The Australian sporting landscape is a broad. As a nation we are competitive internationally in many of these sports.
Competitive, combative team sports are where we succeed the most and many of these take place on grass playing surfaces. Think soccer, rugby league, rugby union and Aussie Rules. All sports that have high expectations and requirements for the grass playing surface due to the wear and tear.
Evolution
Sports technology is continually evolving. There are continual advancements in training techniques, recovery, equipment improvements and knowledge of what it takes to achieve elite performance. One factor our athletes don’t have control over is the playing surface. This very important factor plays a significant part in providing the ideal platform for optimal performance. And, it’s not as simple as just having good grass anymore.
If our athletes want to perform at their best on the international stage, they need to be performing on the best playing surfaces available. Not just here in Australia, but anywhere. Lawn Solutions Australia has made it their mission to research and source the best new sports turf varieties anywhere in the world, in order to provide our athletes with the foundation for success.
Sports grounds
TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda is a product of this research. It provides sports ground curators with a new turf variety that exceeds all other sports field industry varieties. Requiring significantly less inputs (fertiliser and water), it has a dense sward that enables it to handle high wear situations. All while remaining soft and visually superior to other turf varieties.
Prior to its release in Australia, TifTuf had been further tested in;
- 19 drought-stress trials
- 2 sports field wear tolerance trials, utilizing the Cady traffic simulator
- 4 irrigated, non-stress trials
These tests were conducted at The University of Georgia, The University of Florida, North Carolina State University, Oklahoma State University and Texas A&M University as part of the Federal Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) grant.
Introduction to Australia
TifTuf has been introduced into the Australian market through exclusive arrangement with Lawn Solutions Australia. In just a short amount of time, it has sparked significant interest. It has been chosen as the new turf variety for many new sports grounds and field upgrades right across Australia.
Jeff Gambin is a greenkeeper at Somerset College in Queensland. He was a golf course superintendent for 30 years, a property manager and an on-site training officer for 10 years. During his time working on golf courses he had the experience of converting a ‘hinze’ variety of grass on fairways at Coolangatta/Tweed Heads Golf Course, managing couch variety Santa Ana at Gold Coast Burleigh Golf Course along with C2. He also worked with a couple of courses that used Winter Green couch. Mr Gambin recently had TifTuf installed at the college and said, “I would rate TifTuf above all the varieties I have worked with.” Turf supplier Twin View Turf supplied TifTuf for the college and Mr Gambin complimented them on supplying and laying a beautiful, weed free turf.
Mr Gambin continues, “After just experiencing our first winter, which had a couple of frosts, I was pleasantly surprised to see no patches of different colour or leaf texture over our two Rugby Fields. Winter colour retention was also very good with just a couple of foliar applications of Nitrogen/Iron being required when we had a couple of Uni Games Soccer matches.” “I was also pleasantly surprised how well the TifTuf handled the amount of wear from our schools Rugby training sessions and games.”
This is just one example of many, that demonstrates the results that can be achieved by installing a superior turf variety like TifTuf.
