RAZORBACKS RETURN TO NATURAL GRASS By Stacie Zinn Roberts
“Natural grass is more forgiving on the body. Tere are more injuries to ankles and lower extremities on synthetic turf.” Pat Berger
Editor’s note: Tis article originally appeared in the July 2019 issue of SportsTurf magazine.
It’s not every day that a sod farm gets a call from a football fan asking if he can bring his hog to roll around in their turf fields. But that’s just what happened to Bobby Winstead when it was announced that the University of Arkansas’ Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, (the team mascot is a razorback hog), would be converting from synthetic turf back to natural grass. Once word got out that Winstead Turf Farms, located near Memphis, was growing the sod for the stadium’s renovation, the phone started to ring. Winstead, president of Winstead Turf Farms, respectfully declined the hog’s frolic in the grass.
Apparently, Razorback fans are pretty excited about the change. And they’re not alone. Indeed, interest is so high in the Razorback stadium field’s renovation to natural grass that the University of Arkansas created a mini-website dedicated to tracking the conversion process. Te site features a timeline, and videos to watch the removal of the synthetic surface, as well as a time-lapse camera that allows fans to quite literally watch the Tahoma 31 bermudagrass grow at the sod farm. Visit
https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/naturalgrass/ to check it out for yourself.
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A Brief History Pat Berger, CGCS, Director of Sports Turf Operations for the past 18 years at Arkansas, says this renovation marks the fourth time the field at Razorbacks stadium has flip-
flopped between natural grass and synthetic turf. • From 1938 to 1968: Razorbacks stadium was built with a natural grass field. It remained that way for 30 years.
• From 1968 to 1994: Berger says the team played on an early form of AstroTurf.
• From 1995 to 2009: In this time period, the Razorbacks played on Tifway 419 bermudagrass. Eventually, Berger changed the field over to a seeded variety, Riviera bermudagrass. Berger says he liked the Riviera for the flexibility of throwing out more seed when needed, but that the Riviera struggled in the stadium’s shade and cold, and winter desiccation was an issue.
• For the 2010 season: Te then-new head coach preferred synthetic turf, and the field was renovated again, back to an artificial surface.
• 2019: Te field returns to natural grass, with a cold tolerant, drought resistant Tahoma 31 bermudagrass as the surface.
TPI Turf News November/December 2019
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