Eight Lawton Country Club golf greens replaced

The Lawton Country Club golf course was transformed Thursday.

Eight brown, dead putting greens — six on-course and two practice ones — were removed and replaced with verdant Zoysia grass that will grow into a fine putting surface.

The project was necessary after a winter freeze killed eight greens. The new grass was sourced from from Pilot Point, Texas.

Lonnie Norton, Lawton Country Club superintendent, has been looking forward to the project for a long time.

“It’s a diamond Zoysia bred and developed at Texas A&M,” Norton said. “It’s drought tolerant, it’s shade tolerant. It takes less fertilizer, less chemicals, less maintenance all the way around. It’s perfect for our climate. It disperses sodium that’s in the water, so that’s a good thing.”

Lawton Country Club spent $40,000 for the project.

The twelve undamaged greens are Bermuda grass. The average golfer will not feel much of a difference while putting between the grass types, but there are differences greenskeepers will have to keep in mind.

Norton said the Zoysia grass will go dormant before the Bermuda.

“It’s dormant stage will be longer than the Bermuda but it holds up ten times better,” Norton said. “It’s perfect for the climate in our area.”

The new grass was installed in strips. It needs to grow together and even out the seams before it will be ready. Head pro Johnny Wilson estimated the new greens will be ready for play in four to six weeks.

“For the next week to 10 days, I’ll do nothing but water,” Norton said. “Then after that I’ll come in and we’ll dress all the seams.”