Platinum TE Paspalum and Pure Dynasty Seeded Paspalum Prove to be the Right Turfgrass Choices for Dubai Course
The massive Dubai-based developer Emaar has already built several golf courses in its home emirate. Now, the group is creating another, known as Emaar South, close to the enormous new Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali, twenty miles south of Dubai city. Part of a residential estate, the course is being built in stages to match up with property sales. The first phase of four holes was built before the COVID-19 pandemic, while phase two, involving the completion of the first nine, plus two additional holes and the practice facility, was completed at the end of 2023. The rest of the course will be built over the next couple of years.
“In our view, the best paspalum is Platinum TE and its seeded cousin Pure Dynasty: even in the colder months here, they are still growing, and maintain a very good colour. The grass handles the TSE extremely well, even when the salinity is high.”
Gary Johnston, Architect with European Golf Design
The course is being designed by architect Gary Johnston of European Golf Design and is being grassed with Platinum TE Paspalum on the greens and Pure Dynasty Seeded Paspalum everywhere else, both supplied by Atlas Turf. “Temperatures here dictate using either bermuda, paspalum or zoysia, and given the water challenges of Dubai – everything here is irrigated using Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE), which is often quite saline, and we take the view that paspalum is the best choice for the conditions,” he says. “In our view, the best paspalum is Platinum TE and its seeded cousin Pure Dynasty: even in the colder months here, they are still growing, and maintain a very good colour. The grass handles the TSE extremely well, even when the salinity is high, and is also well aligned with the groundwater, which is also very saline. Plus it is easy to keep it pure. Incursions of common bermuda are inevitable, but here they just spray a strong saline solution. That kills the bermuda, but the paspalum is just fine. It gives great playability – it can be kept extremely fast and firm.”
