If you've been out playing recently, you've probably noticed that portions of our golf courses aren't transitioning as smoothly as they typically do this time of year. We've received a number of questions regarding course conditions, and we wanted to take a few minutes to explain what has happened this season, what we're doing, and what you can expect over the coming weeks.

Before discussing this year's transition, it helps to understand the type of turfgrass we have at Westbrook Golf Club.

The Vistas and Lakes Courses feature Common Bermudagrass, a turf variety that has served the club well for many years. While it has provided excellent playing conditions over the years, Common Bermudagrass is slower to recover during spring transition than many of today's improved bermudagrass varieties.

In fact, one of the primary reasons golf courses throughout Arizona and across the southern United States are converting to newer bermudagrass varieties is to improve spring transition, increase turf density, recover more quickly from stress, and reduce water consumption. The United States Golf Association (USGA) recently published an excellent article discussing this topic.

The short answer is that this has been one of the most unusual transition seasons we've experienced in recent years and it hasn't been unique to Westbrook Golf Club. Many golf courses throughout the Valley have experienced similar challenges due to an unusually unpredictable weather pattern this spring and early summer.

If you're interested in learning more about why golf courses across the country are upgrading to newer bermudagrass varieties, the USGA recently published an excellent article that explains the advantages of modern bermudagrass and why many facilities are making the transition.

What Is Summer Transition?

Each fall, we overseed our golf courses with perennial ryegrass to provide the lush, green playing conditions everyone enjoys throughout the winter when bermudagrass will not grow. As temperatures begin warming in the spring, that ryegrass must gradually be removed so the underlying bermudagrass can emerge and take over for the summer and create a solid base for the next overseed.

This process is known as summer transition, and under normal conditions it is a slow, carefully managed process that begins in late February and continues through May.

Our goal is never to remove the ryegrass as quickly as possible. Instead, we gradually reduce it over several months, allowing the bermudagrass to establish beneath it. When the weather cooperates, the transition is relatively seamless and playing conditions remain consistent throughout the spring.

Why This Year Has Been Different

This year, the weather simply did not cooperate.

In early March, we experienced temperatures exceeding 107 degrees, something we have never seen that early in the year. Those temperatures arrived during one of the busiest periods of our golf season, when member play and overall rounds are at their highest.

Under those conditions, the ryegrass began to basically die out. Had we continued with our normal transition program, the ryegrass would have disappeared before the bermudagrass was even close to fill in, resulting in widespread thin and completely bare areas during the peak of our member season, conditions that would have been considerably worse than what you are seeing today.

Because of that, we had to stop the transition process to preserve as much healthy turf as possible during March and April. This delayed our overall transition schedule and basically reversed it. Then temperatures cooled significantly. Those cooler conditions slowed bermudagrass from waking up, while allowing the ryegrass to continue growing, delaying the transition even further.

In June, temperatures increased again and humidity began to build, conditions that normally encourage bermudagrass growth. At that point, we needed to accelerate our transition program because the ryegrass must be removed to give the bermudagrass enough time to fully establish before preparations begin for October's overseeding season.

Unfortunately, temperatures cooled once again after an aggressive sprayout. Nighttime temperatures dropped back into the 70s, and while those temperatures may feel pleasant to us, they are not ideal for bermudagrass. Bermudagrass performs best when both daytime and nighttime temperatures remain consistently warm with nighttime temperatures above 80 degrees. Those cooler nights and lack of humidity slowed its growth once again and delayed its ability to fill in the areas where the ryegrass had been removed.

Simply put, the weather never remained consistent long enough for either grass to do what it naturally wants to do. Courses that did not overseed or have newer bermudagrass varieties have generally experienced fewer challenges than courses like ours that rely on a gradual transition to maintain quality playing conditions throughout our busiest season.

What Are We Doing?

Our Golf Course Grounds Team continues to monitor conditions daily and adjust our maintenance practices based on the weather.

That includes carefully managing irrigation, fertility, mowing practices, and cart traffic to encourage healthy bermudagrass growth while minimizing additional stress on the turf.

Members may also notice that some areas are being maintained a little wetter than normal. This is unfortunately needed and intentional. Common Bermudagrass responds best when adequate soil moisture is maintained during transition, and with humidity remaining lower than normal for much of the summer, maintaining additional moisture helps create an environment that encourages bermudagrass recovery.

Transition is one of the most challenging aspects of golf course maintenance because every decision involves balancing today's playing conditions with the long-term health of the turf. Looking back, there will always be things we might adjust with the benefit of hindsight. However, based on the weather conditions we experienced throughout the spring, we believe the decisions made were in the best interest of preserving the golf course during our busiest season while positioning us for a successful summer recovery.

The encouraging news is that bermudagrass is an incredibly resilient turf. Once we begin experiencing consistently warm days and, more importantly, warm nights, it will become much more aggressive and rapidly fill in the areas that are currently thin.

While conditions may be a little rough in places today, we fully expect continued improvement as we move through the heart of the summer growing season.

Investing in the Future

Many members have asked about the club's long-term plans, and we're excited to share that significant improvements are already underway.

Following completion of the new Vistas irrigation well, Westbrook Golf Club's long-range plan is to begin converting the fairways to Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass, starting with the Vistas Course in the summer of 2028.

Because many golf courses throughout the region are making the same transition, demand for Tahoma 31 sprigs is extremely high. As a result, the earliest we can secure the quantity needed to convert an entire course's fairways is the summer of 2028.

Tahoma 31 is what we have on both our driving range tee. It has demonstrated exceptional turf density, faster recovery from stress, superior drought tolerance, improved wear characteristics, and significantly lower water requirements than older bermudagrass varieties. These improvements will provide better year-round playing conditions while supporting the club's long-term commitment to water conservation and sustainable golf course management.

Rather than waiting until the fairway conversion begins, we're already introducing Tahoma 31 through smaller improvement projects whenever opportunities arise.

A great example is the work currently taking place on Hole #6 at the Vistas. While the new irrigation well is being constructed, we're also rebuilding the teeing grounds on #6 into modern island-style desert tee complexes and converting those tee boxes to Tahoma 31. This project will create a cleaner, more attractive entrance to the hole, modernize the irrigation system serving the tee complex, and significantly reduce water usage in that area.

These smaller projects allow us to continually improve our golf courses while working toward our long-term vision one project at a time.

Vistas Well Project Update

We are also pleased to share that drilling on the new Vistas irrigation well officially began this week.

The first phase of the project involves drilling a 1,000-foot pilot hole, which is expected to take approximately two weeks. Once that work is complete, they will reem the bore to 20 inches before installing the permanent casing and well screen.

If everything continues according to schedule, we anticipate the well being completed during the first week of August.

This project represents one of the most significant infrastructure investments the club has made in many years. It will improve the long-term reliability of our irrigation system while serving as the foundation for future turfgrass improvements.

Thank You

Everyone at Westbrook Golf Club takes tremendous pride in the condition of our golf courses. We know the courses are not currently at the standard our members expect, and we share those same expectations.

This year's transition has simply been the result of an exceptionally unusual sequence of weather events that challenged every golf course superintendent in the Valley. While we cannot control the weather, we can continue making sound agronomic decisions that protect the long-term health of our golf courses.

The good news is that the bermudagrass is healthy, the long-range forecast is becoming more favorable, and we expect the golf courses to continue improving throughout the remainder of the summer.

Thank you for your patience, understanding, and continued support of Westbrook Golf Club.