If you drive around town, courses in Louisville are regaining that "green" that makes us all want to get out and play. That goes for all types of grasses. The bent grass courses like Valhalla, Nevel Meade, and others that hold this "cool weather" grass have been green all winter but in spring they really hit their most plush of levels.
The majority of courses in the area are "warm weather grasses" in that they have bermuda grass and zoysia grasses that go dormant in the colder months and when the temperatures rise so do these grasses in that they get fuller and greener. Many of the area public courses like Heritage Hill, Glenmary, Quail Chase, and many others have one of these cool weather grasses in their fairways.
The reason courses in Kentucky like to go with zoysia and bermuda is that they have very little maintenance in the winter when few golfers are playing, as well as they are easier to take care of in the summer months when temperatures are at their hottest. They thrive in dry, hot weather and do not require the amount of watering that bent grass does in the summer months heavy heat. This weather actually makes these grasses thicken up as it they are "creeping" grasses that will choke out most other grasses.
All of the greens in Kentucky are going to be bent grass greens because you can't really let your greens go dormant, and Kentucky's weather is not conducive to the weather needed for some other greens. If you go play in Florida very much you will find a lot of courses with poa annua greens, which in Kentucky is something we DON'T want in our greens. Pretty crazy to think about that.
You know summer is right around the corner when temperature's are hitting the 80's again, the green grasses get greener, and the brown, dormant grasses get green too. Now is really the time to get on the course before it hits those 95+ degree weather days. Shake the rust off your clubs and your game and hit the links!
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