Kikuyu fairways are a common feature of SA courses today. There was a time when clubs fought valiantly to keep it out, but it was a war where most capitulated sooner or later. Kikuyu might be an invasive plant, but it has proved an ideal fairway grass for most courses in our sunny climate. Golfers love the way the ball sits up on it. The problem is that kikuyu spreads off the fairways into the surrounding vegetation and becomes an ongoing maintenance issue. Our top courses (Leopard Creek, The Links at Fancourt) eschew kikuyu, and so does No 4 Blair Atholl, which loves and protects its cynodon fairways. It’s a superb turf from which to hit iron shots and looks more attractive. Best of all for golfers, drives get more run on the fairways, and iron shots bounce into greens, whereas kikuyu invariably stops a well-struck drive once it hits earth. Blair Atholl, though, are constantly having to eradicate kikuyu from their fairways with various treatments in order to sustain the cynodon. It’s a campaign worth fighting, as it separates the wheat from the chaff.
