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Providence was developed in cooperation with
Dr. Richard Skogley, emeritus professor of
the University of Rhode Island. Dr. Skogley
spent over twenty-five years as a professor
and turf extension specialist and is recognized
throughout the world for his work. During
that time, he was also collecting and evaluating
hundreds of bentgrasses.
Since 1965, in tests conducted under putting
green management, five of his selections stood
out as being unique and superior to Penncross
in turf quality, disease resistance, and early
spring green-up. These five clones are the
parents of Providence.
The five parental clones and their progeny
are very uniform in color, leaf texture, aggressiveness,
growth habit, seedling vigor, and maturity.
Providence is the result of many years of
collection, breeding, and testing. This long-term
program gives you the confidence Providence
will perform long-term on your course.
Providence has consistently rated at the top
of the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program
(NTEP) Bentgrass Putting Green and Fairway
Test, with its high ratings in the last year,
1993, of the 1989 Trials demonstrating its
long-term performance. It has continued to
rate highly in the 1993 NTEP Trials, especially
in critical areas such as disease resistance
and ground cover, and in trials throughout
the world including Australia, Great Britain,
Japan, France, Austria, and Italy. Although
these trials can be valuable as an initial
tool in evaluating creeping bentgrass varieties
the most important tests are those at golf
courses across the world, where it continues
to look superior.
Many creeping bentgrasses currently being
developed and marketed have only been evaluated
for a few years in experimental trials, with
little or no testing on actual golf courses.
Since long-term performance is critical in
maintaining a golf course green, tee or fairway,
utilizing a variety from a long-term improvement
program gives you the confidence it will perform
on your course. Since 1987 on actual golf
courses, Providence has been proven to form
a golf surface with finer texture, more upright
growth, improved color, and better resistance
to many major diseases including dollar spot,
brown patch, fusarium patch, and leaf spot.
These qualities make it an ideal choice not
only for greens, but also for tees and fairways,
with less reliance on pesticides. In many
areas of the country it has been successfully
combined on greens, tees, and fairways with
SR 1020 creeping bentgrass in the Dominant
blend. This blend gives you the added strengths
and genetic diversity of SR 1020, without
sacrificing uniformity or performance.
Providence does not need the same type of
maintenance as Penncross. Forty years of work
led to the development of a whole set of machines
and management regimes aimed at improving
the growth form of Penncross. Many of these
are not necessary for the new bentgrasses,
and may actually damage them. With the upright
growth of Providence you can obtain fast true
putts without constant verticutting and extremely
short cutting heights which means your greens
can be healthier. Complete grow-in and management
guidelines developed by superintendents are
available on Providence, SR 1020, and Dominant
enabling them to be used with confidence.
Kevin Pryseski, Cattail Creek Country Club,
Glenwood, Maryland -
"In less than a full growing season,
Cattail's Seed Research turf had the appearance
and playability of a mature and seasoned stand.
Members and guests alike rave about the color
and consistency of Cattail's Providence greens."
Gordon Witteveen, Board of Trade, Toronto,
Canada -
"Providence is the most outstanding bentgrass
in our nursery testing plots! Therefore, we
are using it to overseed tees and greens.
Providence is also the key ingredient in our
divot mix."
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