It’s only 101 days left until the much-anticipated 2023 Ryder Cup takes place at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club. Back in May, I mentioned that Hilton was selected as the worldwide partner for the 2023 Ryder Cup.
One of the least talked about in the golf media is what the quality of the golf course and turf will be like when the Ryder Cup begins.
I was already aware that the 2023 Ryder Cup golf course would use Pure Seed and Atlas Turf International turf seeds. Let the new information come now.
When the 44th edition of the Ryder Cup, the stage will be set with a complete portfolio of championship turfgrasses, including:
- Pure Distinction Creeping Bentgrass: tolerates low mowing+ tolerates wet, cool, and moist climates + has a beautiful green color + forms a thick mat of grass excellent for golfing. Requires unique maintenance practices for optimum growth, making Bentgrass somewhat incompatible with other species
- Pure Dynasty® Seeded Paspalum: tighter density + excellent wear tolerance + better disease resistance + reduced mowing heights for wall-to-wall applications
- PureLinks Fescue.
European Golf Design was selected for the job, with lead architect Dave Sampson spearheading the redesign.
For the turfgrass, the challenge entailed selecting the varieties best suited for the climate, possessing the ability to execute the designer’s vision, and most capable of delivering playability up to par with the legendary golf challenge.
The turfgrasses meeting the demanding criteria are nearly all developed by Pure-Seed Testing, distributed by Pure Seed, and co-marketed by Atlas Turf International.
2023 Ryder Cup turfgrass – Explanation
Pure Distinction Creeping Bentgrass is the selection of the green. Tees, fairways, approaches, and collars feature Pure Dynasty Seeded Paspalum, and the roughs are Pure Links, a proprietary blend of tall and fine fescues.
Pure Distinction
Pure Distinction is known as a premium-putting green grass for its smooth and true playing surface with dense, upright growth.
In addition, Pure Distinction is heat and cold-resistant, beneficial for the widely varying temperatures of Rome. The turfgrass has good disease resistance, excellent wear tolerance and offers quick recovery from injury.
Some of the many championship facilities featuring Pure Distinction include
- The Golf Course at Adare Manor in Ireland,
- Burning Tree Country Club in Connecticut, and
- The Club at Chatham Hills in Indiana.
Pure Dynasty
Pure Dynasty is an advanced blend and the only seeded paspalum product currently on the market. It shares genetics with the vegetative variety Platinum TE™ Paspalum, which was recently in the spotlight as the turfgrass of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar.
Pure Dynasty delivers an exceptional turf surface with tighter density, heat and cold tolerance, improved disease resistance, and the sustainability advantages of drought tolerance and superior salt tolerance.
Its versatility allows for the varying heights of cut of the tees, fairways, collars, and surrounds at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.
PureLinks
Rounding out the turfgrass selection at Marco Simone is PureLinks fescue in the roughs. The specially designed blend of the highest-performing tall and fine fescue varieties delivers the desired characteristics of playability, color, disease and drought resistance, salt tolerance, and quick establishment.
The majority of the PureLinks fescue varieties selected are qualified by the Turfgrass Water Conservation Alliance for demonstrating a statistically significant water-saving potential across rigorous multi-year drought trials.
Pure-Seed Testing, Inc.
All of the turfgrasses featured at Marco Simone, with the exception of two components in the fescue blend, are products of Pure-Seed Testing, Inc.
Developing innovative varieties since the 1970s, Pure-Seed Testing is the largest privately held grass seed researcher in the world with over 200 acres, ongoing research in over 20 countries, and over 1,000 experimental cultivars across 20 species in development.
Atlas Turf International partners with Pure Seed to bring the highest quality and most innovative turfgrass products to projects worldwide.