Buffalo Grass

[Chris Wagner]

With all the new advances in buffalo grass funded by the USGA will we ever start to see more of it used on golf courses? I have played on nice buffalo grass fairways and rough and have to say the playability of it is very nice. Plus the benefits of it being a very economical choice and water saving ability makes me think more courses should have it as an top option. The new seeded varieties such as Sundancer and the plugged varieties such as Legacy, Prestige, and UC Verde make very thick turf stands with little to no maintenance. I often wonder why there is not more courses being built or current courses implementing the use buffalo grass. Little to no fertilizer and limited irrigation provide a very nice stand of turf with an aggressive growth recovery.

http://gsr.lib.msu.edu/article/mcclellan-buffalograss-4-5-13.pdf

http://arrowseed.com/v2/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Sundancer-TechSheet.pdf

[Steve Okula]

I haven't worked with Buffalograss, but it sounds interesting.

On the second link you posted, for the Sundancer variety, it shows an area of adaptation across the United Staes that I don't understand. According to the map, Buffalograss will grow across the country from coast to coast, except the far northern tier, and for some reason not the southeast, east of Texas and south of North Carolina. It will grow in Idaho, southern Montana, South Dakota, and southern Minnesota, but not in Wisconsin or the New York City tri-state area. It will do fine in the Washignton D.C area, but not in South Carolina. It's okay in Shreveport, but not Baton Rouge. I can't figure that, it tolerates heat, cold, and high humidity in some areas but not others.

[Chris Wagner]

The map also confused me. I did not put much thought into I figured it was some combination of humidity, temperature, or soil is how they derived the map. Yes most of the other buffalo grasses have  a much different looking map.

[Adam Clayman]

Chris, Sorry if it's in the link, which I have not read.

It's a novel idea, but, how were they able to genetically alter the strain so much, to make it significantly less fragile?  The mighty Buffalo is great stuff. It's just not known for being able to handle repeated traffic. Also, since I have about 4 acres of Buffalo grass, I find it doesn't "fill in" very quickly, and, doesn't spread at all when invaded by a different type of grass or plant (weeds).

[Chris Wagner]

I have no idea what they do to it. I just know they have made advancements and USGA is funding part of it. The USGA must see the writing on the wall concerning use of water in western areas probably not going to golf courses in 20 to 50 years.  I have had good luck with high traffic areas and spreading aggressively. I just think there is some very practical uses around the golf course in certain areas of the country.

[Tom_Doak]

Chris:

There was a big push to use Buffalo grass twenty years ago ... Ben Crenshaw was even involved with the turf research a little bit ... but it disappointed as the grass was very slow to establish and didn't handle traffic well at all. 

Where have you had experience with it?

There are several grasses which would be great for golf if they could overcome high-traffic issues.  Centipede is another one that had a lot of interesting features for the Southeast, and a true creeping fine fescue would be huge for the northern USA.  However I've always had the impression that the majority of the turf industry is not looking for solutions like these that could promise LESS inputs ... there has been 100x the research on new dwarf bent grasses and bermudas as there has been on "low-maintenance" varieties.

[Chris Wagner]

I am not advocating every course should use it, just that it could be an option. I have had experience playing on it in western Kansas. I have played on buffalo fairways with no irrigation and buffalo rough. If you are going to have carts constantly in it I understand it will not hold up. If buffalo has limited irrigation it can stand quite of bit more traffic then no irrigation. The fact that the buffalo and cattle have trampled it for thousands of years should illustrate the point of it being a durable grass. I have played buffalo grass fairway courses that did not allow any cart traffic and courses that did. The courses that did allow carts on it suffered in drought. I also understand that these courses have a lower number of rounds then some places. I just think there will be a use for it in the limited water scenarios, that way what water is available  can be used on the tees, greens, and fairways. I have high hopes that they will continue to improve the results of buffalo grass and I view  it as a possible solution of fixing cost and water issues for some courses in the future. I also believe there is a major importance on solving water issues in every industry that is a large user. I never stop hearing about how golf courses are a waste of water. I don't think that rhetoric is going to get better with the water issues this country is going to face in some regions going forward. There will be many solutions and believe buffalo grass will be one.

[Don Mahaffey]

In New Mexico at Andy Staples' designed Rockwind Community Links we used  Buffalo grass to transition from the bluegrass to the native. We called it our transition mix and seeded it on average in a 50' swath outside the blue with 10-15 feet of the transition mix inter-seeded with the bluegrass. We wanted no obvious turf line and we didn't want to establish an edge with irrigation.
It has work very well and the course bleeds out into the native nicely.

One thing that is never talked about in this era of "water conservation" is the fact that you don't need perfect coverage everywhere a mower might pass. That statement is blasphemy to almost everyone in golf, especially irrigation consultants, but the entire idea of a low water use turf as a transition mix was allowing either the bluegrass or the buffalo to prosper based on over spray. In some cases they co-exist, in others one dominates based on available water. Either way it is on the periphery of the golf course and it looks cool and uses a hell of a lot less water and maintenance resources compared to trimming everything out with sprinklers and presenting a defined edge. 

Grasses like Buffalo have their use, but almost no one is patient enough to let it establish and when it gets pushed, other grasses take it over.

[Buck Wolter]

A friend of mine built a 9 hole course with driving range about 20 years ago -- they used Buffalo Grass on the range target greens to give contrast but keep low maintenance.

Don-
I really like the idea of using in the transition areas on course with native areas, would think you could keep from having those pockets of super lush native right off the rough that get unintentionally irrigated.

[Steve Okula]

There are several grasses which would be great for golf if they could overcome high-traffic issues.  Centipede is another one that had a lot of interesting features for the Southeast, and a true creeping fine fescue would be huge for the northern USA.  However I've always had the impression that the majority of the turf industry is not looking for solutions like these that could promise LESS inputs ... there has been 100x the research on new dwarf bent grasses and bermudas as there has been on "low-maintenance" varieties.

That's because research is driven by market demand, and so far that demand has predominantly been for faster greens and greener grass year round, inputs be damned.

When golfers start asking supers for grasses that cost less in water, fetilizer, and chemicals even if it means sacrificing the perception of  visual and playing characteristics, then the supers will be asking seed suppliers and nurseries for the same, and the suppliers and supers will be asking the researchers to find what they want.

The chain of command goes: golfers > supers > suppliers > researchers.