Riviera, the storied golf club in the heart of Los Angeles, is special — not only because it has hosted some of golf’s biggest tournaments (and stars) but also for reasons you might not have considered.
“Our property is down in the bottom of this canyon; it’s basically an old dry-wash riverbed,” Marshall Dick, the club’s superintendent. “Our general philosophy here is to nurture, enhance and perfect what wants to naturally grow within this canyon, because it’s a unique environment.”
Ahead of this week’s U.S. Women’s Open — the first-ever at Riviera — GOLF visited with the club’s agronomy team to learn more about what they do onsite and how they are preparing for the biggest women’s event of the year.
And it all starts with one word: Kikuya, which is a rare grass that grows on the course’s fairways and rough. (The greens are Poa annua.)
Dick said Kikuya is still considered a “noxious weed” in most parts of the country and you need special permitting to bring the seed into the U.S. But at Riviera?
“It’s our turf grass,” he said.
As for your next question: What is Kikuya? Assistant super Tyler Shuman explains:
“Kikuya kind of came in naturally. It grows here … and the climate has kinda embraced it, and so have we. It’s definitely a different beast,” he said. “Kikuya can be hardy, but it can be affected pretty easily too. Timing and the type of year will change things. When we have the PGA Tour event in February, it kind of wants to shut down and go to sleep with the cooler temperatures. In the summer months, it becomes more of a spongy, hardy material.”
“It doesn’t look as thick as it is,” added Alexa Moncada, a senior agronomist on the Riviera staff. “You get your ball in there and you can be 200 yards out — you’re not getting a fairway wood out of there. It’s tough. People might even compare it to fescue. It’s thick, and your ball just kind of sinks. I don’t think it’s as challenging in the short cut, but the rough is tough — you can’t really get it out.”
For more on what it was like on-site with the Riviera team, how they manage their unique grass and to learn about the tech-infused GS3 ball they use to monitor their greens, check out the video above or below.