Mark Bostick Golf Course Grasses

          Living in Florida, there is not much of a variety of grasses that are used on golf courses. Most courses have a variety of Bermudagrass that are first and foremost used because of the hot weather, but secondly for the easy of maintenance. Courses use different types of bermudagrass for multiple reasons as well. One of the reasons has to do with the canopy, as some are thicker and some are thinner for greens and fairways respectively. The other reason is to have different shades of green so that the player can easily distinguish from green, to fringe, to fairway, and finally to rough. Here is a picture of the three different varieties of bermudagrass at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.

Using these pictures we can distinguish and discuss each of the grasses in detail,

Rough and Fairways: Tif Sport

         Tif Sport Bermuda is a new and improved sterile hybrid from irradiated stolons of Midiron bermudagrass. Tifway is another common grass used for fairways, however according to the Superintendent, TifSport is far better for a multitude of reasons. First off, TifSport has a better cold hardiness, more density and tensile strength, more mole cricket non-preference, and superior response to lower than .75" mowing heights. 

Tee Boxes and Fringe: Celebration

         Celebration Bermuda performs well in a variety of conditions and was top rated for drought toughness, even though in Florida that normally isn't a problem. The key to celebration is that it handles cold very well, meaning that in the summer when the rough turns brown and goes dormant, regular maintenance and upkeep keeps these fairways its normal blue-green color. Because of the nature of the grass, there is no need for over-seeding in the winter months, and in the summer when Aerificaiton takes place, the fairways grow back rapidly and in good shape.

Greens: Champion UltraDwarf

        A few years back, the Mark Bostick Golf Course underwent a change in management. They hired a new superintendent, and the first task was to replace the old greens. The USGA calls UltraDwarf the standard for golf courses in Florida. They are known for there extremely low mowing heights, creating a slick putting surface like carpet, and long lifespans. The USGA even released an advertisement titled, "Time for a Change" to encourage Superintendents to switch to this grass.

Bahia grass

       Finally, Bahia was planted in certain areas of the course to increase the difficulty of the rough. This grass is extremely think, and can grow much faster than the Bermuda used in the fairways and greens. It's design for the course is used to give the Varsity golfers a harder time when hitting out of the rough. This was a welcome change due the notion that the Mark Bostick is a wide open driving course.