What grass species would you recommend for golf course fairways with good drought and disease resistance?
Hi everyone,
I’m looking into ways of improving the turf on our golf course fairways and I’d really like to hear about the practical experience of other turf professionals and greenkeepers.
What grass species or mixtures do you normally use or recommend for fairways — for example Poa annua, perennial ryegrass, fine fescues, Bermudagrass, or other species?
I’m particularly interested in grasses with:
- good drought tolerance;
- good resistance to common turf diseases;
- relatively low irrigation requirements;
- low fertiliser requirements;
- good recovery from traffic and divots;
- good playing quality;
- good adaptation to golf course fairway conditions.
I’m also interested in how you establish or overseed these grasses while minimising soil disturbance and disruption to play.
For example, do you normally use:
- slit seeding;
- direct drilling;
- aeration followed by overseeding;
- overseeding followed by light topdressing;
- or another method?
For some context, the course is located in northern Portugal, with relatively cool and wet winters and increasingly hot and dry summers.
The fairways have not been seeded for more than 20 years and have never really had a defined seeding programme. At the moment, the turf cover is very heterogeneous and is largely made up of naturally occurring vegetation and different weed species.
The intention is to start improving these areas gradually and maintain the fairways at a cutting height of approximately 20 mm, with mowing twice per week.
The aim is not to completely renovate all the fairways at once, but rather to understand the best way to gradually introduce more suitable turfgrass species, while minimising soil disturbance, costs and disruption to play.
I’d like to know which grass species or mixtures, seeding rates, equipment and establishment methods have worked best in your experience, especially on courses with hot, dry summers where reducing irrigation, fertiliser inputs and overall maintenance requirements is important.
Thanks in advance for any advice or experience you can share.