ABSTRACT
New cultivars of bentgrass and bermudagrass for use on putting greens are now available to turf managers. To evaluate the performance of these new cultivars and compare their performance to previous top-performers and older standard cultivars, the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) initiated three evaluation trials. The 1998 National Bentgrass Putting Green (Official) Test was planted at twenty-four university locations in 1998, while the On-site Bentgrass and Bermudagrass Trials were established at thirteen university sites and eight golf courses, respectively, across the U.S. in 1997 and 1998. Evaluation of bentgrasses under three different nitrogen levels resulted in significant improvements in turfgrass quality, genetic color and density as compared to older, standard cultivars and previous top-performers. Several new bermudagrasses produced high quality, dense turf at 3–4 mm mowing heights, with ‘Mini-Verde’ having performance that was slightly more consistent that ‘TifEagle’ over all locations. These new cultivars offer many new choices for putting greens throughout the world.
