Tiger Woods’ first US design at Bluejack National begins to take shape
Grassing will get underway later this month at the Bluejack National course, the first Tiger Woods-designed course scheduled to open in the US.
The majority of the 18-hole course near Houston, Texas, will be grassed with two varieties of zoysiagrass – Zeon Zoysia and L1F Zoysia – which has been developed by Texan firm Bladerunner Farms. The only exception is the green surfaces, which will be grassed with TifEagle bermudagrass.
Additionally, the Bluejack National course will not feature any rough in a bid to increase pace of play and make the course a more enjoyable experience for golfers.
“We’re blanketing the entire fairway playing area with Zeon Zoysia,” explained Eric Bauer, director of agronomy at Bluejack National. “Tee tops and green surrounds are L1F Zoysia, a new variety that can tolerate lower mowing heights. It will allow us to take the height down shorter. This is based on the desires of the Tiger Woods design team to create a lot of different shot options.”
Beacon Land Development, the development company behind the Bluejack National project, decided to turf the zoysiagrass rather than sprig it as, due to the site’s residential element, it was important to open as scheduled.
Not only does zoysiagrass require less water and fertiliser than bermudagrass, but it also offers improved shade tolerance, something crucial to the Bluejack course, which Bauer describes as being ‘significantly wooded’.
The course’s construction is being carried out by Medalist Golf and the turf used to grass the course has been grown by Texas-based All Seasons Turf Grass.
Bauer confirmed that a total of 97 acres are being turfed, with the intention of having the course grown-in and ready for play by autumn 2015.