The R&A have put together a new website rich in information about golf course management. The site, appropriately, is titled Golf Course Management: information, resources, and tools.

In the My View section I've written about grass selection for greens and fairways in Asia. My view is that when it comes to putting greens, because they occupy such a small area of the course and no matter which grass is chosen the greens will always receive intensive maintenance, a high maintenance grass is often the right choice. And my view for fairway turf, because fairways occupy such a large area of the course, is that it is best to choose a grass that won't die. When the grass won't die, then turfgrass managers are able to modify the playing conditions to create almost any type of surface. In Southeast Asia, these grasses that don't die are manilagrass (Zoysia matrella) and broadleaf carpetgrass (Axonopus compressus).

The site is packed with information including My View pieces by other golf course specialists, case studies, including those of courses that have used just those grasses. Read about Thailand's award-winning Banyan Golf Club with its manilagrass fairways and the amazing East Course at Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Manila. This course, with carpetgrass fairways, was just selected as the best course in the Philippines.

There is also the Course Tracker, a new tool to monitor, analyse, and report on your course, and the introduction of the Holing Out Test for assessing putting surface reliability. In the video below, I demonstrate the Holing Out Test on creeping bentgrass putting greens in Japan.