-to. It’s composed of 3/8-inch rocks that get packed down over time, creating a smooth playing surface for errant shots. But rocks of other sizes are available, too. In the northeast and northwest, bark chips and mulch are often used, while pine straw is popular in Florida, Georgia and across the Carolinas. Such materials blend beautifully with their surroundings and layered properly, they help retain moisture in the soil.

Mixing It Up

Beauty might be in the eye of the beholder. But, Hahn says, the best-looking xeriscapes (landscapes that require little irrigation) are built on variety. In the desert, that might mean three different types of hardscapes (3/4-inch rock, along with 12- and 24-inch boulders) and three different plantings, ranging from small succulents to medium shrubs and trees. “If you drive around your neighborhood and look for the ugliest landscapes, they’re usually the ones that are the most homogenous,” Hahn says. “You want to vary the sizes, colors and textures as much as you can.”

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Take turf, for instance.

As drought ravages large swaths of the country, browned-out patches proliferate on front lawns and fairways, but not all are beyond the point of no return.

Cody Elwood is the director of grounds and maintenance at Jimmie Austin Golf Club at the University of Oklahoma, and a 25-year-member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

We asked him how to tell if grass can still be saved, and what we can do to revive its prospects. He gave us four tips:

1. Check for a pulse

First things first. You’ll want to know if the grass still stands a chance.

“It all depends on turf type and location,” Elwood says.

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Homeowners with cool-season grasses will have a harder time reviving dormant turf than those tending to warm-season grasses. Either way, a simple test, Elwood says, is to see if any green tissue remains in the stems and shoots.

“If there is no green tissue, or healthy, white roots, it may be too late,” Elwood says.

But if there are any signs of life, there is still hope.

2. Water heavily

As in, two to three times a week in the early morning, when evaporation is at its lowest. Rehydrating the root system might take time, so don’t count on seeing overnight results.

The timeframe for recovery depends on the severity of the damage. If weather conditions remain hot and dry, Elwood recommends cooling any green grass in the middle of the day with a few minutes of irrigation, as that will help relieve stress on the turf.

3. Use a wetting agent

As the name suggests, wetting agents help draw in water and retain moisture in the soil, where the turf can slurp it up into its root system. These products are easy to apply and readily available at home and garden stores.

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4. Go easy on the grass

Just as you shouldn’t kick a person when they’re down, you shouldn’t punish grass when it’s struggling. Keep the kids off it. Don’t walk on it yourself.

And hold off on the mowing, especially during the heat of the day. Wait until the temperatures cool off and the turf rebounds before you resume grooming. And even then, consider shifting to a higher cut until the grass has fully recovered.

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Our focus is sprinkler systems.

Fairways have them. Front lawns, too. And while these systems vary in their scale and sophistication, they often fall prey to similar problems.

Terry Buchen, a retired superintendent and a 54-year member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, remains active in the industry as a consultant.

We asked him about common irrigation glitches and hiccups, and what supers and homeowners can do about them.

1. Old age

Nothing lasts forever. The average lifespan for a golf-course irrigation system is 8 to 10 years in warm climates, and 10 to 12 years in colder climates and transition zones, Buchen says. Home systems, which tend to be less sophisticated, have slightly shorter lifespans.

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While there’s no way to stop the indignities of aging, it’s worth keeping watch. Most courses have anywhere from 800 to 2,000 sprinkler heads. At clubs with healthy budgets, full-time irrigation techs inspect those sprinkler heads roughly once a week, Buchen says.

No homeowner in their right mind is apt to keep up that kind of inspection schedule. But it’s a good idea to pay attention to how your sprinkler heads are performing. An ounce of prevention can spare you more costly repairs down the line.

2. Arc out of whack

Watering a sidewalk or a cart path is a waste. When these things happen, a mechanical problem is often to blame. At courses, most sprinkler heads operate on gear-driven arcs that are adjustable up to 360 degrees. Home systems commonly rely on pop-up sprinkler heads with pre-set arcs. In either case, the arcs can go out of whack.

The problem might be old-fashioned wear and tear, in which case the sprinkler head will need to be replaced. But it’s also possible that something is clogged or jammed, and you might be able to fix the problem yourself.

“First things first, I’d see if you can make it a DIY job,” Buchen says. “You can learn how to fix almost anything on YouTube.”

If that fails, call a pro. You can find plenty of them online, too.

3. Heads won’t pop up

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Here, again, it might be that the sprinkler head has bit the dust and needs to be replaced. But it’s also possible the system has been jammed by grass, dirt or other debris.

This is easy enough to check, Buchen says. Simply unscrew the sprinkler head and check the nozzle. If it’s clogged, try cleaning it out with a paper clip. Just below the nozzle is a fine-mesh screen, designed to catch gunk. These screens can get clogged, too. But they’re a hassle to clean, Buchen says. And since they’re relatively inexpensive to replace, you’re often better off just buying new ones.

At home, Buchen replaces those screens every two years.

4. Freezer damage

In cold climates where temperatures drop low enough for water to freeze, irrigation systems need to be emptied before winter. Otherwise, all havoc can break loose in the form of burst pipes, busted sprinkler heads and more.

Superintendents use powerful compressors to flush their irrigation systems before winter. Homeowners in cold climates should do the same. If you’re handy and confident, you can do this on your own. But don’t feel obliged. Buchen, who lives in Boise, Idaho, outsources the job.

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The post 4 eye-catching grass types that will make your yard really pop, according to a superintendent appeared first on Golf.

The post 4 eye-catching grass types that will make your yard really pop, according to a superintendent appeared first on Golf.

These are names most golfers recognize because they are turf grasses — good for fairways, greens and lawns.

But the world of grass is vast and varied, extending far beyond the stuff we mow and water to impress our neighbors, and to keep our putts running fast and pure.

The world of grass also includes “ornamental grasses,” and as the term suggests, their main purpose isn’t playability.

Lifestyle

It’s visual appeal.

Many of these grasses are hardy and low-maintenance, requiring little effort to keep them looking good. They also come in a wonderland of sizes, colors and textures.

David Phipps is a former superintendent who now serves as Northwest regional representative for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

Here are 4 grass types that he says work as beautifully in yards as they do on courses — unless you’re hoping for a perfect lie.

Japanese Forest Grass

Lime-green in color, like some ‘70s slacks, this elegant grass is the rare ornamental that thrives in the shade. Slow-growing and non-invasive, with slender leaves, it maxes out at a height of around 2 feet, making for pretty ground cover that knows its place. It’s best planted in the cool of fall, not the heat of summer.

Pampas Grass

Tall and striking, Pampas grass gives rise to a silvery-white plumes that call to mind the hue and texture of John Daly’s beard. Like a lot of ornamentals, it grows easily, which is plus, provided that you don’t let it get out of control.

Big Bluestem

Often thought of as a prairie grass, bluestem has a wider range than that, extending across the eastern two thirds of the United States. With its purplish tint, it is easy on the eyes, but its fibrous texture can make it tough if you’re hunting for your ProV1.

Blue Fescue

Not to be confused with the fine fescue of the links, this azure-tinged bunch grass is not the sort of plant you’d want to whack a ball from. Though it can survive in the shade, it thrives in sun-splashed conditions, where it produces pale yellow flowers that contrast sweetly with its blueish leaves. No wonder it makes for popular landscaping around courses and homes alike.

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