Ryder Cup 2023, there's still work to be done

• golf

In Italy as in France, the drought is affecting golf courses, which must try to find solutions to this new situation. Starting with the future course of the 2023 Ryder Cup for which Alejandro Reyes is the permanent consultant.

The Spaniard details in this second part his vision for the maintenance of increasingly supervised courses.

Ryder Cup, situation

"I live in Rome with Lara Arias who works with me at T.A.S. (fortunately!) at the Marco Simone golf course.

The course is due to host the next Ryder Cup in 2023. We considered creating a family for a while, but we weighed the pros and cons and decided to devote ourselves entirely to this last challenge. But after the Ryder, make way for children!".

"The Marco Simone course of the future Ryder Cup 2023 in Rome? Everything that affects adjacent infrastructure such as the driving range. They will be completed in September for the Italian Open. Regarding the course, we still have work to do!

If only after the visit of European captain Henrik Stenson (the interview was carried out before his ousting) who wanted several modifications which should make the course even more difficult. (We are still talking about significantly narrowing the fairways, shortening the 18 to have more show and lengthening the tee 11 which is reachable at the drive)".

"Many problems will be solved thanks to mechanical input. But today, we are not able to properly maintain the greens without the addition of phytosanitary products. It is a reality, a great challenge. At the moment, we are inundated with new “bio-control” products without really knowing their effectiveness.

You have to try them, dose them, combine them… The other difficulty is the geographical area: a product does not have the same effectiveness in Biarritz as in Hardelot for example". £I don't know if the greens won't pitch anymore as they say.

What is certain is that they will be slower. We will no longer be able to mow like today because the shorter it is, the more it is weak and subject to external stress. "Slower" doesn't mean less fun, huh! Ideally, yes, but it is a huge cost!

And the operation is delicate when it comes to the selection of grasses. There are so many varieties of seeds! Again, geographic context is important. No need to travel miles to notice the difference! Here: we successfully tried a variety of Bermuda grass for the Cannes-Mandelieu Old course, by the sea. 150 m above sea level! In Hossegor, tests went very well".