Wentworth’s iconic West Course – home of the BMW PGA Championship – is currently undergoing major renovation works including the redesign of several greens and tees, fairway drainage improvements and bunker remodelling. The 8th, 11th, 14th, 15th and 16th greens are undergoing a full redesign to make them more appealing to players of all abilities, while all 18 greens will receive a full re–seed.
The Club’s ambition is to cement its place as a world class course for both tournaments and Club members alike. It will be the first in England to have the SubAir system introduced to all its greens. All 18 greens will be seeded with 007 DSB Creeping Bent.
“007 DSB Creeping Bent is a genetically advanced variety developed out of the Rutgers University turfgrass breeding program, and is available in the UK exclusively from Germinal,” explains Richard Brown, Amenity Sales Manager for Germinal. “It is widely adaptable to both warm summers and cold winters and retains a deep green colour all year round, even in the depths of winter.”
007 DSB also benefits from high disease resistance, especially to Anthracnose, Fusarium and Snow Mould, and also shows good Dollar Spot resistance.
“007 DSB offers superior turf quality, eliminates winter stress discolouration and is highly competitive against Poa annua,” Richard continues. “It is highly versatile, produces vigorous and uniform growth, and is ideally suited for complete re–seeding or over–seeding on greens and tees. We look forward to seeing 007 on what will surely be some of the most distinguished and instantly recognisable greens on the Pro circuit.”
Wentworth Club’s Director of Golf Courses & Grounds Kenny Mackay said, “We want this course to be one of the leading golf venues in the world and we are delighted to be working with Germinal on this project. We trialled several grasses via the Sports Turf Research Institute and 007 was a top performing one, thus we believe it is the right choice for the environmental stresses of British weather. 007 DSB Bent Grass has proven performance on a number of top level tournament courses including US Ryder Cup and US Open sites and received great player feedback at the Conway Farms BMW Championship. 007 has also been selected for redressing the greens on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics course along with hundreds of other high quality golf courses around the world.”