DRIVING FORCES FOR GRASS SELECTION ATA CHAMPIONSHIP VENUE:GRASS SELECTION ATTHE CONGRESSIONAL COUNTRY CLUB,SITE OFTHE20II US OPEN

摘要

As the balls go bouncing down the fairways during this year's US Open Championship, you might wonder what grasses were used in the renovation of this Championship venue. Water use rates, disease resistance, heat tolerance, drought resistance and playing performance were all considerations when grasses were selected for the renovation of the Blue Course at the Congressional Country Club in 2009. Granted, playing performance is important, but there are many factors to consider when selecting grasses that tolerate the weather in our nation's capital, a Transition Zone area. The Congressional Country Club is located in Bethesda, Maryland where it can get brutally hot during the summer months. Last year for example, record-high temperatures were accompanied byrecord-level precipitation and this was a lethal combination for cool-season golf course turf. It seemed like a new storm was tracking up the east coast through the Washington D.C. area each week.