“It’s the most environmentally friendly grass in the world.” Dr. Ron Duncan is a turf researcher at the University of Georgia and a leading expert on seashore paspalum. “And environmentally friendly from the standpoint that you can save the potable water use from the human side and utilize all other alternative water sources like brackish water or water out of sewage plants to irrigate this grass.  Also you have a reduced management budget because it requires about half the fertilizers that you normally use on the other grasses. Also you can save on pesticide use.”

 

What makes seashore paspalum so special is that it can survive and thrive in high-salt environments. So brackish water or partially salty water can be used to irrigate this grass. This translates into big savings for the golf course. 

 

“We estimate at this point we are gonna reduce our dependency on fresh water by about 65-75%, that'll save us somewhere, in a range of 175-200 thousand dollars annually on fresh water.” 

 

Steve Forrest is the architect who designed this golf course. He says seashore paspalum has other advantages besides being environmentally friendly.

 

“This grass is able to provide a striping pattern and the black you would see on a football field or if you are vacuuming your carpet. This grass is also greener or darker green in texture, so you can again have different contrast in color throughout the golf course which is desirable from the architectural standpoint of view.”

 

So do golfers rate seashore paspalum as a birdie or a bogie?   

 

“I will definitely come back and I was very impressed to it."

 

"We've come down the play three rounds and we've played at three different courses and this is by far the best.” 

 

“The end use is here, it’s not in my research plot, it’s not at the University of Georgia. It’s where it's gonna be used. And the acceptance of the golfers now, and various people trying this grass in a lot of different areas, that’s the pleasure that I’m getting.”

 

Seashore paspalum appears to be a green solution that's par for the course.