Mini Verde

[Michael Whitaker]

I played a course today (The Patriot at Grand Harbor) with Mini Verde greens... it's the only course in SC using this type of grass.

It's my understanding that Mini Verde is a mutant bermudagrass. The main thing I noticed is that the leaves are extremely fine, and the turf is amazingly dense with a unique emerald green color.

These greens were some of the best surfaces I have ever seen. The grass was so dense that there were virtually no ball marks to be found anywhere.  The surface was firm, but extremely receptive to well struck shots.

I usually have a bias for bent grass, but these Mini Verde greens were as close to perfect as anything I have ever seen!

[paul cowley]

.....my feelings as well micheal ,especially for greens a little over a year old .....its so good it makes me nervous [waiting for the other shoe to drop   ]

the credit for using it goes to the superintendant, billy ford.
  he did much research and convinced us to give it a try [and also to experiment with topsoil instead of peat in the greensmix ]..........and so far the results have been as you have experienced......excellent.

[Brent Hutto]

So beyond the greens, how did you like the course? My teaching pro and another guy played there a few weeks ago and recommended it. Their recommendation wasn't like "Go there tomorrow and play" but more like "It's a nice course, if you get a chance to play it, you'll probably like it". Is that close to your opinion?

I didn't get the impression it was a particularly hard course. They seemed to think that it had some visual intimidation but the shots required really weren't too tough.

[Michael Whitaker]

Paul - this stuff is truly amazing and Billy has done a great job. We had a group of twenty playing on Thursday and everybody was talking about the greens. The course was a big hit!

Brent - The Patriot is a wonderful members course. It starts out with a few "easy" holes then progressively gets more demanding as you move through the back nine. In general, the holes provide lots of width off the tee, then toughen as you approach the green. You don't have to be long to play The Patriot, but you need an excellent short game and solid putting stroke to score well. To my eye, it is a very old school lay-of-the-land course with a Ross/Raynor look to many of the greensites and the bunkering. Several greens have drop-offs or collection areas around the sides and backs... if you miss those greens it is tough to get up and down. As I mentioned above, the green surfaces are some of the best I have ever seen. We had a 3-handicap shoot 69, and a 5-handicap shoot 87! The Patriot will "give it up," but it will also make you pay if you put the ball in the wrong places.

[Brent Hutto]

Easy to see why my pro friend liked it. He isn't long off the tee but he can get it in the hole from anywhere around the greens. Unless he was giving his buddy plenty of strokes that day he probably came home with some extra cash in his pocket.

The Patriot is now definitely on my short list. If those greens hold up well through another round of seasons we might start seeing that grass show up on greens all over the Bermuda grass part of the state, doncha think?

[paul cowley]

michael...glad you enjoyed it ....hope they let you play from the back [they have a different card]...7100 from the tips.

[RBSpann]

Mike,
I'm glad to hear the good report on Miniverde.  We are using it on a course that is growing in now in Beaumont, Texas (near Houston).  It is one of the new "ultradwarf" bermudas, but has not been used or marketed as extensively as Tifeagle, Floradwarf, or Champion - it was developed at Mississippi State.  A few newer courses in the area here have installed it, as it has been consistently rated #1 in independent turf quality ratings for bermudagrass putting greens.  It is supposed to be a little more cold tolerant than Tifeagle, and grows very aggressively - (full coverage on putting surfaces in less than four weeks at Beaumont).  It seems we'll be seeing a lot more of it in the south in the near future.

[Michael Whitaker]

Paul - We played from the "Blue" tees at about 6700 yards. The better players in our group played from the "Black" tees.  Gary Moore told us they are going to add several hundred yards to the course, most of it coming on #18 with a new tee box across the road near 17. That will make 18 a true three shot par-5 and will really bring the "fort wall" in front of the 18th green into play. By the way... we've dubbed that bank in front of 18 the "Green Monster."  

RB - The super at The Patriot echoed Paul's comments below... everything has seemed too good with Mini Verde. He is anxious to see how they make it through their first overseeding this winter. But, assuming there are no hidden problems waiting to rear their ugly heads, there are several courses I know that would do themselves a great favor to change over to Mini Verde.

[Don_Mahaffey]

I planted mini verde at my course in AZ and loved it. If you go to www.ntep.org you can see how it did in trials around the southern US. Tifeagle has the name because of the marketing $$$ but I believe Mini Verde is a better choice if an ultradwarf bermuda is used. It does require a different overseeding approach as like all ultradwarfs it's slow to transition in the spring. Aggresive overseed prep like used for 328 or tifdwarf will set it back in the spring. Management wise we learned that it is at it's best with lower fertility then required by other bermuda grasses. I think we'll see a lot more mini verde courses in the future.