Mini-Verde Bermudagrass set to replace L93 bentgrass

By Alan Blondin

The Sun News

MURRELLS INLET - In an attempt to eliminate chronic problems with greens at the Tournament Players Club of Myrtle Beach, course owners will close the layout this summer and introduce a new grass to the Grand Strand.

The course is tentatively scheduled to close on June 11 for at least a couple months while it becomes the first on the Strand to have Mini-Verde Bermudagrass installed on its greens.

L93 bentgrass has been featured on the greens since the TPC opened in 1999. Like other bentgrasses, L93 flourishes in cool weather and typically struggles in the summer. TPC co-owner Chip Smith said both the TPC at Sawgrass in Florida and TPC of Louisiana have planted Mini-Verde, and it has performed well.

"The transition struggle each fall has been there since the course opened," Smith said. "If we can fix it and make it a permanent first-class solution, that's our goal. And we feel Mini-Verde is the right way to do that."

Mini-Verde is an ultra-dwarf grass in the mold of the Champions and TifEagle Bermudagrasses that a number of courses on the Strand have installed. Mini-Verde has small blades, doesn't have as much grain as older standard types of Bermuda, and can tolerate an extremely low cut.

Smith said soil studies have shown many of the TPC's greens have poor water penetration, so the top 6 inches of soil will be replaced. The course closed in September in order to sod six greens, and some of those same greens had to be re-sodded, though there are now few problem areas since the weather has cooled.

"That's putting a Band-Aid on a problem, and I want to do it right," said Smith, who is not sure if the greens will be overseeded with poa trivialis in the winter. He plans to visit The Patriot in Greenwood to see its greens, which weren't overseeded and were painted green for the winter.

Drainage work on holes has been ongoing at the TPC, and compaction areas in bunkers will be repaired while the course is closed.

"During the time the course is closed we'll do a lot more work on the golf course just to have it as good as it can possibly be when we reopen," Smith said. "... If you've got this brand and the expectation here, you've got to have a good product. So it's worth every penny of it. I'm going to do whatever's necessary financially to make them right."

The course will also see new housing and additions to its practice facilities. As early as this fall Smith intends to begin building a 5,000-square-foot teaching, fitness and performance center on the back side of the driving range complete with indoor hitting bays through garage doors, video and computer equipment, and a lounge. Smith intends to hire a well-known kinesiologist in Hilton Head.

An 18,000-square-foot chipping and putting green complex with a bunker will also be built through a donation from a Coastal Carolina alum. Smith is also a CCU grad, and the school's golf team will have access to the TPC's facilities.

"I don't think anybody has taken advantage of what's here," Smith said. "One of my goals has been to turn it into more of a full scale golf resort ... There will be some type of teaching academy back there. Whether it's by appointment only or advertised is up in the air."

Smith owns the property stretching from the first tee box to TPC Boulevard, and intends to develop that into 158 four-bedroom condos that will all have memberships built into their purchase.

Smith and TPC co-owner Danny Young also own another 40-plus acres near the 18th hole that they plan to develop into 136 multi-family units. The two gated-community developments will be named Champions Village and Players Village.