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Stacie Zinn
Environmental Turf Inc.
szinn@comcast.net
Media Contact Only: (239) 774-1293
General Contact: (772) 460-5575

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

America's First Wall-to-Wall Seadwarf Golf Course Opens

Naples, Florida  April 22, 2004

The nation's first golf course to be grassed wall-to-wall with SeaDwarf™ Seashore Paspalum opened today at Hammock Bay Golf & Country Club near Naples, Florida. An innovative turfgrass, SeaDwarf™ can be irrigated with poor quality, salty water.

"I think these are the finest fairways that I've ever played golf on. That includes Augusta National and any major championship I've played," said PGA Tour player Peter Jacobsen on March 3rd, at Hammock Bay Golf & Country Club near Naples, Florida.

Jacobsen was speaking to a crowd at the Grand Opening of Hammock Bay, a brand new 18-hole, par-72, 7,080-yard private golf course that he designed with partner Jim Hardy through their Houston-based company, Jacobsen/Hardy Golf Course Design.

Rather than use Bermudagrass, a common golf grass in southern states, Jacobsen said he was especially enthusiastic about the new salt tolerant, drought tolerant turfgrass installed on the course: SeaDwarf™ Seashore Paspalum.

"I'm a Bentgrass guy growing up in the state of Oregon. I've never really been a big fan of Bermudagrass. So for me, the experience that I've had with the Paspalum is overwhelming," Jacobsen said. "I think these are the finest fairways you're going to see, certainly in Florida. I think this is the best turf condition you're going to find."

SeaDwarf™ Seashore Paspalum is a fine textured warm-season turfgrass known for its ability to be irrigated with salty water-- even seawater, under the right conditions . And SeaDwarf™ takes up to 50 percent less irrigation and up to 75 percent less nitrogen for fertilizer than Bermudagrass.

These two factors permit golf courses grassed with SeaDwarf™ Seashore Paspalum to spend dramatically less of their operating budget on fertilizers and irrigation water--let alone the environmental benefits of using less water, using effluent or gray water instead of drinking water to irrigate the course, and putting less fertilizer into the eco-system.

Hammock Bay has the distinction of being the nation's first golf course to be grassed completely with SeaDwarf™ Seashore Paspalum. The turfgrass was installed from tee-to-green, in the roughs and in all common areas around the golf course community's residential homes and roadways.

Although SeaDwarf™ Seashore Paspalum is already widely used as a greens turf in the United States, the Caribbean and abroad, Hammock Bay's developer, WCI Communities, and golf course designers Jacobsen/Hardy Golf Course Design, selected SeaDwarf™ Seashore Paspalum for use as the only grass on the course because of its salt tolerance and versatility of mowing heights. The only dwarf cultivar of Seashore Paspalum, SeaDwarf™ Seashore Paspalum can be mowed from 1/8-inch to about 4-inches, which allows for it to be used on greens, roughs, tees and fairways.

FAST FACTS ABOUT SEADWARF™ SEASHORE PASPALUM:

  • Provides for excellent playing conditions--the ball sits up in the fairway
  • Provides for very fast greens speeds--documented at 10.5 on the stimp meter and higher--and no grain
  • Highly attractive bright green color
  • Can be irrigated with low quality water. Potable, effluent, reclaimed, even seawater under the right conditions, can be used as an irrigation source.
  • Takes up to 50 percent less irrigation than Bermudagrass
  • Requires up to 75 percent less nitrogen than Bermudagrass
  • The only dwarf cultivar of Seashore Paspalum
  • Allows for a wide range of mowing heights: from 1/8-inch to about 4-inches
  • Drought tolerant
  • Fairly shade tolerant
  • Fairly cold tolerant
  • Heals quickly from sports-related damage
  • Works well in flow-way and remediation applications where the turf will remain wet or even submerged for periods of time
  • SeaDwarf™ Seashore Paspalum is available through Environmental Turf and its network of licensed growers.

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For more information: www.environmentalturf.com or (772)460-5575.