Over the past 15 years the Club has made a conscious effort of selecting bent grass varieties to create an old school feel with mottled colour throughout the greens.
Back in the mid 2000’s the Club rebuilt all the greens and the grass varieties selected were G2, Penncross, Highland and Seaside. These are four old varieties which produced varying colours throughout the greens once they established. Since then, those varieties have been phased out with three of the four being unavailable. Trials were undertaken in 2019 on the chipping green with some different selections of grasses to see what we could use if we ever did replace the greens.
Those grasses were four different selections. They were 007, another mix was some of the remaining grasses that we already used another mix was A-1 and A-4, the fourth used was Pure Distinction which we decided against.
During the construction of the 10th hole, we seeded the green with a mixture that was available at the time which is 007 (Lake Karrinyup GC), 007 XL and 777, these three are combined to be called Dominance Extreme. Along with the Dominance Extreme we found a small supply of Penncross, which is one of the varieties from the original mix along with a variety called A-4 which is an older variety as well. There are five grasses in the 10th green and as time progresses that green will show the different mottled appearances which is what we are after. We are looking for the old school feel rather than a pure stand of grass which is why we want the different varieties. Moving forward we are going to have to discuss what varieties we select, as time moves on the grass types that are available now are not guaranteed to be available in the future.
Currently it may look like there is one variety on the 10th green and over the next year it will probably look like this but as time goes on the 10th green will transition back to being a different variation of grasses and different colours within.
Original greens are G2, Penncross, Highland and Seaside.
New 10th green 007, 007 XL, 777, A-4 and Penncross.
Nathan Bennett
Course Superintendent