Community - GolfBusiness

have converted their greens to an
ultradwarf in recent years sweat bullets
anymore worrying if their greens
are going to survive into September.
But the key word in all of this is
“offering.” Increasingly, operators are
learning that these grasses don’t give up
their best automatically, or even readily.
“Plant genetics will give you about 20
percent of what you need,” says Chris
Hartwiger, senior agronomist with the
USGA Green Section’s Southeast region.
“The other 80 percent still rests in the
hands of the superintendent.”
In that sense, converting to an
ultradwarf is a bit like getting the
same clubs as Tiger Woods—a wasted
exercise if you don’t have some
game to make the most of it.
Any operator who thinks simply
buying the right “equipment” will solve
everything is in for a rude, and potentially
costly, awakening. The ultradwarfs
take work, skill and resources
just as bentgrass does, albeit in different
ways. And they have their own
challenges. So much so that Clemson
University turf specialist Dr. Bert Mc-
Carty repeatedly tells inquiring
superintendents that the ultradwarfs
present less of a panacea
than they do a chance to “pick
your poison.”
North Carolina State University
crop science professor Grady
Miller is similarly moderating in
the face of all the enthusiasm
surrounding the ultradwarfs.
He gives one talk titled: “So
You Think You Want Bermudagrass”
It’s not that he or McCarty
are down on the ultradwarfs
in any way; it’s more that, like
Hartwiger, they want to be sure
that expectations are realistic.
No ultradwarf amounts to a silver
bullet. “Not by any stretch of
the imagination,” Miller says.
S
o why are so many
courses across the
Southeast making the
switch In a nutshell, because
the new generation of ultradwarfs
can provide a putting quality
comparable to bentgrass
while taking the risk of catastrophic
turf loss—at least in
summer—clear off the table.
More than any other factor,
that’s what has superintendents
whistling through July and August.
They know they won’t lose
their greens (or their jobs) to
heat and humidity, and owners are
free to host as many golfers as they
can muster.
Course operators are also attracted
by the short turnaround time that
no-till conversions allow. Killing off
the bentgrass and sprigging straight
on top with an ultradwarf can see a
course back in play in as little as 50
days. Last year, Sedgefield Country
Club, in Greensboro, North Carolina,
hosted the PGA Tour’s Wyndham
Championship just 90 days after closing
for a no-till conversion. Making