We got a scoop, and a really good one at that. Dr. Richard Hurley has released a new strain of turfgrass It’s the latest generation in his ling-running series, an upgrade from 007XL called ULTRA 7. It’s all in my latest interview with the good Doctor, and it’s over at Golf Course Trades (click here).
Here is a clip from the interview, where we also discussed how much fun he had being the tournament chair for an NCAA tournament at Bayonne Golf Club just last week:
AGENT JAY: We wrote about Bayonne back in the July 2017 issue of GCT. (see https://golfcoursetrades.com/bayonne-golf-club-a-shangri-la-of-golf/). There were some recent changes to the front nine in particular that were implemented just this season. Tell us about the how and why of the changes, and how the new holes played for the tournament.
DR. TURFGRASS: The greens were seeded originally in 2005 when the course was built. We wanted to thicken them, yet keep them in tournament shape. So about 18 months ago, we changed out the old grass strain, stripping all the turf off all 18 greens, and replaced them all with my 007XL strain.
AGENT JAY: Aha! The current standard in the industry.
DR. TURFGRASS: Yes, it was…at that time. Here we are 18 months later, and the greens were perfect! No ball marks, every blade uniform, no spike marks late in the day, just an impeccable playing surface. The players, coaches and members all raved about it.
Eric also wanted to make changes to the front nine – particularly at four, six, and nine.
AGENT JAY: The goal was to make the start of the golf course tougher. There are also changes to the second green complex.
DR. TURFGRASS: That’s right. At the ninth, Eric rebuilt the entire green complex and the surrounds, adding stacked, sod-faced bunkers greenside, but eliminating the cross-hazard that used to bisect the fairway. The approach on four now has a lower fairway so you see the green better, but there are new bunkers on the sides and behind. At six, he did the reverse, putting in a new stack bunker in front of the green.
In fact, all the bunkers at Bayonne are Scottish style, stacked, sod-faced bunkers. A few years ago, I taught Eric a synthetic way to do it.
