Tahoma 31

[Wayne_Kozun]

I hope it is better on golf courses than as a football field.  Horrible publicity for this grass as players are slipping and sliding like they are on a curling rink in tonight's Superbowl.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35625308/super-bowl-2023-experimental-grass

Be warned: When you're watching Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, you might get the urge to take out your driver for a few swings.

That's because the grass that the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs will play on inside State Farm Stadium will be the same turf on which you'd play 18.

The turf is Tahoma 31 and it's among the newer breeds of grass that have been developed with the funding of the United States Golf Association. Tahoma 31 is a mix of two types of Bermuda grasses and rye grass, and it was developed at Oklahoma State University under the watchful eye of Dr. Yanqi Wu. He started the process of creating Tahoma 31 in 2006, when he crossed China Bermuda grass and African Bermuda grass. A year later, the seeds were harvested and the grass was tested and studied all over the country until 2018.

[jeffwarne]

So much for "guarantees"....

[Don Mahaffey]

The author of that story has as much business writing about grass as I do brain surgery

[Bret Lawrence]

Maybe the irrigation specialist didn’t get the memo that Tahoma 31 requires 10% less water? The field was over-watered, similari to many golf courses I play. If you put too much water on any type of grass it’s going to be slippery.which raises the question: Why does the USGA spend so much money on developing new grasses when we have been studying the grasses we already have for 100 years now?  It’s not making golf any cheaper. Shouldn’t we pick one or two grasses to refine instead of experimenting more for the next 100 years?


Regardless of what the USGA studies, the Super Bowl probably shouldn’t be an experimental turf farm!

[Erik J. Barzeski]

Why does the USGA spend so much money on developing new grasses when we have been studying the grasses we already have for 100 years now?  It’s not making golf any cheaper. Shouldn’t we pick one or two grasses to refine instead of experimenting more for the next 100 years?

Counter-argument: they're "refining" bermuda grass. That's basically all this is.

And by finding grasses that are more disease tolerant, or drought tolerant, or that last better under heavy play, or whatever… they can reduce costs and make golf "cheaper" than they otherwise would have been, or allow golf where it previously wasn't possible (or better golf).

[Bret Lawrence]

Erik:


I nderstand the concept of why they try to develop new turf. The “whatever” part I’m not so clear on.  In this case, they are using Bermuda grass from China and Africa, not refining the Bermuda grass they have been studying for years.  Courses in the south re-turf their courses all the time, trying to find the next best grass.  If the grass is better and cheaper, then why do they keep changing their grasses? All of this re-turfing cost money.  It’s really a lot of marketing.  My point is they are looking for some kind of breakthrough that they haven’t achieved in over 100 years of studying the subject. For $50 million dollars invested in the grasses, what is the return on investment to golfers? Perhaps that $50 million could go into something more constructive, like teaching people how to water their grasses?


Why do they need Bermuda grass in Arizona in February if you’re going to just rip up the sod in two weeks?  The reason they used Tahoma 31 is marketing and this time it may have backfired. 

[Alan FitzGerald CGCS MG]

To me it looked like the sod didn't take. There are numerous reasons why it might not, but it is not the grass and the turf managers at the stadiums are experts at sodding out fields so it's not worth speculating more than that.


The Eagles use it on all their fields and train on it when its dormant and it holds up.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

I nderstand the concept of why they try to develop new turf. The “whatever” part I’m not so clear on.  In this case, they are using Bermuda grass from China and Africa, not refining the Bermuda grass they have been studying for years.

The guy that developed this has been working with this grass since 2003 or something. So they have been studying this grass for "years" as well. Decades even.

My point is they are looking for some kind of breakthrough that they haven’t achieved in over 100 years of studying the subject.

I'm not a turf grass expert, but I really don't think you'd find agreement that there haven't been advances. Whether they (or you) would classify them as "breakthroughs" I don't know, but a "breakthrough" isn't a super high bar IMO, so I think you'd find wide disagreement there.

Why do they need Bermuda grass in Arizona in February if you’re going to just rip up the sod in two weeks?  The reason they used Tahoma 31 is marketing and this time it may have backfired.

Because they thought it would provide a good playing surface? I don't think "marketing" was the main driver here.

Not an expert here, again, so I'll mostly bow out now. Maybe you could look here to see if anything at least what you might call "useful" has come out of the section. Looks like, by my standards, it has: https://www.usga.org/course-care/green-section-record.html#sectionFilters=research.

To me it looked like the sod didn't take.

I saw a report this morning that explained it… (or tried to), but I can't find it in a minute of searching again so… I won't rely on my memory to say what it said. At the time I only remember thinking "oh, that makes sense."

[Wayne_Kozun]

The Turfacast podcast from a couple of turf experts discussed this.


It seems that the bermuda was overseeded with ryegrass as well, not unlike golf courses in that part of the country.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKDmFnONtrE

[Bret Lawrence]

Thanks for your answers Erik.


The grass did look green, wouldn’t you agree?

[John Mayhugh]

In 2021/2 Churchill Downs spent $10M to rebuild their turf course (horse racing), and they sodded with Tahoma 31. The sodding took place in October of 2021 and they started racing on it in April of 2022. The track had lots of problems with the course - seemingly because the sod wasn't well-established. I know next to nothing about turfgrass, but it never made sense to sod with a warm season grass in October and expect roots to become well-established over the winter and early spring. Churchill, too, overseeded with rye.

I read that the Super Bowl turf was sodded two weeks prior to the game. That seems really short to me.

As a golf surface, I've liked the Tahoma that I've played on. But my usage is considerably less demanding athletically than that of NFL and equine athletes.

[Jim Hoak]

We used Tahoma 31 for the course at Brook Hollow in Dallas, and the turf has been terrific.  Of course, we aren't playing football on it!
I believe--at least we were told--that we were the first golf course to use this new grass for an entire course.

[Kalen Braley]

Perhaps the "Sodfather" was pulling one last prank in his last game...

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/10/1155927041/the-sodfather-george-toma-has-tended-the-turf-at-every-super-bowl-game

P.S.  I can't recall the last time a NFL field set up in ideal conditions and weather was so awful...

[Matthew Delahunty]

I read that the Super Bowl turf was sodded two weeks prior to the game. That seems really short to me.

That, and sodding a warm season grass while it's dormant. 

[jeffwarne]

We used Tahoma 31 for the course at Brook Hollow in Dallas, and the turf has been terrific.  Of course, we aren't playing football on it!
I believe--at least we were told--that we were the first golf course to use this new grass for an entire course.

wonder how well it would've played after two weeks.
I seriously doubt the grass "variety" was the problem