Turf Battle: The world’s finest playing fields sport UGA Bermuda grasses
Turf Battle: The world’s finest playing fields sport UGA Bermuda grasses
Byline: By Emily Cabrera
From major sporting stadiums across the U.S. to the Sydney Opera House in Australia, turfgrasses developed at the University of Georgia Tifton campus have set the standard for high-quality sporting venues and event spaces around the globe. Bermuda grass hybrids released by UGA’s breeding program have been used on golf courses and athletic fields since the 1950s.
For many years, ‘Tifway’ and ‘Tifdwarf’, two Bermuda grass hybrids developed by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and UGA researchers in Tifton, covered more golf courses, athletic fields and lawns than any other turf varieties in the world. ‘Tifway’ remained the gold standard for decades and is still used in many college and professional sports venues and golf courses around the U.S.
Another variety, ‘TifSport’, was used to sod the field at Japan National Stadium for the 2021 Summer Olympics and pitches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. ‘TifSport’ is a dense, medium- to fine-textured grass bred to withstand heat, sun, and wear and tear from sports while tolerating herbicides.
‘TifGrand’, released in 2008, is a dense, dark-green grass that was used in Japan National Stadium for the 2021 Summer Paralympic Games, as well as in stadiums for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, along with ‘Tifway’.
‘TifTuf’, an extremely drought-tolerant variety bred at UGA, can be found on the lawn in front of the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the great lawn at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, as well as UGA’s North Campus in Athens.
Earlier this year, the UGA turf team released a new Bermuda grass variety called ‘Tif3D’.
‘Tif3D’ is a specialty grass developed specifically for putting greens and boasts the unparalleled performance and playability putting greens require, said Brian Schwartz, turfgrass breeder and professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The turf’s name is derived from its development at the Tifton campus and the variety’s dark, dense and durable characteristics.
The new variety is a hybrid Bermuda grass that descends from ‘TifGreen’, one of the first hybrid Bermuda grasses released from CAES in the 1950s by world-renowned research geneticist and plant breeder Glenn Burton.
With its dense, fine-textured canopy, great uniformity, and superior resistance to stressors including drought and scalping, Schwartz said ‘Tif3D’ is the latest attempt to meet the critical aesthetic demands of the golf industry.
Much of the work Schwartz and other turfgrass breeders do is centered on developing cultivars with the effects of climate change in mind. Because ‘Tif3D’ has shown superior resistance to drought and other stressors, it is well suited to areas where water conservation is a priority, Schwartz said, adding that the secret to the success of many CAES-bred turfgrasses is the location where they are bred.
“I always say that because the geographic location of Tifton is so bad, it’s perfect,” he mused. “We have drought, rainy seasons, countless plant diseases, nematodes, and funny spring and fall weather anomalies that all serve to kill plants. We put our grasses through some of the hardest conditions here to find the toughest individuals that will perform the best. If it survives Tifton, you have a great chance of growing it elsewhere. It’s so bad, it’s good.”
Schwartz credits much of his success in the turfgrass breeding program to the foundational work and valuable lessons he learned from his predecessor and mentor, Wayne Hanna, an esteemed Georgia turfgrass breeder who has been active for more than 40 years.
‘TifTuf’, which the two developed and co-released in 2014, became one of the fastest-adopted Bermuda grass varieties worldwide for its superior drought- and stress-tolerance.
Due to the similarities between ‘Tif3D’ and the lab’s previous gold-standard varieties, like ‘TifEagle’, Schwartz is confident that UGA’s state-of-the-art research facilities and dedicated team of experts will continue to keep the industry at the forefront of sustainability and performance.
“These strong ties have created a long-term, cyclical pipeline for developing and maintaining a strong turfgrass industry in Georgia,” emphasized Schwartz.