In the last week, we at Novogreen have had the opportunity to visit some of the best courses in South Texas. This interesting trip took place alongside a group of the best greenkeepers in Spain, on the occasion of the celebration of the Golf International Show 2018 in San Antonio (Texas).
This group consisted of Ignacio Soto from Finca Cortesín, José María Menacho from La Reserva de Sotogrande, Eugenio Escribano from the Royal Club of Seville, Javier Gutiérrez from actua Golf Services, Juan Manuel López-Bellido of the Royal Spanish Equestrian Society Country Club, Rafael Castro already Jaime Linares from Novogreen, and Daniel Rodriguez from Real Golf de Pedreña.
The trip began in Spain, as before heading to the airport we took the opportunity to see the interesting renovations being carried out at Lomas Bosque in Madrid. Thanks to Ignacio Cano and acttua Golf Services, we were able to see the bunker modifications being made by Mafer Golf at these facilities, as well as appreciate the first demonstration in Spain of the Dura Bunker and Better Billy Bunker combination.
The objective of this interesting trip, apart from attending GIS 2018, was to learn firsthand about the behavior of new varieties of Bermuda shorts more tolerant of the cold, such as Latitude 36, as well as the behavior of dwarf bermuda shorts of greens such as Mini Verde and Sunday.
For this first part we were received and accompanied by an excellent local host, the superintendent. Jorge Croda, who would be named Superintendent of the Year that same week. We would like to extend our sincerest congratulations to him.
Jorge opened the doors for us to the best golf courses in the Dallas and Fort Worth area, making it possible for us to be hosted at the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas, captained by Anthony Williams; Mira Vista Country Club, managed by Mike Epps. Kevin Long He opened the doors of The First Tee Fort Worth at the Ben Hogan Learning Center for us, allowing us to see how the future stars of world golf are trained. To conclude the tour, Jorge showed us the facilities of Southern Oaks Golf & Tennis Club, where he is the superintendent.
In some of these facilities we were fortunate enough to meet and share experiences with technical staff from the Royal Spanish Golf Federation (David Gómez, Luis Casado y Fernando Expósito).
All together, and invited by the local authorities, we were lucky enough to attend a typical Texas rodeo and immerse ourselves in other local customs.
On the second day before GIS 2018 we were received by Roberto Gurgel from the company Sod Solutions, which organized an impressive road trip for us to show us the performance and advantages of the Latitude 36 Bermuda shorts and how they coexist with it in dormancy without any influence on the game. On this tour, we were able to visit Vaquero Club, GlenEagles CC, and Trophy Club CC in the Dallas area, before moving on to the College Station area to see the wonderful facilities of Texas A&M University.
On the third day we were received by Eric Bauer, director of agronomy at Blue Jack National and former classmate of Ignacio Soto, which showed us how a golf course with different varieties of Zoysias at the highest level, even in winter. At Novogreen, we believe this will be the guiding principle for choosing turfgrass species in the future, due to the lower input requirements of these species, as well as the decline in the quantity and quality of water in Spain.
From there we went to San Antonio to enjoy and learn from the world's largest golf trade show, GIS 2018. Once there, we were able to share experiences with other national and international superintendents, learn firsthand about the latest innovations and technologies in all areas of the golf world, as well as hold interesting meetings with companies such as Sod Solutions, Atlas Turf and associations such as Zoysia Team, in order to learn about the latest varieties that may be of interest to the European market.
Thanks to Zoysia Team, we had the opportunity to visit Blade Runner Sod Farm, an incredible turf farm specializing in all types of Zoysias for tees, fairways, greens, etc.
On this farm, all kinds of tests are carried out (fertilization, herbicide application, water stress, etc.) which result in the varieties that will be released to the market and that will best adapt to current conditions.
After an interesting week of experiences and learning, it's now time to go home and put all this new knowledge into practice.
Jaime Linares
Technical Sales Department
