PUTTING GREENS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22260, 7 November 1935, Page 17

PUTTING GREENS

QUALITY OF TURF "MOST DISAPPOINTING" OVERSEAS EXPERT'S VIEW „ HINTS FOR IMPROVEMENT "In New Zealand, the home of grasses, the quality of the turf on the putting greens of golf courses is most disappointing, due simply to lack of knowledge in greenkeeping and of the selective use of fertilisers," said Dr. C. M. Murray, of Capetown, an authority on turf culture, when interviewed in Auckland yesterday. In pointing out that turf culture was a thing entirely different from pasture growing, he said putting greens in New Zealand at present resembled pasture. Dr. Murray said he had seen the experimental plots at the greenkeeping research station on the golf course at Palmerston North. Good work was being done there and should lead to a great improvement in the near future. Golfers should watch the reports from the station and be guided by them. Dr. Murray, who recently retired from his medical practice in Capetown,

has published a work on greenkeeping in South Africa. During the Great War he served as second in command of the Ist South African Field Ambulance in France, being mentioned in despatches and awarded the D.5.0.. He represented the Medical Association of South

Africa at the recent conference of the British Medical Association in Melbourne, and then came to New Zealand to visit Captain A. G. W. Heber-Percy, military A.D.C. to the GovernorGeneral, Viscount Galway. While in Wellington ho was the guest of Their Excellencies at Government House. Dr. Murray said yesterday that in other parts of the world it had been found that, by fertilising in a .suitable way, fine turf grasses could be encouraged and the coarser grasses discouraged, and the turf correspondingly improved. In the case of all the golf courses he had visited in New Zealand he thought there was still a great deal to be done in learning the value of th& various greenkeeping operations—for instance, how damaging it was to use an ordinary roller and how advantageous it was to use a spiked roller. Top-dressing Methods In top-dressing to get good turf it was necessary to do so with compost and fertilisers at least five or six times during the summer. In most cases in New Zealand it was done perhaps only once in the spring and once in the autumn. The important time was the middle of the summer. Another point was the importance of applying fertilisers in a dry state, mixed with compost. In this way the effects of the fertiliser were more prolonged and better for the turf than were the effects of applying the fertliiser in the liquid form. , . • It was interesting to note that latitude 35 degrees south, a line running approximately through the vicinity of Capetown, Sydney and North Auckland, seemed to be the dividing line in the choice of turf grasses. North of this line good turf was made from the couch grasses, and south of the line the choice lay between the fescues and bents. Couch grasses made better turf for putting greens than did the fescues and bents, and were easier to maintain. Fine Pasture Land * Dr. Murray said he was rather impressed with tho possibilities, of good gr«ens at Hamilton and Palmerston North. In Australia good use was being made of New Zealand br.owntop, by using it free from mixture with other seeds, and New Zealand seed formed the basis of most seed mixtures used in England. "I liavo been immensely impressed with the pasture in New Zealand," said Dr. Murray. "I have been interested to meet several farmers who are embarking on intensive fertilisation, and'the country seems eminently suited for it. I thought the sheep, looked very well, but the cattle, which I have only seen when passing along the roads, seemed rather poor. They did not appear as good as one might expect in a country with such good pasture. That, however, may be due to the time of year, ns they have just come through the winter." Dr. Murray, who is the guest of Sir Carriok Robertson, has just spent a few days fishing at Taupo. He said he thoroughly enjoyed the sport which he obtained there and earlier in the Pahiatua district. He will leave by the Wnnganella for Sydney to-morrow on his way back to Capetown.