The Golf Course Connection

Q: What do golf courses and this blueberry farm have in common?

Is it:

1. They both have sand pits.     No, the berry farm doesn't have any sand pits.

2. They both have a swanky club house where you can enjoy a nice luncheon.      No.  No swank of any kind at the berry farm.  It's a "bring your own lunch" kind of place.

3. They both have an abundance of bermuda grass.     Correct!   Bermuda grass is the common thread that connects our berry farm with every golf course in the country.

Bermuda grass does wonderful things to golf courses.  It grows thick and fast.  It's very hardy.  It's very green and can tolerate abuse and still look great.  It's the bermuda grass that makes those putting greens and fairways so beautiful.

Bermuda grass at the farm doesn't achieve the same affect.  All the qualities that make it the grass of choice for golf courses: hardy, durable, thick, fast growing, and tolerant, make it a real pain in the neck at the farm!

Bermuda grass is what we do when there are no berries to be picked.  It has to be pulled, raked, hauled, piled and burned.  It grows into the blueberry bushes and if left unchecked grows quickly into a thick tangled mass that's difficult to pull out.

This young man LOVES golf.  He plays golf, watches golf, dreams about golf in his sleep.  We told him that golf courses and the blueberry farm have a lot in common.   Right now he's not seeing it.  He doesn't get the connection.  But he keeps on working in hopes that somewhere a lush fairway will emerge.  We told him that he would see it better this summer when things green up.  He'll get to mow the "fairways".

This is the bermuda grass at the farm.  After the close of the berry season we spend days and days in the fall pulling, piling and burning.

Yes, there is a connection to golf courses here at the farm.  In chilly November, down on your knees it's a little hard to grasp but it's there.  You just have to imagine really hard.