A.G.,
Bent grass fairways are gaining in popularity here in Virginia. Kinloch and Hermitage CC in Richmond both have bent fairways. The new Spring Creek Golf Club outside Charlottesville has bent, and there are a handful of other courses in the western part of the state (where it’s typically a little cooler) that have bent fairways.
In Richmond I’ve found that the bent fairways tend to play a lot softer than bermuda during the summer. The bent requires a lot of water to cope with the heat. In the spring and fall, the bent can play a little firmer, but I’d favor Bermuda over bent May thru September.
My club in Richmond has TifSport bermuda fairways, and they play very firm and fast June through October (much firmer than any bent fairways within 60 miles of us). The downside of course is that they start to go dormant in November and don’t come back until May usually.
Perhaps it’s different with other types of Bermuda, but I have never found that dormant Bermuda plays firmer or faster than green Bermuda. Unless we have an extended drought period through the winter months, the ground is usually very soft and wet because the grass isn’t soaking up any of the water. In the summer, we could get an inch of rain overnight during, and you wouldn’t even know it the next day. In the winter, it would be a swamp.
It’s good to hear that Ballyhack is playing firm. My biggest gripe with one of Lester’s other designs (Kinloch) is that they seem to focus too much on “lush and green” and the course seems to always play soft as a result of that. Ballyhack looks like a lot of fun, and I hope to get out that way to see it soon.