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MM50 Helping Tees Stand the Test of Time

June 6, 2025/in News, Press Release/by Admin

MM50 Helping Tees Stand the Test of Time: At Southerndown Golf Club in the Vale of Glamorgan, MM50 grass seed has become an essential product. With tees that endure relentless wear from players and exposure to some of the UK’s harshest growing conditions, Course Manager Andrew Mannion has come to rely on the hard-wearing ryegrass […]

Nature Takes Centre Stage at Carnoustie Golf Links

June 6, 2025/in News, Press Release/by Admin

Nature Takes Centre Stage at Carnoustie Golf Links: Carnoustie Golf Links is proud to host the return of its golf course BioBlitz – a two-day celebration of local wildlife where attendees can explore the course, take part in expert-led walks and talks, and help record the incredible biodiversity found in this unique golfing landscape. Explore. […]

MM50 Helping Tees Stand the Test of Time

June 6, 2025/in News, Press Release/by Admin

Nature Takes Centre Stage at Carnoustie Golf Links

June 6, 2025/in News, Press Release/by Admin

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MM50 Helping Tees Stand the Test of Time

June 6, 2025/in News, Press Release/by Admin

MM50 Helping Tees Stand the Test of Time: At Southerndown Golf Club in the Vale of Glamorgan, MM50 grass seed has become an essential product. With tees that endure relentless wear from players and exposure to some of the UK’s harshest growing conditions, Course Manager Andrew Mannion has come to rely on the hard-wearing ryegrass mix to keep surfaces strong, consistent, and fit for year-round play.

MM50 is one of the UK’s most popular grass seed mixtures – and with good reason. The blend of fine-leaved, high shoot density dwarf perennial ryegrasses is built for performance: it tolerates close mowing down to 4-5mm, recovers rapidly from wear, and maintains excellent year-round colour. For Andrew, it’s a perfect match for a course that refuses to follow convention.

MM50 Helping Tees Stand the Test of Time

“Southerndown’s unique,” says Andrew, who’s been at the club for over 30 years. “It’s like managing two courses in one. The front nine is very sandy and free-draining, almost links-like. The back nine is more loamy, heathland terrain. It means you’ve got to think differently about how you manage each area – and what you grow.”

The course sits around 70 metres above sea level on exposed, windswept land. Underfoot, a layer of acidic sand overlays limestone – an unusual soil profile shared by just a few sites in the UK. “That limestone layer can be two metres down, or just a couple of inches below the surface. It creates real challenges when it comes to aeration and water movement. We’ve got good irrigation, but water doesn’t hang around for long.”

Add in grazing rights – Southerndown is built on common land and home to up to 600 sheep, depending on the season – and it’s easy to see why traditional turf practices don’t always deliver.

For many years, Andrew stuck with a fescue-based programme passed down from his predecessor. But in areas of heavy traffic, especially on par-threes, the turf simply couldn’t keep up. “They’d turn to dust in the summer,” he says. “The recovery wasn’t quick enough. We weren’t getting the results we needed, and we were doing the same things every year expecting a different outcome.”

The spark for change came from an unlikely place: Wimbledon. “I remember watching coverage of Centre Court, and they mentioned these new dwarf ryegrass varieties. I thought, well, that’s just a big golf tee really. So, we trialled some MM50 on the worst par-threes – and the difference was incredible.”

The trial showed immediate improvements. “It gave us better grass coverage, but more than that, the recovery from divots was two or three times quicker than anything we’d seen with fescues. In some cases, you’d get shallow divots regenerating naturally without any intervention.”

That initial success quickly led to a full overseeding programme. “We moved to using MM50 across all the tees. It was an easy sell to the club – we could literally say, ‘Look at the par-threes. Why wouldn’t we want all the tees to look like that?’”

MM50 Helping Tees Stand the Test of Time

The benefits went beyond performance. “Golfers weren’t questioning it. The ryegrass is so fine-leaved that they didn’t even realise it was rye. They just saw a tight, clean surface that looked good and played well.”

MM50 has even made its way onto selected fairways – especially those that suffered during the prolonged heat and drought of 2018. “That year really opened our eyes,” Andrew recalls.

“We always thought fescue would bounce back after going dormant, but it didn’t. It just disappeared. We were dragging hoses out onto bare fairways, trying to save them. That’s when we looked at what we’d achieved with MM50 on the tees and thought – why not try it here too?”

“We’ve got a busy course. It’s used 365 days a year. Members expect value for money. You can’t keep relying on a surface that can’t keep up. MM50 gave us a way forward.”

For Andrew, MM50 hasn’t just improved playing surfaces – it’s changed his outlook. “I’m not one of those who hides behind tradition for tradition’s sake. We tried the fescue route. It worked up to a point, but it wasn’t giving us what we needed. MM50 has helped us manage trickier areas, maintain better grass cover, and deliver a better experience for the golfer.”

For further information, please contact MM Sports Seed on 01386 791102 or visit the company’s website www.mm-seeds.co.uk.

You can also follow the company on X: @MM_Seed.

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Nature Takes Centre Stage at Carnoustie Golf Links

June 6, 2025/in News, Press Release/by Admin

Nature Takes Centre Stage at Carnoustie Golf Links: Carnoustie Golf Links is proud to host the return of its golf course BioBlitz – a two-day celebration of local wildlife where attendees can explore the course, take part in expert-led walks and talks, and help record the incredible biodiversity found in this unique golfing landscape.

Explore. Discover. Record.

Carnoustie Golf Links is excited to welcome nature lovers of all ages to its second annual BioBlitz, taking place Thursday 19th and Friday 20th June 2025. This free-to-attend, family-friendly event invites the community to step out onto the course and into the wild, joining experts and enthusiasts to experience the biodiversity thriving at Carnoustie.

Nature Takes Centre Stage at Carnoustie Golf Links

From early morning bird song to late-night bat calls, moth traps to pond dips, Carnoustie’s 2025 BioBlitz offers hands-on activities and guided walks for everyone – whether you’re a budding naturalist or just curious about the wildlife around you.

Highlights include:

Dolphin Watch
Walk on the Wild Side with an ecologist
Night Calls: Bats & Amphibians After Dark
Birdsong Breakfast Stroll
Dragonfly Discovery and more!

For updates and the full event schedule, follow Carnoustie Golf Links Community Facebook page: @CarnoustieGolfLinksCommunity

For more information about the event, please contact sustainability@carnoustie.com.

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

MM50 Helping Tees Stand the Test of Time

Nature Takes Centre Stage at Carnoustie Golf Links

MM50 Helping Tees Stand the Test of Time

Nature Takes Centre Stage at Carnoustie Golf Links

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

MM50 Helping Tees Stand the Test of Time

Nature Takes Centre Stage at Carnoustie Golf Links

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