Ice Plant

[Matt Day]

I enjoy ice plant. It has a uniqueness, a beauty (when flowering), a nasty playing element, and, i would suspect, a minimal maintenance requirement. Of course, there are some liabilities. Which out weighs?

IMO, 'non-native' should not be a criteria. One can only look at this weeks Tour stop to see a superlative 'non-native' success. Riviera's kykuya (how the hell do you spell it?!) grass is spectacular. Perhaps, THE standard for golf courses. Imported from Australia.
Other 'non-native' successes - pheasants, horses, our first generation immigrant relatives
Some 'non-native' UNsuccesses - Asian Carp, mongooses in Hawaii, Justin Bieber

John
Kikuyu is South African in origin, not Australian. Plenty of it in Australia now though

[James Bennett]

Matt

John Percival said the kikuyu was imported from Australia, not that it originated from Australia.

One of the stories was that it was used at Riviera in 1936 to turf the practice fairway when it was used for Polo at the Olympics. The turf came from Australia.

I am typing this from memory, so apologies if I have any detail wrong here.

James B

[Matt Day]

Matt

John Percival said the kikuyu was imported from Australia, not that it originated from Australia.

One of the stories was that it was used at Riviera in 1936 to turf the practice fairway when it was used for Polo at the Olympics. The turf came from Australia.

I am typing this from memory, so apologies if I have any detail wrong here.

James B

James
No worries, went back and re-read the post and your correct in what John was saying. No doubt we produce some good Kikuyu here so I can see why it was imported 

[Michael Essig]

Count me in for a person that liked it.  Also, I was born and raised in CA, and had no idea it was not native; ice plant is up and down the entire coastline from SF to San Diego.

First time I played Spyglass in college, we made a "rule" that you couldn't take more than three strokes out of the stuff; I think each one of us invoked the rule as a result of hitting into it on either #3, #4 or #5.  In later rounds, I just took a drop if I didn't think I could successfully make contact with the ball.

Bottom line, golfers always talk about where you can miss a shot.  Well, the ice plant was a penal hazard and a definite place to hit away from, and you were conscientious of it when you stood over the ball.  Also, it is only on a few holes, and that made it an interesting, short term hazard to me.  I wouldn't want to play every hole with it looming, but I wouldn't want to play every hole with the Pacific as a hazard either.

I am curious what the Coastal Commission is going to replace it with, because planting grasses out on those dunes, both on the course and near the homes closer to the ocean, would seem to be non-native and unnatural.  Not to mention IMO, it would probably look terrible.

[Sven Nilsen]

On the topic of indigenous plants, Augusta National may lead the pack for the presence of non-indigenous foliage.

The Fruitlands Nursery contained the following:

A Spanish Cork tree received from the US Patent Office around 1880
Camellias imported around 1861 from Japan and several European countries
40 varieties of foregin Azaleas
A Chinese Pine about 75 years old
A holly like Tea Olive brought from Japan in 1880
A hardy Lemon Hedge propagated from a Japanese plant obtained in 1870

Not sure how many of these species remain, but with hole names like Tea Olive, Camellia, Azalea and Chinese Fir, at least the legacy lives on.  One has to wonder if the name of the 18th (Holly) may be in reference to the same Tea Olive that is used as the moniker of the 1st.

[Brendan Dolan]

I've never been to spyglass, but I am whole heartedly against the use of non-native species in any landscaping form.  Yes it is pretty, but the problem is that they can often out compete native plants and can spread incredibly quick.  It sounds like ice plant is doing that up and down the California coast. 

A good example in the midwest is a non native buckthorn.  This form of buckthorn was brought over for use in gardens. It is often used at golf courses, to screen that busy road that runs along the 4th hole at your club.  Unfortunately this bush has berries, with laxative properties, and is thus quickly spread by birds and other small creatures.  This form of buckthorn can now be found crowding out native ground cover in forests a throughout the midwest and northeast.  In general I feel like non-native species do more harm then good. Just my 2 cents.       

[Paul Gray]

The key for me with any alien plant is weather or not it's detrimental to native species. Plants and animals have been moved around the globe for centuries. Some results have been good, some disastrous.

From a playing perspective it appears that it could well perform in much the same way as heather. I've never played from it however.