Anthony Nysse said: Andy Jorgensen said: Anthony Nysse said: Curtis-We have Celebration fairways and are in the process of doing tee, collars and apps. Best turf for the money, but also more aggressive than 419 and common, so it's purity will last. If you have common surrounds, the common WILL get into 419 eventually. So many courses are being turned on to Celebration for many positive reasons. I don't know a course that's doing renovation work that's not using it. TPC Sawgrass is sodding all their tees, approaches, collars and fairways as we speak. If the surface is good enough for the pros, its got to be good enough for the amateurs. You couldn't convince me to use 419 as a short cut grass. Most regressing projects in the last 5 years have used Celebration. They have it wall to wall at High Ridge. Palm Beach CC, also.
Tony,
What about using TifSport instead of 419? Please let me know your true feelings!!
I am not a fan of tifsport. It was planted here in the 2005 renovation and never was really the grass the club had hoped it was going to be. Our soils are quite inconsistent making things even more difficult. When the turf needed to shine (winter months) is when our tifsport was its worst. It did not hold up well to wear, was not aggressive enough in the spring to grow in thin areas and common filled the voids. I would rather have a more aggressive turf on fairways, tees and approaches than have to worry about them growing at all. AJ-I swear you're the exception as your tifsport (sh*tsport) glows like I've never seen.
On a course where common has been planted at one time or another, unless it's replaced with something as aggressive or more aggressive, the common will win, even with Methyl-Bromide.
Tony,
Although it has worked quite well for us, you are correct about common invading anything and sticking out like a sore thumb. Where our TifSport is pure, it is the superior grass on this property. Where the common has invaded, well.....there is no TifSport left. We are looking at Celebration as well for this reason, as it's not a matter of IF the common comes back, but WHEN. The common will blend in better with the Celebration (common off-type) than with the TifSport or 419.
Our plots we planted last year amazed me. They grew in very quick. The rear driving range tee was typical no-till with 3 apps of Round-up/ Fusilade, v-cut and aerified, then sprigged. We did another area where we applied four different rates of Primo, v-cut and aerified, then sprigged right on top. That area is about 80% Celebration right now with only about 30 days worth of downtime. Primo rate did not matter as I have another plot in which no Primo, no verticutting, no aerification or cutting in of the sprigs was performed. They were simply laid right on top and it's at about 70% Celebration right now. We were mowing all of this at .500" within two weeks of planting.
I have found that if you continuously mow the Celebration one direction to stripe it up, it will lay over quite a bit, and then attempts to cross-cut after this will leave lots of scalped turf. You gotta verti-cut as well. More frequently, I've been told.
But all in all, it's a nice grass. I like my TifSport better, and if there was a way to keep it pure, I wouldn't hesitate one bit to plant it again. But, until that day comes, Celebration it is!