PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course underwent a significant regrassing project this off-season, heightening the playing experience by introducing new turf to fairways and bunker surrounds, and planting several ornamental species to reframe holes.
Celebration, a hybrid Bermuda grass gaining great popularity in recent years, was installed on all 14 fairways. The strain is hearty enough to out-compete common Bermuda grass – making it ideal for weed control – and possesses a striking blue-green color. Its texture and density also helps it to recover quickly from divots.
“The original grass was Tifway 419, a hybrid developed back in the 1960s,” PGA Golf Club superintendent Dick Gray said. “The DNA of common Bermuda is quite old, so with Celebration we’re getting current, 21st century genetics.”
In addition, a number of bunker faces on the Tom Fazio design were sodded with Empire Zoysia. With its slower growth rate and better density than Bermuda, it requires less mowing and fewer inputs.
These changes to the fairways and bunker surrounds are complemented by playing corridors reframed with four ornamental grasses: Burgundy fountain grass, white fountain grass, dwarf fakahatchee and muhlenbergia (also known as “muhly”).
“The ornamental grasses multi-task,” Gray said. “They add greater definition to the playing experience by cutting down on long, open spaces and re-directing players’ eyes toward their intended target. They also help us manage areas of the course that were difficult to effectively maintain, due to lack of sunlight or severe slope.”