EarthGolf

I have to temper my desire to use the Geoff Shackelford crossout on the name of the upcoming PGA Tour tournament - The Players. Being contested on the renovated Sawgrass course (which I’ve seen referred to as TPC at Sawgrass, TPC course, The Players Stadium Course, Sawgrass), this year’s edition takes place in its new time slot - May. The move to May is a good move, in my opinion. Although I do admit that I missed the tournament the two weeks prior to the Masters - it signaled the start of the golf season for me.

Some information, fairly specific even, has been written about how the course will be setup for this year.

When golfers do stray [from the 25-30 yard fairways], they’ll find Bermuda grass of 2 3/4 inches instead of the 4-5 inches of rye. Pushing the event back six weeks obviated the need for overseeding. The result is players will often find lies of intermediate quality, causing continual discretionary angst as they fret over how willing they are to attack resistant new putting surfaces with potential chunks and flyers.

Meanwhile, the greens are already so firm Klauk has been instructed to slow them down. They will be mowed, he says, to produce speeds of 11 on the Stimpmeter, stickier than recent editions.

We’ve found out a good bit about the renovations - Ron Whitten penned a lengthy article for Golf Digest on the course.

For greens, Dye selected the latest turfgrass innovation, MiniVerde Ultradwarf Bermuda, as fine-bladed as any bent-grass green, so it can be mowed as short as bent. It’s never grainy, and it’s also the rare Bermuda that keeps its green color throughout the winter.

The hybrid Bermuda on tees, fairways and chipping areas was upgraded; for a contrasting rough, workers mixed it with old-fashioned Common Bermuda, a gnarly combination when allowed to grow to three inches.

Common Bermuda in the rough? Bermuda greens? Interesting.

Popularity: 3% [?]