Golf Tees Fertiliser Applications

Fertiliser requirements will relate to species composition, usage, soil type, and if clippings are regularly removed, or let fly.

Tees dominated with perennial ryegrass will typically need higher nutrient inputs than those dominated by fescue and bents.

Soil based tees will require less inputs than specially constructed high sand specification tees.

As a general guide soil-based tees might require 80 – 160 kg/N/ha per year, whilst for mainly sand based rootzones this might be 200-240 kg/N/ha per year, (Lawson, D.M (1996) ‘Fertilisers for Turf’, STRI, p.35). The quantity of N applied per application might vary from 20kg/ha to 40kg/ha.

Fescue-bent swards, especially with relatively low usage will be at or towards, or even below (especially if a ‘purist’ approach to greenkeeping is being implemented), the low end of applications rates, whilst perennial ryegrass swards will be towards the high end.

A first application might be from mid-March to mid-April, whilst a final application might be the end of August to the end of September. Two applications would normally be considered the minimum, whilst up to 8 applications might be appropriate for a more spoon-feeding type of approach on sand dominated tees with perennial ryegrass as the main turfgrass species.