Abaco, Bahamas (Friday, January 5, 2007): The Toronto Star’s 2006 Golf Preview Magazine ranks the Abaco Club on Winding Bay in the Bahamas as the Number Six golf course in the world. All 18 greens at the Abaco Club are grassed with SeaDwarf Seashore Paspalum. The rest of the course–tees, fairways and roughs–is grassed with SeaGreen Seashore Paspalum.
The course was designed by Scottish Architect Donald Steel with construction supervised by Stewart T. Bennett, CGCS, a consultant and expert in Seashore Paspalm turfgrass.
What makes Seashore Paspalum grasses such as SeaDwarf so special is that the grass is highly salt tolerant while providing a beautiful, highly playable golf course surface. SeaDwarf also requires significantly less water and fertilizer than many other grasses.
The Abaco Club at Winding Bay was built in 2004. Bennett said he expected the course would need to be able to withstand salt spray, drought and other inclement weather. But he never expected the course, grassed tee-to-green with paspalum, would have to survived not one, but two hurricanes during grow-in.
"We needed a grass that was both drought and salt tolerant and could flourish in an environment not fit for man, nor beast. The locations receives about 20" of rain annually and is located on an island, with many of the golf holes running parallel to the coast. The course design was such that many holes would undoubtedly receive salt spray on a regular basis just from normal winds, and the entire area in general is prone to storms that would cause salt water flooding. We needed to guard ourselves to all of the above problems, but at the same time, have a fine textured turf," Bennett said.
The course and its SeaDwarf Seashore Paspalum greens would be tested before the first golf club was swung.
"We began grassing the end of February, 2004. We were nearing the end of a 4-year ‘drought’ and I remember planting the first grass and watching the wind blow sand all over the place. We’d had about 4-inches of rain in the previous eight months and I remember thinking to myself: ‘I’m nervous, and if I were planting Bermuda grass right now, I’d probably be nauseated,’" he said.
Hurricane Frances hit the island on September 3rd, 2004, packing 120 mph winds that threw rocks the size of basketballs all over #17 & #18, and caused billions of gallons of salt water flooding.
"The grass browned a bit after 2-3 days. We irrigated with fresher water and two weeks later there was no noticeable difference from before storm," Bennett said.
Frances also covered hole #s 4,5,6 in about three-feet of sand. Bennett’s crew used heavy equipment, then shovels to remove the sand. Again, he remembers, "We irrigated and two-weeks later, no noticeable difference."
Just three weeks after Frances, Hurricane Jeanne payed a visit to Abaco on September 25th, 2004. Jeanne brought with her 115 mph winds and 30-inches of rain in 24-hours.
Jeanne left similar damage to Frances, and the paspalum rebounded just as quickly.
"The grass performed beyond my expectations. It was our original thought that this type grass would be needed in the event of a hurricane. We had no idea we would get 1, much less 2 before we were even done with construction. The owner was very pleased and he recalled the time I stated that we need a "hurricane proof golf course". The architect said we had proved all that we said we could do," Bennet said.
The par-72 championship Abaco Club at Winding Bay plays to a length of 7,183 yards and is designed in a ‘tropical links’ style. The Toronto Star’s ranking puts the Abaco Club and SeaDwarf in the very prestigious company of some of the most storied courses in the world including Turnberry Scotland, Pinehurst, Pebble Beach and the Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland.
SeaDwarf Seashore Paspalum is the only true dwarf variety of all commercially available seashore paspalum turfgrasses.
It can be used on golf courses from tee-to-green and on sports fields and home lawns. SeaDwarf is a very environmentally friendly turfgrass in that it requires up to 50% less water and up to 75% less fertilizer than bermudagrass. It can
tolerate high levels of salt from salt spray or irrigation.
For more information on SeaDwarf Seashore Paspalum or to find a licensed sod producer near you, call 772-460-5575 or visit: www.environmentalturf.com.
Contact:
Stacie Zinn
Cell: 239-398-4224
stacie@environmentalturf.com
