Photo: Tahoma 31 cool-season grasses that were on the fairways suffered in the heat of summer, and we don’t have enough water to irrigate, so it was very challenging. “It makes the fairways faster and firmer because we have less material, and the ball is going to roll longer so it could make the course a little bit shorter… but that’s something the members say they are very happy about. Also, we shouldn’t forget that we don’t need to irrigate as much as the cool-season grass. So again, it’s drier, it’s firmer during the season and it’s improving the playability of the golf course.” Perez adds: “Almost every year in France, we have water restrictions during the summer period. Sometimes, at the end of August and September, we only have the authorisation to water the greens.” Planting a grass like Tahoma 31 that can survive with little to no irrigation in the heat of summer and hold on until water is again available for irrigation was critical to the success of the project. Reyes added that the club is considering changing over to reclaimed water as its irrigation source. As bermudagrasses, in general, can handle some amount of salt and poor water quality, the selection makes even more sense. Along with herbicides, fungicide use is severely restricted in France. “None of our customers in France spray fairways for several reasons: the cost, the need to close the golf course and the need to reduce the use of phytosanitary products,” says Reyes. “Compared with Tifway 419, the amount of spring dead spot that we are going to get on the Tahoma 31 is like 10 times less. Actually, we didn’t see any spring dead spot on our first fairway that we tested. Compared to the old cool-season fairways we are not suffering anymore from dollar spot or anthracnose.” Perez and his crew overseeded fairways to keep the grass green through the winter months. But, as the region has so few herbicide options, transitioning out of overseed had to be done mechanically, not chemically. This was just one more reason Tahoma 31 was the right choice for Cannes Mougins. Research shows that the grass is the last to go into fall dormancy and the first to green up in spring. Perez confirmed that by mid-March, the new grass was already breaking dormancy and starting to push out the overseed. Bindi and his crew installed Tahoma 31 sprigs on fairways in early July 2024 and 60 days later, in September, the course reopened for play. Reyes says the facility went from mud to a fully playable golf course in four weeks, which is practically unheard of. Reyes and Perez say the members were astounded. “I mean nobody believed that in 60 days it was perfectly playable,” says Reyes. “And it was better than when we closed the fairways.” The newly grassed fairways at Golf de Cannes Mougins can be cut much shorter (down from 14 to 9 millimetres), making the course play faster and firmer 79
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