Arnold Palmer Course Update

We have different types of turf grasses on our golf courses, and we aerify and overseed over different date ranges to spread out the course closures for our Members and Guests. With temperatures and Mother Nature impacting the courses differently during these transition periods (warm season grass to cool season grass and back to warm (which is where we are currently)), and the holes nearest to the mountains that get less sun, we are bound to have some turf transition issues now and then. We would prefer to be as aggressive as we can to ensure for a successful overseeding of our courses in the fall as that is when most Members are here to enjoy the courses. Occasionally, that aggressive approach - along with the uncontrollable weather impacts (frosts, high temps, high wind, irrigation issues, etc.) leads to some turf loss setbacks during this transition period. You may see some patches in the fairways where Bermuda grass is reestablishing itself as the prominent turf, and on the greens as the rye grass and Poa Triv overseed grasses die off as the temperatures increase. We would rather have these problems now than in the fall and winter.

Our transition on the Palmer has seen more problems this summer than the other courses. The triple digit temperatures during the aerification's first few days of closure caused our ryegrass in several areas of fairways and some tees to die. Because of the density of the ryegrass there was not much Bermudagrass to fill in. For the past 2 weeks we have been watering these areas with fine mist sprinklers to keep them damp to promote the growth of the Bermudagrass.

Several of our greens at the Palmer are not ready for play coming out of the first aeration period - they are lacking the Bermudagrass coverage that we would like to see. We were originally planning on closing the Palmer Course on July 11th for its second aerification, and reopening on July 22nd, but to allow the staff to promote the growth back on the greens, the Palmer Course will remain closed - and will reopen on Friday, July 22nd.

Thank you for your understanding as we work toward full recovery through our turf transition period. We are confident that the Palmer will be back in its usual summer shape by the end of July. And we continue to plan and prepare for our scheduled fall overseeding periods to ensure the courses are in beautiful shape for our "season."

We hope you are off to a great summer and we look forward to seeing you back out on the links!


John Cochrane           Jon D. Maddern, CGCS
General Manager      Director of Agronomy

The Club at PGA WEST  |  55-955 PGA Blvd  |  La Quinta, CA 92253  |  (760) 564-7111