[John Morrissett]

What is your favorite type of grass for (a) fairways and (b) greens and why?

[Ted_Sturges]

I have always preferred well prepared bermuda turf for a fairway playing surface.  I prefer this over bent because it has more of a thatchy cushion when striking the ball and turf.  I prefer bermuda to zoysia because the zoysia (unless it is very closely mown), is difficult to take divots in and can produce "little flier" lies quite a bit (it can be hard to control the distance one hits the ball on zoysia).I have yet to find a putting surface I prefer to bent.  I never played on the fescue greens Tom Doak originally had at High Pointe, and I have yet to experience them at Sandhills (I hear they are excellent).  For now, my answer is bermuda and bent.

[DBE]

Try putting on zoysia greens in Venezuela.  They will make you long for bermuda or poa.

[Josh_Taylor]

Some of you guys should come down here to Australia and play in the National Sand Green Championships.  It's an experience you wont forget.  Seriously, don't even think about wasting your time to do that.There is actually an art in raking the sand and sump oil greens, its very sneaky.  Rake from your ball towards the hole, pressing down hard at first and then slowly release your pressure as you get closer to the hole.  Essentially this creates an uphill putt every time that is slow around the hole.  The putts will be all straight, so give 'em a firm rap each time, you can't miss!!!!!

[S. Mann]

John,I'll take penncross bent on the fairways and poa on the greens as long as the course is near the coast!

[Dan Herrmann]

fescue, fescue, FESCUE!

I couldn't believe how much I loved playing on the fescue at Pacific Dunes.

[Chris Moore]

The short grass, of course!

In my opinion, zoysia is the worst grass I've ever seen as a playing surface.  It reacts like a sponge to both water and to golf balls, taking away the ground option in most cases.  

The new mini-blade bermuda grasses (tif-eagle, champion, although champion seem to get very thick if not properly managed)  make excellent putting surfaces; they seem to maintain their firmness while providing a roll similar to bent.

I'm not sure what I was playing on (poa?), but the fairways at Royal Troon and Troon Portland were my favorite surfaces.

[Tom_Doak]

Chris:  From what I've heard, you should go see Austin Golf Club before you dismiss zoysia.  The superintendent there, Doug Petersan, has wanted to do zoysia for years, and I'm told they are as tight and firm and dry as anything you'd want to see.  Just goes to show you that sometimes it's the car and sometimes it's the driver.

I'm partial to fescue fairways myself, in part because they can never really be "pure" ... monostands of any grass are just unnatural to me.  But it depends on the climate and the soils and the guy in charge what is the best grass for any particular course.  Having one "boilerplate" spec is what gets you in trouble.

[Wayne_Kozun]

What was the type of grass that Carl Spackler invented in Caddyshack.  That seems the way to go  

This is a hybrid. This is a cross, ah, of Bluegrass, Kentucky Bluegrass, Featherbed Bent, and Northern California Sensemilia. The amazing stuff about this is, that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt that night on this stuff.

[Chris Moore]

Tom:  I'll admit my experience with zoysia is limited to two clubs in Tennessee:  Memphis Country Club and The Legends Club in Franklin, both of which I have played dozens of times.  At each club, walking down the fairway is like walking on a pillowtop mattress.  The problem in both cases is that there are certain approach shots and short-game shots that cry out for a ground attack, but that option is simply taken away by the turf.  So it's grab the sand wedge, flop, and hope one lands in the one-foot circle on the green that will allow one to get the ball close.  

[Lawrence Largent]

I've heard great things about the Champion Bermuda at Memphis Country club. My fav's are a1-a4 on the greens and bent in the fairways or bermuda mowed so close its brown. The Tif eagle greens at Seminole make a great putting surface also.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Chris,
  I love our zoysia-We have it on about 40% of our tees. We have cavalier zoysia-I think that it's as close to bentgrass as a warm season grass can be-tight surface, thinned bladded, has to be mowed tight with great color throughout the year. Some of the best warm season grass fairways I've played off are at The Honors and East Lake-Both Zoysia

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[Norbert P]

 My favorite Greens grasses are the bent/fescue blends at Bandon. They are firm, true, colorful and interestingly unique in texture.

 My favorite fairway grasses are climate appropriate grasses with fescue blends .

  I've heard that the "great canvas of turf" at Ballyneal is Super Double Probation Secret Grasses.  

[Doug Braunsdorf]

Are the Southern Pines-area courses, specifically Tobacco, Pine Needles, and Mid Pines exclusively bermuda?

I don't believe I've ever played on Bermuda before--would someone be as kind as to describe?  

Fairway lies?  

Green texture/feel?

Thanks a million-

DRB

[Brian_Gracely]

Doug,

The greens at those courses are variants of bent.  The fairways are somewhat varied between the courses (especially since Pine Needles was recently redone). but you won't feel alot of different from grasses up North.  The biggest difference is playing from Bermuda in the rough, which both MP and PN have....TR essentially has no rough, just natural areas.  

[Doug Braunsdorf]

Brian-

  What's the difference in feel from the rough?  

[Jim Sweeney]

Do I detect some regional biases here? Do we most enjoy playing on the grasses to which we became accustomed in our youths?

I'll admit to it. Growing up in New Enland, I'm a bent grass guy, particularly on greens. I hate bermuda greens! (I appreciate, however, that bermuda strains for greens are vastly improved over the past ten to fifteen years.)

As for fairways, a good stand of zoysia is always a treat. Its best playability characterisitics are an incrdible lie and quick recovery from divots. Agronomically it seems to do well in the transition zone when cool season grasses suffer in summer heat and humidity, this summer being a perfect example. Dormant zoysia is a great surface, though divots then get to be an issue.

However, I'd like to extol the virutues of rye grass. One course I play near Cincinnati has predominantly rye fairways. They require a higher mowing height, particulairly in the summer. However, they can be very firm and fast, divots will regrow if replaced, and divot holes filled with sand and seed grow in quickly. This summer, the faiways at this course were excellent, while bent courses all around were in real trouble.
(Certainly a tribute to the greenkeeper as well as the grass.)

[Brian_Gracely]

Brian-

  What's the difference in feel from the rough?  

In the fall, the bermuda rough will begin to go dormat and start to thin out....although not much in October, moreso in Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb.  

But think about playing a shot from a really large Brillo pad, where your ball might be sitting on top, in the middle of the pad, or completely beneath it.  

[Jason Topp]

I like to try a variety of grasses.  Growing up in the midwest, I struggled mightily when I first moved to Arizona (25 years ago) and started putting on summer public course bermuda greens.  If your putting stroke is shaky on a 3 foot putt into the grain on old bermuda, you are not going to make the putt.  While I hated it at first, over time, I grew to enjoy the challenge and appreciate what the grass was teaching me about the weaknesses in my game.
(I never did grow to appreciate tough bermuda rough.  I'm just not strong enough).

When I moved back to the midwest, putting suddenly seemed much easier.  If I started a putt on line, it would go in, regardless of whether I hit it solid.  For about a year, it felt like every 10 foot putt was easy.

Now, when I travel to a warm climate (usually in winter), I lament almost never getting to try my hand at grainy greens.   I wish the professionals had to do that more often.

[RJ_Daley]

Old narrow minded me...but site specific for climate and soil;  the dwarf K-bluegrass fairways of Wild Horse, its semi-fescue (although loosing battle to blue grass and poa dominance) surrounds, and bent greens are still the best turf I've played on...

[Brian_Gracely]

Old narrow minded me...but site specific for climate and soil;  the dwarf K-bluegrass fairways of Wild Horse, its semi-fescue (although loosing battle to blue grass and poa dominance) surrounds, and bent greens are still the best turf I've played on...

Dick,

I would have to agree.  If they could somehow find a way to transplant the rough surrounds of Sand Hills (thinner..easier to find balls) with Wild Horse, it might be the ultimate playing conditions.  

[A.G._Crockett]

(I never did grow to appreciate tough bermuda rough.  I'm just not strong enough).

NOBODY is strong enough for tough bermuda rough!

From late June to sometime in late October, you just hack it out as best you can and realize that it is at least a half stroke penalty to miss a fairway.  It's just the way bermuda rough is.

Zoysia, BTW, is wonderful to play from, but the divots don't heal anywhere nearly as quickly as bermuda, so very few courses use zoysia for fairways, even in the deep South.  You see it around bunkers some (for maintenance reasons, I think) but only very private courses that get very little play can have it for fairways.

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