The Thunderbirds have been hosting the Waste Management Phoenix Open for many years. Through their efforts, they are able to give five golfers sponsor exemption this year. So far four of the five golfers have been announced, and they are: Jeff Quinney, Fred Couples, Harris English, and Mark Calcavecchia. Not only do the Thunderbirds help bring in some great golfers, they also give back to the community and the fans of the game with all of the festivities at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Thunderbirds work with dozens of Arizona charities that benefit from this event with donations of millions of dollars. While the Thunderbirds want to ensure there are great players at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, they also want to make sure the community is benefitting from it as well. One of the favorite things they are known for with fans is the Greenskeeper Tent.

During the golf tournament, there is a very popular section for patrons to watch the players from, the Greenskeeper Tent, which will be moving this year. If you have a Greenskeeper ticket for the 2012 Waste Management Phoenix Open you will now be viewing the tournament near the lake, along the 18th fairway and the 17th green. While here you will be able to see some of this years players, like Phil Michelson, Dustin Johnson, Justin Leonard, Lucas Glover and many more. Even though the Greenskeeper Tent will be moving locations it is still the most popular place to be and be seen at Waste Management Phoenix Open.

In any event, when you come to the Waste Management Phoenix Open, get there early and wear lots of sunscreen, the Arizona weather might be gorgeous, but the sun is still pounding down. This large tournament allows you to follow all of the players or stick with your favorite, in any case it’s best to let them play golf and not interrupt them. Also many people like to come out earlier in the week of the Waste Management Phoenix Open since there are different events going on all around, like the FBR/Xerox Silver Pro-Am. This particular event is popular because there is a lot of celebrity participation in it. There are also other Pro-Am games during the week as well if you are a golfer and want an opportunity to play. Another place to check out while you’re at the Waste Management Phoenix Open is the new Albertson’s Fan Zone. Here you can do all sorts of activities like check out the newest ATV and UTV from RideNow Power Sports or eat at Zinburger. This area is not only a fan zone, but a food, fun and entertainment zone!

If you didn’t get enough fun while at the Waste Management Phoenix Open during the day you can always come back at night on Wednesday – Saturday for the famous Birds Nest, adults only. This year the Birds Nest is sponsored by Coors Light and has a ton of great events in store for Waste Management Phoenix Open patrons. Opening Night at Birds nest will feature Slightly Stoopid. The Goo Goo Dolls will also be at Birds Nest to perform and Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas will be there for a special DJ set.

Waste Management Phoenix Open is a fun filled week for everyone to enjoy. If you need more information about the events happening at the Waste Management Phoenix Open click here. Also if you want to check out another great golf tournament in Arizona make sure to read our blog about World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship 2012 happening February 21 – 27.

This year Super Bowl XLVI (46) will be played in Indianapolis on the Colts field, where the Giants and the Patriots will be battling head to head, yet once again. Considering the history between these two teams it seems like the Patriots will have a lot of vengeance while playing the Giants. Not to mention that the season that these two teams competed, the Patriots were undefeated until the Super Bowl - one can only predict how heated this game will get.

No matter what team you are going for Super Bowl is a great event to watch as a football fan. There is also all of the feasting on tasty foods, cold beer and entertaining commercials to be watched. Good luck to the Giants and the Patriots!

In just another few years Arizona will be hosting the Super Bowl again, maybe these two teams will come back again or better yet our Arizona Cardinals would be playing on their Evergreen Turf-supplied home turf.

For the past three years the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship has been played on one of the best golf courses in Southern Arizona. This Tucson area golf course is location in Marana, Arizona within the Dove Mountain community. The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain is home to this stunning Jack Nicklaus golf course where Accenture Match Play Championship is played. Evergreen Turf is proud to be the supplier of the local Arizona sod that is played on at this course. The golf course sets the bar when it comes to luxury playing, and staying. As a guest of the Ritz-Carlton resort you can play this course, which is highly sought after considering so many great golfers play here every year at the Accenture Match Play Championship. Or become a member of the Golf Club and have access to play the course year round. If you are a golf fan, this is a course that should be on your bucket list of courses to play, it’s also a tournament that should be on your list of golf tournaments to see in person.

Not only is the Accenture Match Play Championship set in beautiful surroundings, it is played on incredible courses. The two tournament nines are played on the Saguaro and Tortolita courses, for a par 72 measuring 7,833 yards. The courses and their architecture add to the fun of playing at this style of competition. Nicklaus built the courses with both professionals and everyday golfers in mind, where everyone could take to the greens, and possibly cross paths with the likes of Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Luke Donald, and Tiger Woods. Over the years Accenture Match Play Championship has had many talented golfers compete. This year’s players have not yet been announced, but considering the lineup of past years it’s sure to make for a great game.

Unlike most other golf tournaments Accenture Match Play Championship is based on a simple premise, have the best 64 golfers in the world compete in an exhilarating head-to-head match play tournament. To top it off, not only will the players be on very well manicured and beautiful courses they will be surrounded by Arizona’s naturally gorgeous habitat, but it gets even better – the Accenture Match Play Championship is the highest prize-money tournament in the world, last year Luke Donald earned $1.4 million by beating his fellow golfers. Even world renowned golfers, like Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Graeme McDowell, Lee Westwood, and many others, that don’t win, can take hundreds of thousands of dollars home. While there is a lot of money for the players to win, Accenture Match Play Championship also gives back to others. Working with The First Tee charity and the Tucson Conquistadores Charities, which donate to many of the local charities such as Special Olympic, The Boys & Girls Club and more.

Evergreen Turf is looking forward to being a part of this year’s Accenture Match Play Championship at The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain again. Accenture Match Play Championship is one of Arizona’s premier golf tournaments to see, click here for tickets or more information. Also if you missed this years Waste Management Phoenix Open make sure to read our blog post about it and check it out next year.

Over the summer many lawns in the Phoenix area can develop weeds, particularly Spurge. You might recognize this weed as close to the ground, dark in color with some forms having hairy or purple-red spotted leaves and red stems. Spurge can grow in a circular shape and create a dense mat of weeds (see image to the right). As you prepare your winter lawn we want to help you get rid of these pesky weeds.

Spurge is the most common turfgrass weed in the US, and Arizona in particular due to the heat. Spurge primarily grows in the summer, but it can grow well into the fall. It is easy for this weed to grow in Arizona sod in the fall since the weather remains warm here.

Your first reaction to kill this weed would be to spray it, but we advise against doing so. If you are planning to overseed your lawn, applying weed killing chemicals could slow down the growth of your new lawn. We recommend pulling the weed up with your hands, roots and all. This method of removing Spurge weeds is better for your lawn if you are preparing it for overseeding and in general, since it isn’t as harmful to your lawn.

If your lawn in Phoenix did grow Spurge this year we hope that you were able to pull it out before any real damage was done to your winter lawn. If you feel like your lawn is already a total loss you can always order fresh sod from our Arizona sod farm, already overseeded. In any case we want to help you prevent weeds from ruining all of your hard work in maintaining your sod in the Phoenix area, as it can be a struggle given our environment. The best weed prevention is a healthy lawn!

Follow us on Facebook for the most up to date tips on Arizona sod maintenance.

In order to get some of the Valley’s best golf courses ready for the fall Evergreen Turf is rolling out the green carpet for these courses. After the hard summer these courses have had we will be busy maintaining the greens and fairways to ensure they are up to par come fall. See our latest job at The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain in Marana, Arizona home to Accenture Match Play Championships.

Evergreen Turf, Arizona’s premier sod producer is also working on TPC Scottsdale, Wildfire at Desert Ridge, Poston Butte (see image on right) and Gainey Ranch just to name a few. We have our freshest varieties of sod from our Arizona farms ready for all golf courses. We’ll be sodding and sprigging with some of our Arizona sod varieties such as TifGrand, Tifway, Tifgreen, MiniVerde, TifEagle and TifDwarf. Evergreen Turf isn’t the only one who has noticed how hard Arizona golf courses were hit this summer. The United States Golf Association (USGA) has also taken note of the huge difference Arizona golf courses have had transitioning this summer compared to last. Read more about the USGA’s take on the summer golf course sod in Arizona this year.

Evergreen Turf is looking forward to Valley residents and guests getting the chance to play on these golf courses once they are fresh and ready with some of our very own Arizona sod. Also we are looking forward to our Arizona Cardinal’s getting out on their field of our Arizona sod come fall, now that the NFL lock out is over!

TifGrand is the newest Arizona sod variety to hit the market and is an excellent choice for those Arizona grassy lawns that have a lot of shade coverage. TifGrand is specifically designed to grow in shaded areas (4+ hours of sun).

Midiron is the best grass for Arizona lawns when it comes to transitioning in the winter. It is known to recover quickly from over-seeding which is great if you love having a lush lawn in the winter. If you enjoy entertaining outside during Arizona’s mild winter or refreshing spring than Midiron just might be the Arizona sod variety for you. It handles high traffic areas well, is easy to maintain and is both heat and drought tolerant.

Palmetto St. Augustine is the second best shade tolerant grass for Arizona lawns. This Arizona sod variety is one of our top choices for lawns with shade coverage. People are attracted to this variety not only for it’s shade tolerance, but also for it’s unique texture. The Palmetto St. Augustine is a lighter colored Arizona sod variety with a wider blade. This is a great choice of sod for your Phoenix area residence if you have shade coverage on your lawn, and kids that like to play in the grass.

Any of these are great grasses for Arizona lawns. When selecting your sod variety, consider your lawn surroundings, your lifestyle (kids or pets) and how often you want to mow it and how many hours you want to spend maintaining it. Remember that these are just a few of the Arizona sod varieties that Evergreen Turf offers, if you need help selecting a sod variety for your life and home use our easy “Lawn Selector Tool.”

Find out more about our other residential sod varieties.
Order one of our Arizona sod varieties (10% off online orders).

For the next week you can make a great impact by following some of the water awareness tips found here. Click on each day for the Water Use It Wisely special tips; we know some of the tips aren’t just for your lawn, but in the grand scheme of things we still want you to conserve water for our state.

When it comes to watering your lawn we recommend that you check the Water Use It Wisely watering guide or your local newspaper daily. If you are unable to check it daily, check it weekly to ensure that you are not only over watering your lawn, but that you aren’t wasting any water.

With summer coming right around the corner you can also refer to our irrigation/watering schedule for summer time to make sure you know how much water your Evergreen Turf lawn requires. Make it a goal to adjust your watering schedule and conserve as much water as you can!

TifGrand - Available Summer 2011

Evergreen Turf, Arizona’s premier sod producer, is the exclusive licensed seller of TifGrand bermudagrass in the Southwest. TifGrand bermudagrass is brand new to the sod market. One of the most distinctive and beneficial characteristics of the TifGrand variety is it can grow in the shade! Evergreen Turf is currently one of 18 licensed turf providers to sell this amazing new sod variety.

For Arizona residents TifGrand Bermudagrass is an excellent sod choice. Arizona residents who want shade in the heat of the summer no longer have to compromise their beautiful green lawn. If your yard contains shade tree coverage or if your home creates shade coverage over your lawn during the day, TifGrand might be the answer for you.

• Can flourish in growth in 60-70% shade coverage; is known to continue growth well in up to 90% shade levels.
• Can grow at the same capacity in full sun.
• Requires considerably less water and fertilizer.
• Has a naturally denser and darker green blade.
• Mole cricket non-preference, which means the pests will eat it, but will eat other grass varieties nearby first.
• TifGrand was developed by scientists Dr. Wayne Hanna and Dr. Kris Braman and the University of Georgia’s turfgrass breeding program.

Evergreen Turf is also a proud provider of TifEagle, another sod variety to come from Dr. Hanna out of the Georgia program.

Arizona was a testing location throughout the development process of TifGrand bermudagrass and Evergreen Turf is confident this new sod variety will be a great choice for Arizona residents. Not only is TifGrand great for Arizona homeowners, but it is also a great sod variety for golf courses, athletics fields, and stadiums.

Anywhere where turf grows and shade is present, make the change to TifGrand bermudagrass.

*Please note that all TifGrand cannot tolerate 100% shade. It will still require 4 hours or more of sunlight per day in order to thrive.

Evergreen Turf used sod variety, TifEagle, the third generation of bermudagrass varieties developed exclusively for golf greens at the Coastal Plains Experiment Station in Tifton, GA. It’s used on more golf courses than any other ultradwarf and is the standard that all other greens are measured by. “TifEagle is ideal for putting greens because it is extremely fine-textured and can be mowed below one-eighth of an inch,” Fox said. TifEagle is a patented variety and can only be sold as certified sod or sprigs, and only by licensed members of the TifEagle Growers Association. Evergreen Turf is a one of those proud members to provide this variety.

TifEagle was created to withstand the abuse from reduced mowing height, frequent-verticutting, increased topdressing and minimal irrigation. TifEagle was designed to improve the speed, consistency and playability of greens and in test after test, TifEagle’s quality rated superior to Tifdwarf and other warm-season grasses. Putting speed tests are routinely in the 9 to 10 range on the Stimpmeter and often exceed 10.5 to 11 during intense management for tournament play.

Check out some of the sod installation photos on Evergreen Turf’s Facebook page, while you’re there become a fan too and keep up on lawn care and maintenance tips as well as new installations.

Interested in learning more about the TifEagle variety? Visit our professional sod varieties page, scroll to the bottom to find specification on TifEagle.