I visited Phoenix Country Club, Siam Country Club, and Laem Chabang Country Club yesterday to inspect the sites and trials for the March 9 turfgrass field day. Here is what you can expect at the field day.

On the morning of March 9, we will travel by air-conditioned coach from the Amari Orchid Resort and Tower to the nearby Phoenix Country Club. At Phoenix, we will look at off-type bermudagrasses on the putting green, including a collection of off-types from other golf courses at Thailand. Darren Moore did his M.Sc. thesis on the phenomenon of off-type bermudagrasses, and he will discuss this with the field day attendees. I will be stationed at one of the zoysiagrass fairways, discussing this grass and its management and how it compares with bermudagrass and seashore paspalum. Matt Roche will be at another putting green with off-type bermudagrass, and he will be discussing how to choose the type of putting green grass that will be right for your facility, and how different grasses (such as the off-types on display) are evaluated at a research station.

Our next stop will be the Plantation Course at Siam Country Club where we will discuss preparations of putting greens for tournament play (an apt site for this -- Siam CC hosted the Honda LPGA Thailand tournament last weekend!) and management of new ultradwarf bermudagrass cultivars. Siam CC has seashore paspalum fairways, and I will be talking about the management of these fairways.The Plantation Course has one of the most interesting greens you will ever see (pictured below). This is a nearly 2000 m² TRIPLE green of Novotek bermudagrass, comprising the 4^th and 9^th from the Pineapple nine and the 7^th from the Tapioca nine. It takes two hours to mow with a Toro Flex 21 pedestrian mower. I wonder how many sprinkler heads are required to provide irrigation to this green?

We will have lunch at Siam CC and then transfer to Laem Chabang CC. At Laem Chabang we will see some plots of wetting agent trials, fungicide trials, herbicide and surfactant trials, and phytotoxicity trials showing the effects of certain DMI fungicides, fertilizers, and Primo Maxx on Tifdwarf putting greens.

The field day will conclude with a round at the chipping course near the clubhouse and a dinner at the Club. Wear comfortable attire for the field day -- golfing attire or similar would be appropriate. The locker room facilities at Laem Chabang CC will be available if you would like to take a shower before dinner.