Rivers Edge Golf Club in Shallotte, N.C., is closed for two months to convert the putting surfaces to SeaDwarf Seashore Paspalum turfgrass.
Dave Downing, CGCS, president of the Signature Golf Group will oversee the transition of the putting surfaces from bentgrass to SeaDwarf Seashore Paspalum, a drought-tolerant turf variety that requires less water and less fertilizer and may be irrigated with alternative water sources.
Due to poor water quality negatively impacting the existing putting surfaces at the course, Rivers Edge will convert to the salt-tolerant SeaDwarf Seashore Paspalum grass.
“Rivers Edge has decided to change the putting surfaces to create more positive consistent conditions on the putting surfaces,” said Downing.
Although SeaDwarf Seashore Paspalum has been successfully planted on golf courses around the world, the renovation of River’s Edge will be the first ever no-till conversion done with SeaDwarf SeashorePaspalum. No-till is a process by which the new grass is planted without tearing out the existing surface.
The no-till process has two benefits: it maintains the existing contours of the greens surface and it allows a golf course to reopen sooner as the renovation process is faster than standard methods of renovation that in effect would destroy the greens and require them to be rebuilt.
“The no-till method of greens renovation is a very innovative process. SeaDwarf is a very innovative turfgrass and the only dwarf variety of paspalum grass on the market today. The combination of the two could be a game changer for the golf industry,” said Stacie Zinn, president of Environmental Turf, the Avon Park, Fla., company that licenses sod producers to grow SeaDwarf worldwide.
As a test, Rivers Edge converted the facility’s putting green last summer and it was “very successful,” Downing said.
Rivers Edge Golf Club will plan to re-open in August, 2009. Rivers Edge will be posting progress reports and photos throughout the conversion process online at www.river18.com.