From: Rob Cuncic
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 6:33 AM
My wife Arlin and I left on the 16th of November with our dog Max.
Philip Jennings Turf near Savannah, Georgia, was the destination for the first leg of our trip. Up to this point there was still some discussion about what variety of turf we would use on our project. Philip Jennings Turf works closely with Dr. Ronnie Duncan, the world's leading expert on a new variety of grass called Paspalum. More importantly Philip Jennings Turf is the only supplier of the newest Paspalum cultivar called PlatinumTE.
Paspalum may be the most environmentally-friendly grass ever developed. It originated on seashore sand dunes in Australia and developed a number of its desirable characteristics there like a high tolerance for salt and an ability to adapt to changing climactic conditions. PlatinumTE carries all of these characteristics as well as a dark green colour that will remind many of our friends from the cooler climates of Kentucky Bluegrass.
Paspalum requires about half the water as Bermuda grasses and can be grown using very little nitrogen. Using Paspalum in a "wall to wall" application meaning using the same grass for greens, tees, fairways, and rough but mowing it at different heights as required for these areas will keep other grasses and weeds out leading to very small amounts of herbicides being used. At Philip Jennings Turf we saw 3,000 acres of a variety of turfs being grown and shipped around the world.
While we were there we observed a shipment of sprigs destined for Cairo, Egypt on refrigerated container like the one we will recieve in Costa Rica.
I should mention that Philip Jennings Turf was kind enough to put us up at the Flat Creek Lodge. I've never seen quite a mixture of fine dining and game hunting before. If you are ever near Savannah, Georgia check this place out.
Impressed with everything we had seen at Philip Jennings Turf we were off to San Antonio, Texas.
The Cordillera Ranch Golf Club is located about a half hour North of San Antonio and has a Platinum TE Paspalum putting green. Up to this point I hadn't seen the Platinum mowed at greens height (about 90 thousandths of an inch).
Did I mention we had to stay a night in New Orleans on our way to San Antonio? I think Max had the best time in New Orleans. The mixture of people and Bayou culture had him looking around like a true tourist.
Back to the Paspalum. The Superintendant at the Cordillera Ranch, K.D. Davis, took me for a tour and showed me the Platinum putting green. There were two greens side by side. One was a bent grass putting green and the other was the Platinum Paspalum -- they looked almost identical. There was a member there hitting chip shots and he didn't realize that they were different. That was enough for me to give this grass a resounding endorsement.
The first leg of our journey was a great success.
We crossed into Mexico at Laredo, Texas on the day of the American Thanksgiving (November 22nd). There are three vague options about how to get into Mexico there. There is a road to the left and a bridge on the center and right. We didn't know which way to go so we chose the the center option. When we got over the ridge it was readily apparent that we were in the wrong spot. I stopped my truck, looked at my wife and said what should we do now? Luckily there was a nice Mexican guy who was willing to ride on my rear bumper directing me to the proper customs agency. He charged me $30 dollars but he didn't know that I would have gladly paid him a hundred!
Since then we have had a wonderful time in Mexico and are staying at the Westin Resort in Puerto Vallarta right now.
This morning I will be meeting with the Superintendent from the Four Seasons Resort Golf Course in Punta Mita whom I met when I attended the turf conference in Costa Rica this October. We will be discussing various warm season turf grasses and analyzing how the ball rolls on them as we add up our scores.
Three thousand kms down and 2600 more to go. I'll keep you posted when I can through the rest of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicuaragua and into Costa Rica.
Rob
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