Cimarrone Golf Club - Going with New Greens

When it opened a little more than 20 years ago, the Cimarrone Golf Club, located 20 minutes from downtown Jacksonville and 10 minutes from the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, was one of the most outstanding new courses in the state of Florida.

In order to maintain its reputation as one of the Sunshine state’s leading layouts, Cimarrone will close down all its original green complexes June 30 to regrass in an effort to stay ahead in the highly competitive Jacksonville golf marketplace. They will use temporary greens until the 1st of October, which will give the staff at Cimarrone plenty of time to work on the putting surfaces and take the course to a new level.

General Manager of the Cimarrone Golf Club, Mike Rich, said the new grass his club will use is Seashore Paspalum, which has been extremely successful at Cimarrone’s sister course, Oak Harbor Golf Club in New Orleans.

“They switched to this grass and it’s been phenomenal,” said Rich. “The greens have been fast and smooth. This grass has a very strong root structure. This is a grass people should be looking toward in the future, “ said Rich. “It’s extremely water tolerant, which will be important with the water restrictions that could be imposed over the next 10-15 years.”

Rich said Cimarrone has struggled to develop strong roots with the course’s original Bermuda grass but expects once the Paspalum takes hold it will make Cimarrone’s transition from peak season (November – May) to offseason smoother.

“This grass will give Cimarrone the best opportunity to have excellent putting surfaces 12 months a year,” he said. According to Rich, Cimarrone should have some of the best greens in the North Florida, South Georgia area.

“I have played it, and it was the best grass I’ve ever putted on,” added Rich. “We found out it would be acceptable in our climate and thought this would set us apart from other courses in the area.”