ON ZONE
ILL KEENE , SUPERINTENDENT at Blacksburg Country Club for the last 13 years , likes to say that Virginia is “ a great place to grow grass , but not a great place to grow a particular kind of grass .”
As a result at his golf course , “ We ’ re just a hodgepodge , a little bit of everything . Our range and practice areas are warm-season grasses , pretty much Bermuda . We converted them from cool-season grasses that just got too torn up . The golf course itself is a little bit of everything — rye , blue and bentgrass . Our greens are a bentgrass and poa annua , all cool-season grasses .”
“ Then you can go to a course in Roanoke , 30 miles away , and it can be a whole different ball game . It ’ s whatever works best for where you are .”
Clearly , Virginia is unique as a transition zone for grasses . For golf superintendents north and south , east and west , on the coast , in the mountains or by rivers , it ’ s definitely a challenge to choose the right grass for their courses .
The greens at Williamsburg Golf Club are cool-weather bentgrass .
CHRIS LANG
BENEFITS OF BERMUDA In Florida , as one example , it ’ s not quite the same problem , where Bermudagrass is predominate because it ’ s so hot and humid virtually all year round . It ’ s a durable , drought-tolerant , warm-season turf that ’ s prevalent across the South . And when it ’ s tightly mown , Bermuda provides a beautifully firm , fast and true surface .
Jeff Whitmire , superintendent at Williamsburg Golf Club since 1997 , likes to joke that , “ We can grow everything , just nothing well .”
That ’ s clearly an exaggeration considering the gorgeous condition of his golf course , which uses warm-season Bermuda on both fairways and the rough , and warm-season zoysia for his tee boxes . The greens are cool-weather bentgrass , vsga . org M AY / J UNE 2023 | V IRGINIA G OLFER
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