When playing golf, people typically think of themselves as being ‘in nature’ (well for some of us anyway). However, when you take a step back, you realize that there is really nothing ‘natural’ or ‘green’ about the golf course. The grass that you walk on is carefully planted by golf course developers and is perfectly manicured day in and day out by maintenance crews. The grass typically used on a golf course needs perpetual upkeep; it to be watered a couple times a day, fertilized, and pesticides must be added. In most cases, the grass is watered with fresh water (not reclaimed); golf courses consume a non trivial amount of water each year. In Florida on a 55 acre golf course, the annual average water use is about 115.2 million gallons, and the annual cost to fertilize the Bermuda grass growing on it is $501/acre (do the math and it comes out to $27,555 to put something that his harmful to the animals and other wildlife that roams around on the golf course).
The article that I read is about a new kind of grass that has been discovered as a replacement for typical kinds of grasses such as Zoysia, Bermuda, Bentgrass, or Poanna. This type of grass can be irrigated with recycled “dirty” effluent and gray, brown or even salt water. I have read in places that it can be irrigated with brackish water, gray water, effluent or water with a salt content of up to 22,000 ppm, or in some cases, higher. It requires far less maintenance and fertilization than other grasses used on golf courses. While researches at the University of Georgia and the University of Florida have been propagating, patenting and marketing Paspalum for the past few years, the grass is actually a product of nature. Paspalum grows in the southern coast of South and Central America and western Africa; it is usually found in boggy, brackish backwaters. This type of grass is easy to install and can be used for baseball diamonds, football fields and soccer fields. It is extremely resilient as it has shown it can survive occasional hurricane flooding. Moreover, Paspalum thrives on on bad water and can transfer oxygen from the atmosphere down to its roots and rhizomes, so the quality of the soil is largely unimportant. So fresh water is no longer needed to water the golf course, but instead is only needed to rehydrate golfers.
Paspalum also has more redeeming attributes. It doesn’t require frequent mowing to maintain the smooth surfaces, and it needs only about half the amount of fertilizer as normal grass. Often, weeds and unwanted grass species can be treated with salt. For the 55 acre golf course in Florida, the annual cost to fertilize Paspalum is $282/acre. Less fertilizer means less nitrogen run-off from the water drained from golf courses. Additionally, it is highly resistant to most of the bugs, mold and bacteria that tends to plague many golf courses. So this means, in addition to saving lots of fresh water and fertilizer, the golf course superintendent doesn’t need to spay the course with pesticides and bacteria killers.
There have been many studies done by the various Paspalum turf developers as well as the USGA to test the playing qualities of this grass. Many studies have shown that golfers actually enjoy playing on Paspalum as much if not more than Bermuda or Bentgrass. Just think of all the ecological savings for the planet if playgrounds, athletic fields, backyards, parks and of course golf courses were planted with Paspalum.
Links below:
http://www.usga.org/turf/regional_updates/regional_reports/southeast/02-05-2007.html
http://www.sodfather.com/turf-grass/aloha-paspalum.asp
http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/2008_04/teedoff.php
