Legendary California golf course upgraded its gorgeous greens. Why?

USA Today

20-05-2025

Legendary California golf course upgraded its gorgeous greens. Why?
Editor's note: Jay Blasi is a golf course architect based in California who works with the Golfweek's Best program hosting rater events and contributes stories to Golfweek several times a year.
Pasatiempo Golf Club, with one of the great golf courses in the United States, features some of the most dramatic greens in golf. Marion Hollins, the driving force behind Cypress Point farther south along the Pacific Coast, founded the club and hired Golden Age architect Alister MacKenzie to build the course that opened in 1929.
Pasatiempo is a rarity in American golf. It's essentially a private course that allows limited access to outside play. It ranks No. 36 on Golfweek's Best list of classic courses in the U.S., and because it allows some public play, it ranks No. 2 among California's public-access courses.
But Pasatiempo's 'push-up' putting surfaces had changed in recent decades. Their health was in danger, and despite the best agronomic efforts of the grounds crew, the playing conditions could be inconsistent.
The club decided to act, and architect Jim Urbina began a project in April 2023 to restore the putting surfaces to MacKenzie's original intent and introduce new grass that is healthier and much more consistent. With the course never closing, Urbina's greens restoration was completed in December of 2024. The front nine was the focus of work in 2023, followed by the back nine in 2024.
The decision to work on a beloved classic golf course is always difficult, with numerous questions to answer. Some of those questions are based in science while others are more art. The golf world, especially the social media side, is largely focused on how things look – the art side.
But it is important for members and guests to understand the science as well. To better understand that side of the project at Pasatiempo, I reached out to Justin Mandon, the longtime superintendent at Pasatiempo. Following are excerpts of that conversation.
Can you explain what type of grass you had on the greens before the restoration?
The old greens were 100 percent Poa annua.
How deep were those roots?
The roots on the Poa annua greens varied, depending on the time of year, from three quarters of an inch to three inches.
Can you explain what a push-up green is?
A push-up green is a non-engineered medium consisting of the original sand mix used to establish the green with additional layers of sand top-dressing. Generally lacking sub-surface drainage.
What were the stresses on that turf?
Push-up greens typically have low percolation rates. Over 100 years of sand top-dressing and varied cultural practices create layers within the soil profile. Low percolation rates can create anaerobic conditions, or what we refer as black layer making it difficult to grow healthy turf.
The use of recycled water and lack of rainfall in the West also contribute excess accumulation of sodium and bicarbonates, which will also hinder your ability to maintain full turf coverage throughout the season. Even with the use of some aggressive cultural practices such as monthly deep-tine aeration, sand injections and compressed air to fracture the soil, the overall health of the greens continued to slowly decline prior to the restoration.
These cultural practices were successful as they bought us more time, but in the end the overall feeling of the membership was at some point we needed to rip the Band-Aid off. The greens at Pasatiempo are quite large, averaging around 7,000 square feet, but only had three to four pin placements. The concentration of traffic in these areas also aided in the overall decline, as we average 50,000 rounds annually.
You chose to build USGA greens. Can you explain what a USGA green is?
A USGA green is an engineered green with specific thresholds for the greens mix, pea gravel and drainage. They consist of four inches perforated drain pipe on 10-foot centers built within the subgrade, four inches of pea gravel and 12 inches of greens mix.
Can you share what bent grass type you selected and how you came to that decision?
We selected the Prestige blend from Tee-2-Green. The Prestige blend is a 50/50 mix of Pure Distinction and Pure Select. We worked closely with Lewis Sharpe, the Tee-2-Green agronomist, to help select the mixture. We visited five courses in California utilizing similar blends and spoke with superintendents and members at these clubs.
Why did you believe USGA greens and bent grass were the right solution for Pasatiempo?
I have no reservations about the use of bent grass at Pasatiempo. Our goal was to restore the golf course and create a sustainable environment for the next generation. Our greens are now more consistent and easier to maintain with less inputs.
Prior to the restoration, we communicated to our members the Poa greens are great 80-100 days a year. Now with new bent grass greens, we can have those same conditions, if not better, 300 days a year. The other 65 days it is raining in California, sometimes.
How are things different in terms of managing the putting surfaces, post-renovation?
The Poa annua greens were more susceptible to disease, sodium damage and inconsistent playing conditions from morning to afternoon. We were spraying multiple fungicides every 14 days on Poa annua and are now making seven to 10 applications annually.
It is easier to control growth on bent grass due to the numerous growth regulators labeled for use, which in turn creates more consistent playing conditions. We now mow greens 3 days per week and roll them two days per week. Previously, on Poa annua greens, we mowed six days per week and rolled three to four days per week. The firmness of the greens is more consistent throughout the year and we no longer see lakes and rivers persist after heavy rain events.