Turf Management Wimbledon Style

On October 8th, I traveled up to the Longwood Cricket Club with Dr. Noel Jackson to participate in day 2 of a conference on the Construction and Maintenance of Grass Tennis Courts hosted by Michael Buras. On the 7th about 45 people attended from around the northeast, as far away as Philadelphia, to be taught by Mary Owen (UMass Extension) on Organics, Dr. Michelle DaCosta (UMass Amherst) on Plant Physiology & Water Management and Dr. Jason Henderson on Tennis Court Soils. On Friday, the 8th, the spotlight speaker was Neil Stubley (center of picture), Senior Groundsman, for the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, better known throughout the world as Wimbledon. Mike was the wrap-up speaker, explaining the some of the successful techniques used at Longwood that allow for great playing conditions yearly.

At first look, grass courts mostly resemble high quality fairways to the average golf course superintendent, but as you get up close and with a better idea of what the players are looking for you find some great differences. There is no arguing that Wimbledon courts are as famous and intensely treated as any of Augusta Greens. But there are some significant differences. Neil identified for the audience that all Wimbledon grass is ryegrass! Shocked?! Over the years, tests have been constantly performed to count the court grass species, and results determined that 99% of the grass counts ended up being ryegrass after a year of management and tournament preparations. Even though various bentgrasses and fescues were sown with the ryegrass. So, the common sense approach was to switch all courts to ryegrass. And that they do. As I mentioned, they don't like thatch. So, Neil, and the Wimbledon have guaranteed a zero thatch, 100% monocultural playing surface with zero Poa ready for each tournament.

A bit of a shock to me was the statement Neil made that most grass on the courts at Wimbledon don't see their 1st birthday! Meaning, that all grass is stripped yearly and resown starting just days after the final day of the tournament. Total renovation! They seem to have it down to a science using the Koro sod stripper, sweepers, lutes, custom designed floats, and with a heavy seeding rate of approx. 10 lbs/1000 ft2, covers, controlled moisture and timely fertilization it all comes together. Grading is flat with no pitch and is what the players want. Combining the best growing weather conditions for ryegrass even right through the winter with very low disease pressure it all seems to work. It is impressive especially when you consider their success.

Another interesting fact is that the soils beneath the courts are 23% clay. This sounds like a nightmare to those managing putting greens with a 8" percolation rate/hr. Unfortunately, I bet a lot of putting greens out there might make a better tennis court! You might be thinking Wimbledon must have a secret vacuum system to take the water off each court! During the tournament most of the manpower is waiting to spring into action in case of rain. Center court now has a roof they can close. But before that, each court has special tarps that court volunteers pull over the court and inflate in seconds. The tarps have doors in them so they can do their maintenance as they wait for the rain to subside. Unlike the USGA, the clay content may have to be moisten to allow the courts to firm naturally and are kept moist enough so they won't crack due to extreme lack of moisture. Rollers are hardly used at all, as the clay gives the players the bounce they are looking for. It is all fascinating and expensive as the members of the club sacrifice lots of court time on many of the courts.

Comparing Wimbledon to the best lawn tennis club I know, Longwood, management is much different. Longwood is predominately poa annua with some creeping bentgrass in some of the less trafficked areas. As explained to me, that these courts have been there 100 years and the membership likes the grass that has always been there. They over-seed periodically using plugs or seed from their natural seed bank that has been prepared over the last 100 years. They have done this by doing nothing and letting the courts come back on their own. Soils are lighter, and not perfectly flat, but flat enough to be sufficient for great play and an occasional professional tourney. The courts are healthy and meticulously maintained and managed. I can't imagine anything better, can you?!

We've learn a lot from places like Wimbledon and Augusta National and enjoy seeing the sport's ultimate management capabilities. It costs aren't cheap both emotionally and financially on your members, family, etc. Did I mention that Wimbledon also owns a golf course. Neil made a remark I do not agree with....saying, "the only useful purpose of the course is to park cars on during the tournament." Now that was just wrong!