Paspalum playability?

[Mike Vegis @ Kiawah]

We had it green and tee during the Senior PGA in 2007 and the pros absolutely loved it.  We're now wall to wall and looking forward to the 2012 PGA.  The generaly response have been great by our guests.  One of the challenges is that our super has to use growth retardant on the greens in our peak growing season since the darn stuff grows so fast.  We generally don't have heavy rough around our greens as we like to give the players options.  Personally, I us the Texas wedge all around The Ocean Course.

[John Shimp]

Amazing how little known paspalum is in the SE. It's still a mental barrier to shift to hybrid Bermuda greens from bent. Will be interesting to see what if any shift occurs to paspalum away from the coast.  I do see a lot more zoysia in charlotte slipped in on tees and sometimes green collars.

[Mike Lacey]

How would it work in the desert climate like Phoenix that presents some turf challenges?
- Very hot in the summer
- Mild winter but some frost or occasional hard freeze possible
- Mostly heavy clay soil
- recycled water with high salt content.

Does the paspalum go dormant in the winter like bermuda? Would overseeding be necessary?

As far as rough goes, bermuda rough is not particularly fun.

Tom
Paspalum does go dormant.  Dormancy is comparable or a bit longer than most hybrid Bermudas, if I recall correctly.  UofA's turf program is working on overseeding protocols with limited success.  

My experience in Puerto was that it was patchy when grown to rough length. Better prospects of getting the club on the ball than in common Bermuda rough.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Before everyone jumps on the paspalum bangwagon, let me point out a few things...

For the courses in the southwest that overseed, paspalum is not a good grass to seed into. It does not transition well and is also very dense, thus making seed to soil contact difficult. In the desert climates, if it's cold enough for bermuda to go dormant, so will paspalum. Example-Dove Mountain-the light tan, dormant bermudagrass ringsaround the bunkers.

Paspalum needs fresh water to be grown in. Once established, brackish water is fine. A clean water source must still be used.   

Palpalum gets a lot more patch diseases, similar to zoysia. I, personally have not delt with any patch disease on bermuda, but those that have seen a little disease, just say bermuda will grow out of it.

Because paspalum is a thicker, waxier grass, mower reels needto be checked and SPOT on every time they leave the shop. If not, the leave blade with tear, creating a terrible look, cosmetically, but also open that leaf blade for disease pressure.

Lastly, if the site contain bermudagrass before, keeping the bermudagrass from not showing up again is a daily/weekly/month task of scouting.

Do not get me wrong, I think that we are only going to see more and more paspalum courses because of water restrictions, but not because it's easy to maintain or manage.

[Ryan Farrow]

Anthony, do you think its a better grass for tropical climates? It is the standard now in Southern China, unfortunately there aren't many good suppliers and does terrible with heavy traffic. I'm still unsure, but I like the ability to go wall to wall with  Platinum.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Ryan,
  I see it becoming more and more popular in the tropical climates because it's the "new thing" and also, many tropical courses being built now are resort-many golfers like the stripes and dense turf. I can see it being a better grass in the tropical climates because they still get a lot of rain from mother nature, which will help flush the salts built up from the use of brackish water. I, personally, would not get to be on a course with both bermuda and paspalum...it's mess with the edging, removing bermuda encrochment, etc....

[Forrest Richardson]

It is very tight, but the best part is that you can stress the grass and let it dry out and be firm. I am a big fan, to coin the phrase of Mr. McBride.