Interesting topic to me, in part because of the comments of R.Boult regarding the sward here at Bandon, and especially so given the recent playing of the USGA Mid Am here.
Not trying to hijack this topic and turn it to fescue and it's playing characteristics, just wanting to interject some accuracy about the bent that DOES occur in the turf sward here.
The original mixture for the seeding of the first course at Bandon (the Bandon Dunes course, the venue for the match play just concluded) was approximately 77% fescues and 23%colonial bent. It was about the same at Pacific, and down to 91/9 for the Trails course.
What we have found here, and are now working against, is the tendency for the bent to dominate in areas of higher water application, or in areas of heavier (i.e. more organic content) soils. Many of the surrounds at the older Bandon Dunes course, as the sward has aged, have bent as the dominant grass, making putting from those areas more unpredictable and 'sticky' than the other course's surrounds.
In preparation for the Mid Am, and in he and his staffs' maintenance efforts in general, Eric Johnson has worked diligently at reducing that bent dominance, trying to minimize it's tendency to slow and turn a rolling ball. Those efforts include verticutting, reduced water apps, brushing before mowing, and overseeding with fescue.
So while I have always admired the thought of those beautiful bent fairways at the high end clubs in the eastern part of the country, here at Bandon we are taking a different additude, working to have the firm and fast of fescue, and minimizing, or in the future eliminating, the bentgrass component of the sward.
Tom