Seashore Paspalum greens?

[turbo4door]

Terrible!

So I played a different local course today since my normal course is undergoing aeriation.

Used to be a pretty nice course, but I haven't played it in about 3 years. Show up, proshop guy says that the rough is a little long but that the greens are in tip-top shape after being recently replaced. Great!

I go out to the practice green to roll a few before I head out and the nightmare began. My carpet rolls about 100 times better than this stuff. It looks nice, but its SUPER slow. I figure, well maybe its just the practice green.

First green I hit into I watched the ball bounce almost like it had hit a cart path. I hit a high shot in that would normally leave a fairly large ball mark that would need to be repaired. Nothing on this...I couldn't even tell where the ball had landed.

Tried a few low bouncers hoping maybe they would hold better, no luck. Was like hitting into an ice patch. Ball just skidded and went off the back.

I understand that they did these greens so that they don't have to overseed in the spring, and they are easier to maintain. Also read on their site that they did it so that they didnt need to use as many chemicals as the course is built in a sensitive area.

Guess I'm just irritated because the greens were terrible, the tees were almost all dirt, and the fairways were full of weeds and stuff. Disappointing since it used to be a nice place. At least the price was reasonable! Get what ya pay for I guess.

Anybody else play on this type of grass/green? I thought it was funny, the advertised as being the only course in Central Florida with such greens. I can certainly understand why!

[I_HATE_SNOW]

I thought it was supposed to be better than bermuda? The PGA plays the Mayakoba classic on paspalum. It is supposed to tolerate salt better than bermuda.

[doubleagle2]

Probably needs time to mature I played a coarse in south Florida the entire coarse was paspalum really enjoyed it. We have a coarse here that redid there greens with paspalum little over a year ago and they were hard when they first open but were getting better last time I played there.

[turbo4door]

Good to know. It seemed like it could be really nice, but I guess their prep wasn't up to par, or it just hadn't matured. Did a little research and its quite a common grass I guess. We are right on the coast (turnbull bay is brackish water too) so I guess it makes sense. Too bad about the rest of the course

[Socrates]

I have played a number of times on courses in the Caribbean that have Paspalum and I have nothing but good things to say about it. That course is obviously doing something wrong as it is a great surface.

[tmorales]

Here in Puerto Rico as well as other courses in the tropics is very common that this type of grass is used. They even made hybrids or mixed to achieve more consistent results. That said and as above posters said some grasses need more time than others and paspalum greens may need more time and a proper base (under layer).

[b_smith07]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Pebble Beach's greens paspalum? Or are they Poa Annua?

[shotmark]

Paspalum, being more salt tolerant is much easier/cheaper to maintain. Grass however is grass, it's whats underneath it and how soft it is that determines whether or not the green will take a pitch mark.

[Socrates]

[quote name='b_smith07' date='02 June 2010 - 02:57 PM' timestamp='1275508626' post='2482638']
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Pebble Beach's greens paspalum? Or are they Poa Annua?
[/quote]


[quote name='shotmark' date='02 June 2010 - 03:18 PM' timestamp='1275509899' post='2482689']
Paspalum, being more salt tolerant is much easier/cheaper to maintain. Grass however is grass, it's whats underneath it and how soft it is that determines whether or not the green will take a pitch mark.
[/quote]

Unless they have changed the greens recently, they were Poa.

[kell]

All new greens are hard for a period,some soften up quicker but not because of grass type.Paspalum is a great grass that i think will eventually replace Bermuda in warm season climates.Maybe they were slow because they were new .We have several courses in Tampa that utilize paspalum on greens,and that is what makes me go to these courses.I know in winter the greens roll faster,and in the summer they normally roll 10-11 on stimp.

[NWS Alpine]

Interesting since this course down the street I just checked out last weekend is all paspalum grass. It looks absolutely beautiful! I just went to spend an hour on the putting green and it was frustrating. The greens were extremely slow and it really threw me off. I had a horrible time putting on it. The course I normally play stimps around 9.5-10. THe course has been around for 3-4 years so idk how long it takes to mature or if the way they maintain keeps them so slow. It's an expensive place to play but is city owned semi-private.

[shawnee]

[size="3"]go here -----> [url="http://www.tuscanyreserve.com/"]Link to Tuscany Reserve[/url]

mature Paspalum at TR is off the charts, best grass that I have ever played on (the Colony in Naples is awesome as well)
the environment at TR as far as the upkeep in tee to green perfection rivals Augusta (just looks, upkeep etc.)
I have been to Augusta.... TR is where Rocco used to live when he had his sponsorship deal w/WCI, it has since been
sold a couple times since then..... they can roll and mow these greens to play at 12+ vs. the normal 10 that they roll at
normally.... was just there last Sunday love-love the Paz lol[/size]