Barenbrug Grass Seed Leaves a Lasting Impression at Royal St George’s Golf Club

Getting one of the world’s greatest golf courses in pristine shape for one of the world’s greatest golfing tournaments requires a combination of hard graft and nerves of steel.

It’s all down to Head Greenkeeper Paul Larsen – who has been tasked with making the Royal St George’s Golf Club TV-ready for The Open Championships 2021.

Paul and his team sowed Barenbrug grass seed as a trial run at the prestigious course to start with and the results speak for themselves:

“The seed came through in one week,” says Paul, who has been a Greenkeeper for 17 years. “And by week two it was up and running, we haven't looked back since."

 With such a large programme of improvements to make in the run up to the 149th Open – including the building of 80 bunkers and an entirely new irrigation system   – the last thing a greenkeeper needs is a poorly performing grass seed.

“Considering we have one of the driest golf courses in the UK, we’ve been able to keep moisture levels consistent, thanks to Barenbrug grass seed,” says Paul, who has been at Royal St George’s since 2011 and using Barenbrug grass seed since 2017 .

Having hosted Opens, PGA, Amateur Championships, and Walker and Curtis Cups, the 138-year-old course has been witness to more golfing history than any other in England, but like all links courses its humps and swales and fast-running fairways and deep bunkers can suffer from the intrusion of weed seeds – and this can be a perpetual headache for the Greenkeeper.

“Free draining, dry soils are perfect for our desired fescue grasses. We need to keep our irrigation levels low in order to favour the fescues and discourage unwanted grasses such as Poa and ryegrass”, says Paul.

“Over the last few years we have used selective graminicide to kill off the unwanted coarse grasses. This has left us with areas of reduced grass cover which have required regular overseeding to restore full grass cover as soon as possible”.

But since using Barenbrug grass seed, Paul and his team have seen hugely improved results. “The seed has germinated and established so well, even in difficult areas. I can’t afford to waste money putting in grass seed that might not grow; and I know with this seed that this won’t happen.”

Hosting The Open for the 15th time in the Club’s history, the pressure is most definitely on Paul to get the course right. But for him, Barenbrug grass seed has proved to be a valuable tool in his armoury.

“I really rate this grass seed; it’s amazing” he says. “And I would happily champion it to anyone.”