Search for Better Bentgrass Leads Country Club of Rockies to A-4 From West Coast Turf

When you represent a spectacular Jack Nicklaus "links" layout in the exclusive resort haven of Vail, CO, you don't take chances when rebuilding your greens. Kevin Ross, superintendent of the Country Club of the Rockies understood that clearly. As a former student of bentgrass guru Dr. Joe Duich at Penn State, Ross wasn't going to make a hasty decision. Penncross had served the 13-year-old, 18-hole course admirably since its opening. It would take a solid contender to replace Penncross.

After months of research, reviewing the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program plots at Colorado State University, and a guided tour by Duich, including Ross, the club manager, club president and head golf professional, to courses in Phoenix and Palm Springs, an offspring of Penncross from the Penn State program was selected. The decision to use A-4 was unanimous, as was the decision to use West Coast Turf as the supplier. Even so, the conservative team chose to do only the greens on the front nine and two practice greens.

"We basically had two problems we wanted to solve, annual bluegrass and (its nemesis) drought," explains Ross. "Even though the course sits 7,500 feet up in the mountains, the sun is extremely hot, we don't have many trees, and the course only gets an inch of rain per month during the summer. The combination of low rainfall and wind can make you lose sleep at night. I was concerned about stressing the Penncross by cutting lower, getting more Poa invasion, and risking the loss of the Poa from heat. The Poa was between 15 and 20 percent. We also have it in the fairways and tees, so we needed a bentgrass that would be so dense that would resist Poa annua."

Ross discovered that A-4 thrives at 1/8-inch, has three times the density of its forefather at lower fertility, and does not exhibit grain whatsoever. "It seems to prefer the 1/8-inch cut and needs less water and nitrogen," Ross adds. "A-4 passed the test and we are going to use it to rebuild the greens on the back nine next spring.

After the 1,200-mile trip in refrigerated trucks from West Coast Turf's farm in Bermuda Dunes, CA to Vail, the sod wasted no time knitting. "We install the next nine greens on May 1 and fully expect to be ready for play no later than mid-June next summer," Ross points out. "That's what research can do for a superintendent. And, it's always nice to have a management team that enjoys the research as much as you do.