© 2008 Wendy Dager

Built on 3,800 acres, with upscale homes, panoramic views and lush, rolling hills, the master-planned “village” of Santaluz (http://www.santaluz.com/) is billed as “San Diego’s premiere coastal golf community.”

The description is telling in that its focal point is its 250-acre golf course, designed by award-winning architect Rees Jones.

More than Meets the Eye

While golf enthusiasts are impressed by the course’s elevated tees, graded fairways and added bunkers, environmentalists would be more interested in the multiyear process of properly seeding the area to meet the exacting criteria set forth by Jones and his team of industry professionals, including S&S Seeds’ Erosion Control Manager Bruce Berlin.

Bruce Berlin and a coworker check out the progress of the native grasses at the Santaluz Golf Course.

“We started working with the Santaluz developers about six years ago,” said Bruce. “The concept was to create a golf course that blended in with the natural hillside.” In order to accomplish this goal, S&S Seeds analyzed the needs of the Santaluz course by considering the factors that apply to every golf course requiring native grasses.

An Exacting Process

First, one must recognize that native plantings are generally seasonal and are not always green. While some might expect that additional watering and feeding will make these plants “green up,” excessive water and food during the dormant cycle may cause harm. Because of this dormant period, plants should be located in an area where they are not under close inspection, such as along an outer fringe or steep swale, as opposed to around the clubhouse, tee boxes, or greens.

In the golf course rough and out-of-play areas, establishment of a natural landscape can take several years, requiring plenty of patience and attention to weed control. Once established, native grasses, forbs and flowers can provide permanent and highly ornamental groundcover, fewer weeds, reduced fire hazard, excellent erosion control, a wildlife habitat, and less maintenance, including reduced chemical and water demands.

Tough Turf

In addition to the practicality of native grasses and the sense of responsibility felt by builders and landscape architects to design courses that blend manmade structures with native vegetation and topography, it’s also an aesthetically pleasing choice. It’s become very desirable to have an “out of bounds” area on the course planted with native grasses and forbs, with some left to grow wild, in sharp contrast to the typically well-groomed fairways and greens.

Not so pleasing, according to S&S Seeds’ Paul Albright, are those courses that use synthetic materials instead of live plants.

“There’s a perception that artificial turf is somehow less expensive because it’s cheaper to maintain,” said Paul. “But there are a variety of problems associated with it.”

Among these problems is that artificial turf gets hotter, which, says Paul, makes it akin to asphalt in summer—not something your average golfer wants to be walking—or playing—on. While recent improvements to the product include a more natural look, it collects dust and dirt, and it doesn’t drain as well as grass.

However, when it came to the Santaluz development, there was never a question as to the use of natives for the course and its surrounding areas.

The fact that the developers chose Rees Jones as their chief golf course designer showed that they wanted someone with a vision. On Jones’ Web site (http://www.reesjones.com/) he says, “Primarily, the style of a course is dictated by the contours of the land. The importance of the visual impact of a golf hole from the tee should never be underestimated. Natural elements are embellished and created elements are made to look natural. Every design is customized to enhance what nature offers, always with a sensitivity to environmental issues.”

At Santaluz, Rees’ stated objectives were shared by everyone else on the job, from biologists to restoration ecologists to the project landscape architect, Greg Kaiser.

An Expert Weighs In

The Leaf-let had an opportunity to chat with Greg Kaiser, currently a landscape architect with the world-renowned company EDAW. A decade ago, he was project landscape architect for the Santaluz Golf Course.

“It was a great experience for me,” said Greg. “I worked on the project full-time for four years.”

The first step, he said, was sending out field biologists who helped identify the area’s existing plant species and wildlife.

“We really learned about the ecology of the place,” he said. “From that, we deduced a palette that we thought would mix the existing open space with the golf course—a rolling topography that would make it hard to see where it began and where it ended.”

As part of the extensive scientific—as well as artistic—process of determining which plants would be best suited for the course and its surrounding landscape, Greg worked with S&S Seeds’ Bruce Berlin and Victor Schaff.

“S&S Seeds helped us produce a test plot where we planted 30 or 40 different species,” said Greg.

Five years after hydroseeding, the Santaluz Golf Course is a living testament to the power of seeding with native grasses.

Also tested were different seeding methods, including hydroseeding, plugs, drilling and handbroadcasting. This was crucial to determining the exact blend of native grasses and application methods that would be integrated within the Santaluz development. While the design was visually simplistic and, Greg says, “not over the top,” it was a lengthy and complex process, even before construction began on the course.

“It was four years before we turned any dirt,” said Greg.

Ultimately, the Santaluz-S&S Seeds collaboration was a success. “If I ever wanted to do more restoration, I would always want to bounce ideas off Bruce,” said Greg. “He’s made me look good!”

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