New grass may turn out to be greener

Paspalum thrives on brackish water, which makes it attractive to golf courses and may help conservation efforts.

By JOSH ZIMMER

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 23, 2001

TAMPA -- The Apollo Beach Golf and Sea Club has never looked quite so bad. Work crews have ripped up every green and tee box at the course designed by famed golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr.

Piles of dirt and dead grass lie where players once prayed for straight drives and clutch putts.

But there is a method to the madness. In coming weeks, at a cost of about $500,000, the course will be replanted with a grass some refer to as the next miracle turf.

It is called seashore paspalum, a native coastal grass with varieties that look and feel like mainstream grasses such as Bermuda and St. Augustine. However, the real beauty of paspalum is its ability to thrive on brackish water and, some think, saltwater. In drought-stricken Florida, the potential benefits are clear.

Last week, the Apollo Beach course's part-owner Tom Doozan rubbed his hand over a patch of experimental paspalum called salam, which carpets the driving range. After a month of irrigation with saltwater from a nearby tidal pond and repeated mowing, the grass was lush and strong.

"This has been getting straight saltwater," he said, "and we haven't seen any problems."

Once a behind-the-scenes curiosity, paspalum is slowly entering the marketplace.

Several other Florida courses are experimenting with strains of paspalum. Meanwhile, turf providers are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on paspalum fields in hopes of creating a new market with homeowners, developers and government entities. Some Home Depot stores, including outlets in Clearwater, Spring Hill and Crystal River, sell a variety called Sea Isle I, company spokeswoman Jackie Tate said.

Paspalum could help ease Florida's freshwater shortages without forcing a complete overhaul of landscaping habits, advocates say. Some optimistically predict paspalum could challenge Bermuda as the state's most popular golfing turf, and even threaten the king of Florida grasses -- St. Augustine.

Water-thirsty St. Augustine, which covers about 60 percent of Florida's estimated 4-million acres of freshwater lawn turf, is often cited as one of the biggest obstacles to conservation efforts.

When it comes to surviving shade, St. Augustine is better, said Laurie Trenholm, a professor of turfgrass science at the University of Florida who is studying Sea Isle I. But although both grasses lose their color in dry weather, paspalum is more tolerant to drought, as well as to normal wear and tear, she said.

Paspalum also appears to require less fertilizer and pesticides, which would reduce the flow of pollutants into ground and surface water. With its endless shorelines, Florida seems like a perfect host.

Paspalum "will work very well in almost any coastal area," Trenholm said. "It's not going to be the perfect grass in every situation."

Much of the work on paspalum has been performed by Ronnie Duncan, a turf expert at the University of Georgia. Duncan is convinced the grass can revolutionize the turf industry.

"The first time I saw it I thought it had potential," he said. "The color, the texture -- it looked like Bermuda grass. The more I dug into it, the more interesting it became."

Based on a native Argentinian grass, Sea Isle I can grow as far north as the Carolinas, Dallas and southern California, he said.

"I don't see anything that different with this grass than any other grass on the market. The primary interest is, it is so environmentally friendly. We explain that to everybody; (it uses) less fertilizer, less pesticides and less potable water."

But paspalum's progress has not come without controversy. A grass that is touted as the best paspalum variety to date for golf greens -- Sea Isle 2000 -- is at the center of a lawsuit over patent rights.

Duncan and the owners of the grasses he develops -- the University of Georgia and the University of Georgia Research Foundation -- are defendants in a case brought by Stewart Bennett, the owner of Alden Pines Country Club in Lee County.

The sides agree that in 1993 Bennett agreed to let Duncan lift paspalum samples from Alden Pines. Duncan would develop those blades into Sea Isle 2000. Bennett, however, claims Duncan reneged on an agreement to share royalties if it were marketed commercially. He filed for an injunction to prevent the university from selling the grass.

Sea Isle 2000 remains in limbo while the case is decided.

Paspalum offers the golf industry an opportunity to improve its reputation with those who charge that golf courses waste natural resources.

"Based on what we've seen to date, this grass will be used," said John H. Foy, director of the U.S. Golf Association's green section in Florida. "We need a little more time to get a handle on all its management requirement and performance before we say it's going to totally replace Bermuda grass or is going to be a niche grass."

Over at Apollo Beach, part-owner Doozan is both excited and nervous about the replanting project. Work has been delayed by heavy rain. The course is closed and Doozan is eager to start recouping lost revenues.

But if the new tees and greens turn out as expected, he and his partners will continue with plans to redo the entire course in salam -- a $900,000 proposition.

"I know we're being watched closely," he said.

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