Cool turf in a warm place

As far as Ethan Charles knows, he is the only turf pro within 100 miles of his corner of northwest Arkansas installing Kentucky bluegrass on tees, greens and par-3 fairways.

Well, maybe not the only turf pro.

“There is one guy in Joplin,” Charles says. “I guess that’s less than 100 miles. He said he’s thinking about doing it, but I haven’t heard whether he’s done it yet.”

Joplin, Missouri, is, in fact, just 75 miles north of Rogers, Arkansas, where Charles is about to start his seventh season back at Shadow Valley Country Club. But even if another superintendent there is dabbling in Kentucky bluegrass, it doesn’t detract from what Charles has already done: After enduring significant winterkill during consecutive offseasons, he researched alternatives to a “hodgepodge” that included NorthBridge Bermudagrass and Meyer Zoysia, and opted for HGT Kentucky bluegrass from Emerald View Turf Farms in O’Fallon, Missouri.

Charles pitched Shadow Valley ownership and, after less than an hour, received the green light. He and his team of nine other full-timers and four or five seasonal members started with collars the first year, then moved to tees and par-3 fairways the next. The rest of the fairways will remain zoysia and the rough will remain 419 Bermuda. “The whole course, as much as I would be for it, we’d have to change a few things with our irrigation system and how we maintain the course,” Charles says. “I think people are looking at me like a guinea pig, seeing if it actually works before they try to convince their ownership or their membership. I’m OK with that because it’s worked out really well for us.”

So well, in fact, that Shadow Valley will soon install a Kentucky bluegrass nursery, up to 6,000 to 8,000 square feet, to convert another four to six tees.

Charles is the beneficiary of favorable ownership: Shadow Valley is the heart of a nearly-900-home community where every homeowner is a member but the developers maintain full ownership. That guaranteed revenue has afforded “complete, absolute growth” since Charles returned in June 2020 — he interned at Shadow Valley while at the University of Arkansas and later rose to assistant superintendent — after three years away. Recently promoted to director of grounds, he has renovated bunkers, relocated tees, worked through irrigation projects and, of course, switched to Kentucky bluegrass.

He is also the beneficiary of a strong relationship with SEPRO Land technical specialist Clint Formby, who recommended he use Legacy PGR to control the zoysia still on the fairways. Even during a rainier-than-normal spring, “We mowed once a week and we weren’t getting that many clippings,” Charles says.

Formby also recommended StriCore Herbicide. Introduced in January 2024, StriCore is designed to control goosegrass, crabgrass and Poa annua. Charles is spraying it in May and June to control goosegrass on warm-season turf. He’s also using it on the newer bluegrass around the greens later in the season. “We’re able to use it in two different areas for two different weeds that we struggle with,” he says. “With StriCore, we can spray right up around our greens, right there next to them.”

Is anyone up in Joplin doing that?