Courses Worth A Look

Convert the turf, and these Southern clubs could well be hosting major championships in 2020 and beyond

By Ron Whitten

Follow: @RonWhittenGD

August 2011

Take a tour of Atlanta Athletic Club
Photo by Stephen Szurelj

In the August issue of Golf Digest, I suggest that the super turfgrasses employed at Atlanta Athletic Club's Highlands Course for this year's PGA Championship (pictured) -- Champion Dwarf Bermudagrass on the greens, Diamond Zoysiagrass on the fairways, and Tifton 10 Hybrid Bermudagrass in the rough -- will perform so well that many Southern courses will adopt those or similar warm weather grasses in order to land a future U.S. Open or PGA Championship.

Only three Southern venues are guaranteed future major championships right now: The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C. (which has Paspalum greens) hosts the PGA next year, Pinehurst No. 2 (still with bent-grass greens) hosts both the men's and women's U.S. Opens in 2014 and Quail Hollow in Charlotte will be the site of the 2018 PGA Championship. (I predict its bent greens will be replaced with Champion or Mini Verde Bermudagrass in preparation for that event.)

The concern with bent-grass greens, of course, is that in excessive summer heat, they must be periodically cooled, usually by stopping play and syringing the surfaces with a light watering. That keeps them alive, but disrupts play, changes the playing characteristics (albeit slightly) and can make them a bit less firm than desired for a championship event. Given the low heights needed to achieve green speeds of 13 or more on a Stimpmeter, bent greens are often pushed to the edge of survival during a hot summer event. Following an event, a club could end up with dead bent-grass greens.

The concern with Bermuda greens was that it can get very cold during winter months in places like Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, even deep into Florida, so clubs end up with dead Bermuda greens in spring. But I'm told Champion Bermuda can withstand chills down to 20 below, and if the greens are covered during cold winter winds and ice storms, they should survive without damage.

So, what clubs might benefit from a switch to hybrid Bermuda greens in order to land a major? What follows are my picks, listed alphabetically by state.

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Country Club of Birmingham

I admit I haven't seen its West Course since Pete Dye's latest reiteration of it in 2009, but am sure there's no semblance of CCB's original architect Donald Ross left. Still, I'd like seeing pros tangle with Pete Dye in another PGA Championship.

Courtesy of Country Club of Birmingham