Help For Muddy Natural Tees?

[Jimb]

Hello. Just looking to see if anyone has any experience or ideas with this issue.

On a course with natural/grass tees, the tees are fine during the months when the grass is nice and thick. However, with the grass in its current state, the ground is getting loose and muddy. Not soaking wet mud puddles or anything. Just had footing muddy. When the ground dries out, and the grass is back, it should be fine.

I cannot install any sort of tees, so no concrete, no rubber, no pavers, etc.

So to supplement the current, dirt/mud situation, do you think that just adding some wood chips/mulch would help? I'm talking a light coating and not fully mulch tees. I thought about gravel but don't want it to affect maintenance/mowing this coming year. The mulch will decompose and hopefully not affect the tees this coming year.

Thoughts? Thanks.

 

[gogo]

Have you tried moving the tees slightly to allow the muddy tee to dry? While the tee area is moved you could possibly seed with fescue or rye grass until warmer weather returns and the warm season grass takes over.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

I hate muddy, sloppy, natural tees myself. Mulch/wood chips was my first thought, too.

I suppose teeing from either side of the established box might allow the grass to recover (assuming it grows at all this time of year in WV).

 

[Jimb]

Moving around on the tee areas, forward and back + side to side is what I've been doing. I appreciate the input. That's obviously the simplest option and it's been working ok. And I'm not yet worried about Spring. I'll wait to see what happens for now. Then maybe test mulch on a couple.

Thanks folks.

 

[Timber]

If the grass is normally thick and healthy in the summer, you may consider light additions of #57 bluestone gravel during the growth season. By light I mean a 5 gallon bucket or less broadcast evenly and lightly by hand over the entire variable teeing area and worked or walked into the grass until it is barely noticeable. If it is still visible a week later, you put too much. This should allow the grass to grow in the summer while improving drainage and soil structure in non growing seasons. Mulch may still be required but remember that decayed mulch with no drainage usually equals mud the next year.

 

[DagG]

Our local park district course tried to resolve the muddy tees issue with mulch a number of years back. Mulch/wood chips aren't well suited to active use areas and tend to spread. Each year the 'tee' would grow as a combined result of people teeing from the surface or teeing off to the side because they didn't care for the unstable nature of the surface. Towards the end, some of the mulched tee areas were as much as 15' wide by 20'+ long. This, combined with several injuries directly related to the nature of of the tee surface, led to the installation of concrete tees.

 

[Jimb]

Thank you Timber and DagG. Glad I posted this thread. This is the exact kind of info I was looking for. :hfive:

 

[brutalbrutus]

If you do just decide to use gravel or mulch, look into the recycled tire mulch.

 

[biscoe]

IMO moving them around a bit is your best bet if you don't intend to kill the grass.

 

[kenjiac]

Why can't you install tees? We have used carpet at a local course has been holding up pretty well for 10 years. We used them for the original blue tees then installed pavers and moved the carpets to the short white tees. Ocassionally have had to replace a couple when an edge gets frayed or the mower catches it and tears it up. If the course is a municipality go with the safety angle of having a better teeing surface.