States with the most zoysia?

[Irishman1979]

Which states currently plant zoysia?

[sdandrea]

The 6 months I live in VA, I play a P.B. Dye course in Stafford County called The Gauntlet. BEAUTIFUL zoysia fairways. Fawn Lake CC west of Fredericksburg is zoysia as well. So, Virginia grows it.

[mjbfyb]

Missouri is pretty much all zoysia. There are a few with bent but not many.

[Bigarch]

It's pretty much a midwest "Transition Zone" grass. Lots of courses in the St. Louis Metro area are zoysia. In relationship to St. Louis, you see it from about Springfield Illinois going south to Memphis, Tennessee. That area has ultra high humidity and heat in the summer which is bad for bent and other cool weather grasses. Normally, that would mean go with Bermuda fairways but that same area can have very harsh winters and that's horrible for Bermuda plus it can be very late coming out of being dormant...often as late as June! So that's why many of the courses in this area go with zoysia grass.

[BNGL]

It’s grown literally all over the world. There’s wall to wall zoysia course in Florida and California. Projects in Australia and Singapore too. Blade runner Farms is one of the best zoysia sod producers in the world, their site has a list of their projects being built and those that are done.

[smashdn]

Ky. Pretty heavy here. Bent/cool season fairways are only at higher end privates and/or the very northernmost part of the state.

In the south/southwest part of the state there are a few courses with bermuda greens now.

[Irishman1979]

Glad to hear the feedback. Every time I play on Zoysia I believe it’s the best grass you can play off of. Reason being is when you have pitch and chop shots around the greens and when you are in the fairway the ball sits up so nicely almost like it’s teed up.

[exgolfpro]

I am in Missouri and play on Zoysia. Our fairways are perfect all summer. FWIW, I remember one of the golf announcers (Faldo maybe?) saying Zoysia makes everyone a better chipper. I think he is right, the ball sits up like its on a tee most times. But I've noticed when I go play other courses with different grasses, my contact isnt as good. So cushy lies make you lazy.

[Irishman1979]

What courses on tour have Zoysia fairways?

[jkinger89]

Bellerive ('18 PGA) had zoysia fairways. Idk what regular tour stops have zoysia though. I've always heard that a lot of pros don't like it because they catch a lot of flyers with short and mid irons.

[exgolfpro]

I wish I could remember when it was. It was either 2019 or 2018. Was it possibly Bellerive and the PGA championship? I thought it was during a major, and that would be the only one I can think may have zoysia.

[jpthreesticks]

East Lake (Tour Championship) has Zoysia fairways. Atlanta Athletic Club had it in 2011 for the PGA Championship.

[Bigarch]

I think the Memphis tour stop is played on Zoysia. Could be wrong on that. It is nice to play on. I learned the game playing on it. The one knock I have heard from better players is that the ball sits up so good on it that you can either hit flyer type shots or the opposite...shots too high on the face and the ball knuckles with little spin and comes up short.

[BIG STU]

We have a little of it on the South end of the beach at some of the Pawleys Island courses. first time I ever saw it believe it or not was in Wisconsin many years ago. And I hit a slider up the face just like you described but for me when I hit that type of slider I spin the ball more than usual. But I adapted quickly around the green up there I played a little clipper bump and run with the 8 iron. Full shots I learned how to nip it

[PostandGhost]

I'm from Georgia and the vast majority of courses I play in the state have Zoysia fairways. It's definitely not the predominant fairway grass in the state. I know of a lot of clubs that don't have it, but I don't play those courses, or I don't know any members at them. It seems like more and more clubs around the state are switching every year.

[Bigarch]

The word "nip" can be a real understatement on that stuff. You can sure juice one hard with a wedge. When you do, your emotions go real fast from feeling good to feeling dread because you KNOW that ball is going to zip right off the front of the green. I can remember the first time it ever happened to me when I was learning to play the game. Backed one off of the green and into the water in front of the green on a par 5. Went from "FAR OUT" to "G-Ditt" in about 2 seconds...lol

[Irishman1979]

Yes the ball spins the most around the greens off Zoysia for sure. I absolutely lobe that compared to other grasses.

[QMany]

Trinity Forest implemented its own new zoysia strain.

[mjbfyb]

In the Feherty episode with Phil, he runs down how he calculates his yardages. He adds 5 yards when playing on zoysia because of how the ball sits up.

[grm24]

Barefoot Dye has zoysia grass rough.

[smashdn]

You need to come play some wet green surrounds where you need to play into the grain of the grass. Not fun and chunk city is near.

[BIG STU]

Been a long time since I played there probably 12 years or so----- Last time I played it was at a Grand Strand Tour event and that tour has been defunct some 9 or 10 years now

[dlygrisse]

A lot of Missouri and Kansas courses have it for fairway grass. It's hard to kill the stuff in the summer when it's hot, the only issue is it does stay dormant till the temps get into the 70's.

 

As someone else said, it does make you lazy, going to a bent course is an adjustment, you have to re-learn to hit down through it more instead of just picking it.

[BIG STU]

Yep that was what I was talking about earlier because I hit a trap cut and spin the ball a lot with the wedges 9 and 8 irons. For some reason when I hit one of those slide up the face jobs I get a lot of spin. I can remember when the Srixon balls first came out I could peel one in a few shots with a 588 wedge. I hit a slider off of Zoysa one day down at Founders Club and it was a face slider. Shredded that brand new ball. I had just put that ball in play and had hit just the drive with it. Backed it off the green into a trap. Of course we were playing a "down match" and I had to play that haired up thing out of the trap. After that it was toast. Quit playing Srixon balls of that generation after that. In fact threw that ball into the woods after that hole

[Lefty_3Jack]

I say that playing on zoysia makes you a worse player as it's easier to play off of. It's like playing off of carpet. If you play zoysia fairways in the dead of summer and then go play bent it will humble you.

I'm guessing that the reason it's used in the upper part of transition zones because the springs aren't warm enough to wake up bermuda. The reason it's not used as much in the south when compared to bermuda I'll take a stab and say zoysia is more expensive than bermuda.

You'd think that when grown out it would be a really thick rough to tackle, but the ball just sits up no matter how long the shit it. Bermuda and fescue rough is much scarier.

[Irishman1979]

Anyone know why any courses in northern or central Illinois choose bent over Zoysia? Wouldn’t Zoysia actually be a good choice just as much as bent grass? Summers are hot AF around in Northern Illinois.

[CCTxGolf]

Briggs ranch in San Antonio used to boast the first full zoysia fairways in Texas. Not sure if others have joined the party though

[BNGL]

Cost and availability, probably not so much the latter anymore but definitely cost.

[BNGL]

Plenty are, in fact there’s quite a few that are only zoysia. Tiger’s Bluejack National (L1F/Zeon), His Airness’ The Grove XXIII (Zeon/Meyer?), Trinity Forest (Trinity Zoysia), Jacks Bay will be zoysia, the Olympic Course is zoysia, Hyde Park in Ohio has Zoysia Japonica in their fairways.

[BNGL]

Edit to post above. The Grove XXIII will be Trinity(greens and tees) and zeon zoysia everywhere else.