One of Nation’s Top Turf Painters Shares Endurant Turf Painting Tips
Full interview with Jason Sanderson, Golf Course Superintendent Knoxville, Tennessee
Across the nation, and even the world, a few people have taken the simplicity of painting grass and turned it into an art. Among these master painters of turf is Jason Sanderson, golf course superintendent of
Cherokee Country Club in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Painting turf grass to conserve water, seed and chemical usage is increasingly common. Also, painting grass to improve the game and aesthetics of a golf course continues to draw users to the top-rated colorant on the market,
Endurant turf paint.
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Cherokee Country Club looks gorgeous year round as Golf Course Superintendent Jason Sanderson uses Endurant turf paint to get winter wow factor, color that pops and to avoid transition challenges.[/caption]
Using Endurant turf colorants as directed is easy and leads to success. Still, some users of Endurant have found ways to make the colorant fit their needs to a T.
In fact, the first area of the golf course that Sanderson ever painted were his tees. Often, golfers and members didn’t know they were painted and instead thought they were overseeded.
“Then someone noted how good the tees looked and asked, ‘well, why can’t we paint the whole golf course?’ ...So, we gave it a try,” recalled Sanderson.
That was 2010 and he’s been painting the course ever since.
About Cherokee Country Club
Cherokee Country Club is the oldest club in Knoxville, founded in 1907. It’s a Donald Ross links style golf course. It’s a small property of only about 90 acres. It’s a par 70, and rated one of the
best courses in the area.
About Jason Sanderson
Having worked more than 20 years on the Cherokee Country Club property,
Jason Sanderson was the assistant golf course superintendent for six years and has been superintendent for 16 years.
About Endurant Turf Paint
Endurant turf paint is celebrating its 10
th Anniversary and Sanderson is celebrating his 10
th year painting grass, having tried almost every turfgrass colorant, paint and pigment on the market over the course of those years.
Endurant was launched by Geoponics in 2010 with one paint colorant, Endurant TC; then added a pigment, Endurant TE, for actively growing grass, before adding different shades of green formulated for the best coordination of various turfgrass species.
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Implementing art and science, Superintendent Jason Sanderson masterfully applies Endurant turf colorant during a winter frost in Knoxville, Tennessee getting one of the best looking courses year-round[/caption]
Sanderson Creates His Own Painting Process
The first year Sanderson used grass paint was as an alternative to overseed.
“I overseeded some tees for a few years with limited success. I really didn’t like the transition to the Bermuda grass in the summer. In June, our tees were terrible,” Sanderson said.
He tried six to seven different paints before deciding Endurant turf colorant was the best choice.
“Some paints are too thick. They’re difficult on equipment, on the sprayers and trying to get them clean as they caked up was a problem. The biggest problem though was fading and fading to blue. We put it down green and then it faded to blue and looked terrible,” Sanderson said of other brands.
The best thing about Endurant is the natural-looking color and its lasting properties-- it's called Endurant for a reason. The color endures.
“The Reasons I Do Things the Way I Do:”
1. It’s a lot of money we spend; it’s someone else’s money; and, if we’re going to spend that money, it’s got to be right.
2. I’m a tinkerer by nature. I like to get things right and just the way that I like them.
3. I went to a
USGA seminar with Rob Vaughan in Atlanta and I had just started using the Endurant the year before. (Read about turf painting as recommended by the USGA
here with the “One and Done” Spraying Method and in other workshops on USGA.org.
Tees Lead to Fairways to Heaven, and Beyond
“I wanted to start spraying more than tees,” said Sanderson.
Not only did he try different paint brands, he also tried different approaches, including varying water volumes, gallons per acre, different nozzles and different speeds.
“One fairway had 16 gallons per acre on it,” he exclaimed.
“I was trying to figure out the way it looked best for us and the way we could still get it done in a timely manner,” said Sanderson.
As a private course that’s closed on Monday, Monday became paint day. On the first experimental application of turf colorant on the entire course, of the 18 fairways, Sanderson said four looked gorgeous, 10 looked great and the other 4 looked okay.
“Those fairways that looked great in December when we first painted them, still looked phenomenal in March,” said Sanderson.
So, the club decided to continue doing what worked best, and apply Endurant to the whole course going forward.
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On a foggy day in Knoxville, Tennessee, it's still plain to see that Jason Sanderson has mastered the art of painting turf implementing agronomic science to avoid the litany of challenges caused by overseed by instead using Endurant.[/caption]
Perfect Paint Job
Sanderson recommends beginning with using the product per product guidelines as a starting point. Then, in time, users may find ways to tweak the usage to suit their specific goals even more, depending on their priorities and conditions.
“You can do what I do, and it will look great, but it might not be exactly what you want,” said Sanderson. “Everyone’s golf course is a little different. Everyone’s Bermuda is a little different color,” he added.
What works at Cherokee Country Club:
- Brand: Endurant by
Geoponics
- Color:
Endurant FW
- Rate: 8 gallons per acre
- Application: Two applications at 4 gallons per acre each; one in each direction
- Nozzles: Dual fan nozzles (rather than flat fan nozzles)
- Conditions: Frost on grass blades, if possible
Although Sanderson understands the attraction of the “one and done” method, he has a preference for layered applications. Optimally, he applies two applications, one in each direction, for a richer color, ideal coverage and longevity, reporting painting in December that still looks great in March.
Perfect Play: Increased Playability
Overseed never worked on the golf course, Sanderson said.
It led to soft and slow conditions-- the opposite of ideal.
"It’s hard in the winter to get it to play hard and fast. With overseed, it’s impossible. With Endurant, the playability is great. We’re on an all-Bermuda golf course,” said Sanderson
Endurant increases aesthetic appeal, contrast and definition, he adds.
Without paint, the golf course is entirely brown.
“The Endurant really makes the golf course pop,” he said. "In a field where we're constantly trying to one up each other, the Endurant really set us apart."
