San Antonio, Texas, USA
February 5, 2018
t the Golf Industry Show on Tuesday, February 6, Team Zoysia hosts the Zoysia & The Future of Golf Tour at Bladerunner Farms, located just south of San Antonio in Poteet, Texas. The focus of the tour is the scientific breakthrough in zoysiagrass breeding and research that promises to change the way golf courses are grassed. Zoysia, a sustainable family of grasses, (low water, low inputs, lower maintenance costs) has been touted in recent years for its beauty and playability on fairways and tees. But now, new varieties bred especially for golf greens are ready for use in the golf market—something virtually unheard of until now.
A presentation by Texas A&M University’s Dr. Ambika Chandra will unveil the very first hybrid zoysiagrass bred for use on golf greens. This zoysia, tested as DALZ 1308 and named TamGreen, also represents a scientific breakthrough in its standing as the first hybrid developed specifically for putting greens by crossing two different turfgrass species, zoysia minima and zoysia matrella.
“The problem with putting green zoysias historically is that they’re known to roll too slow for tournament play,” Dr. Chandra said. “DALZ 1308 solves that.”
TamGreen, (DALZ 1308), is licensed and marketed by Bladerunner Farms, the world’s largest privately owned zoysia research center.
Tour attendees will also see results of decades of research on drought tolerance, shade tolerance, salinity tolerance, playability and turf quality.
The tour includes eight stations with presentations from Ken Mangum, CGCS, on why zoysia is suited for golf; Brad Burgess and Jim Prusa on international perspective of zoysia use; Dr. Brian Schwartz from the University of Georgia on new breeding advances; Dr. Marla Binzel debuts new research findings on the salt tolerance of zoysiagrass; David Doguet of Bladerunner Farms will discuss planting zoysia from tee to green; Dr. Jack Fry of Kansas State University will present information on cold tolerance; Dr. Milt Engelke will instruct on zoysia maintenance and equipment; and Dr. Chandra will talk further about her zoysia breeding program at Texas A&M.
Following a tour of Bladerunner Farms, the tour moves to Oak Hill Country Club in San Antonio led by Golf Course Architect Tripp Davis and Golf Course Superintendent Riley Maxey. The course was recently grassed with several zoysia.
In anticipation of the GIS tour, Maxey discussed his experience in grassing Oak Hills with zoysia.
“Once it’s established the playing surface is much, much better with zoysia versus bermuda, in my opinion,” said Maxey.
Oak Hills is grassed with zoysia on most surfaces Tees are Trinity Zoysia. Fairways are Zeon Zoysia. Roughs are grassed witht JaMur Zoysia with Cutlass Zoysia accents. Maxey said he’s noticed his zoysia turf requires less fertilizer, less maintenance and recovers faster from drought conditions than other grasses.
“From a maintenance standpoint we’ve seen a lot of ability to maintain more consistent conditions with less inputs, whether that’s labor, fertility, water. It’s just a little bit easier on zoysia grass to have the same conditions day in and day out,” said Maxey. “If you’re going to spend that amount of money to truly be happy with your product, that zoysiagrass is definitely the way to go.”
See Team Zoysia and the new grasses from Bladerunner Farms at Golf Industry Show Booth #25101.
ABOUT BLADERUNNER FARMS
Bladerunner Farms is the world’s largest privately held zoysiagrass and buffalograss research and development facility. Current releases include: Zeon Zoysia, L1F Zoysia, Lowrider Zoysia, Y2 Zoysia, JaMur Zoysia, Density Buffalograss and Eco Buffalograss, Cutlass Zoysia and Habiturf. Bladerunner works in conjunction with the University of Georgia to conduct research. Grasses are licensed for sod production by Doguet Ventures, and The Turfgrass Group and outside of the U.S. by Team Zoysia International. Bladerunner Farms is headquartered in Poteet, Texas, just south of San Antonio. 830-276-4455, info@bladerunnerfarms.com , www.bladerunnerfarms.com
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