Rock and roll

By Alistair December 3, 2024 09:55

Paul Larsen, the head greenkeeper of Royal St George’s in Kent, was referred to as a ‘rock star’ in the press, because of his love of music, when the links hosted the 2021 Open Championship. Here, he talks about one of his other passions – rolling.

Paul, you’re known for championing sustainability in the industry and your love of rock music. As the ‘Robert Smith of the links,’ do you enjoy rolling as much as you enjoy good rock music?

Home life and listening to music will always take precedence, but when I’m in work mode, rolling is something that I actually enjoy because it’s such a benefit to the golf course. Rolling should be an important part of our arsenal [as greenkeepers]. I don’t listen to music while I’m operating machinery though!

How did incorporating rolling into your greenkeeping routine change your approach to course maintenance? Has it been ‘The Cure’ for any specific challenges you’ve faced?

A few years ago I did a lot of trials with Dr Nikolai [senior turfgrass academic specialist based at Michigan State University], and we found that the greens could be faster if you alternate between cutting and rolling every day. All the research work I’ve ever done has been with Tru-Turf rollers. I’ve always liked them best because they’re medium lightweight and don’t create problems with compaction. If ever I’ve bought a roller it’s always been a Tru-Turf because the quality is so good.

People automatically assume that rolling won’t be as effective as cutting or they’re nervous to cut less, but I’ve been consulting on a course this year and we’ve alternated and been above nine on the stimp every day. On courses with a lower budget the mowers tend to be old and less effective, so rolling takes the pressure off mowing every day and it’s definitely changed our outlook. Not having to deal with so many clippings has got to be a plus and it’s much quicker to roll than cut.

At Royal St George’s, you’ve pursued your ‘nirvana’ of raising the height of cut while still achieving optimal green performance. What made this an important goal, and how has it shaped your daily maintenance practices?

This year we’ve kept it at 5mm at all the courses I’ve consulted on, and that’s really helped with the health of the grass. I’ve had no dollar spot or any disease to speak of, and I haven’t sprayed a fungicide. To not have to spray in the warm, wet weather we’ve had is a big deal. We had a fair bit of dollar spot on some of our fairways and even tees this summer, but nothing where we roll.

There’s a lot of focus on speed in rolling, but in ‘Tru-Turf’s Rolling Masterclass’, experts like Thomas Nikolai suggest that smoothness and trueness should be the real goals. What would you say to those who still chase speed?

Using the right methods, including rolling, you can get smoothness and the best speeds, but moisture control is so important for both. The speeds will come when you get everything right. For today’s market, anything under an eight on the stimp is probably not good enough and nine is probably the aim for a normal golf course. The goal with a fescue bent green should be consistency all year round and not just chasing speed for two or three months a year. I think we should be trying to set a realistic green speed as an industry.

How have you seen rolling impact the overall health of the turf? For instance, how has it benefited your mowing programs, plant health, and disease management?

For an average course, cutting one day and rolling the next is a brilliant method of maintenance and leads to less use of fungicides, which are so expensive, and minimal water input. I hardly need to verticut then, which is good because it stresses the turf out. I think ‘non disturbance’ theory is going to come back into fashion, especially at smaller clubs.

Recently, I saw lots of worm casts on one of the par three tees, so I tried rolling half of it to see if it had any effect because I had seen the rolling of greens knock back worm casts before. I rolled one side and not the other for two weeks and I definitely noticed fewer worm casts on the rolled side than the non-rolled side. The rolled side also seemed like it had been cut as it actually looked shorter than the cut side. I’m going to carry on rolling twice a week later in the year [the interview was conducted in the middle of autumn] just to test the effects of rolling continuously there.

Watch this space!

Looking ahead, where do you see rolling fitting into the future of sustainable golf course management? What role do you think it will play in creating a greener future?

I think in future we’ll see the rolling of fairways, as they do in America, and maybe tees too. I must stress I’ve been working on fescue bent greens, not poa greens. There is a question about whether poa greens are sustainable and whether people will have to convert to bent greens. It would be useful to see if it’s possible to do the same on a pure poa green. We might need to raise the cut, which would definitely lower nitrogen input into the soil.