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The spelling is odd: Kikuyu. You’ll hear the word, pronounced kuh-KOO-yah, umpteen times on this week’s U.S. Women's Open broadcast, same as when the PGA Tour comes to town each year for the Genesis Invitational.We’re talking, of course, about the peculiar grass that covers Riviera Country Club’s fairways, rough and green surrounds—not to be confused with the Bantu ethnic group native to Central Kenya.
The grass does, however, have roots in East Africa, which explains the name. Officially Pennisetum clandestinum, Kikuyu grass—which is actually an invasive species, categorized in some places as a noxious weed—has found homes in the warm weather climates of Asia, Australia, South America, South Africa and Southern California. Torrey Pines, the host of the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, is covered in Kikuyu. But it’s Riviera that’s more closely linked with the grass than any other golf course.
RELATED: 10 players to watch at this year's U.S. Women's Open
So, why is this a grass worth talking about? Because it’s different than the Bermuda, bentgrass, zoysia and Kentucky bluegrass that you’ll see at most PGA Tour and LPGA venues. Kikuyu is a spongy turf, and it has an uncanny ability to stop balls dead in their tracks. On other grasses, a fairway-wood approach that lands just short of the green could well bound through the putting surface, into a bunker or rough. With Kikuyu, it could well bounce one yard forward before stopping completely. Bump-and-runs around the greens are virtually impossible; chips have to land on the putting surfaces, which feature a different (and yet equally polarizing) grass in Poa annua. We’ll save the Poa conversation for another time.
The fact that Kikuyu plays this way around the greens became a particular point of conversation in February during the Genesis Invitational after a change was made Riviera’s famed par-3 fourth hole. Former a beefy 236 yards for the men, the Redan hole green was already tricky because the natural way to play it would be to draw a tee shot shy of the green and let it funnel to the hole. The Kikuyu added a bit of luck then to whether your shot would release of not. But ahead of this year’s event, the hole was stretched to 273 yards, making it that much more of a factor. For the women this week, it's listed at 192 yards.
“I actually think it’s a horrible change,” noted Rory McIlroy during his pre-tournament press conference in February. “Like if you want it to be a 275-yard par 3, you have to change the apron leading up onto the green. It can't be Kikuyu. It has to be another type of grass that can help you run it onto the green because again, in the right conditions, you try to fly that ball on the green with a 3-iron, it's going to land … it's going to finish up on the fifth tee box. That's sort of what I mean by why it's not a great change."
RELATED: The evolution of Riviera—how this timeless classic has changed through the years
As far as the rough goes, Kikuyu giveth, and Kikuyu taketh away. It’s a dense grass, so often times a ball will sit up on top of the rough, almost on a tee, which leads to some serious flyer lies. But it can also nestle down to the bottom, forcing guys to grip the club extra tight to prevent the grabby Kikuyu from closing the clubface. The best you can do from one of these lies is to hack it out and hope it chases on the green—even though, as previously discussed, that’s probably not going to happen.
The strategy, as always, is to keep the ball in the fairway, where Kikuyu is its friendliest.
“It’s nice—you hit it in the fairway, you always have a good lie,” Dustin Johnson, a former winner at Riviera, told Golf Digest in 2022. “The ball sits up really nicely.”
So nicely, in fact, that you have to worry about catching it too cleanly. Several players note that you get a lot more spin with your wedges, which impacts where you’re aiming on the greens.
So, does it benefit one type of player or another? Some tour pros say if you’re a “picker” of the golf ball—a la two-time Riviera winner Adam Scott—you’ll have an easier time adjusting. The steeper your swing, the more of a chance the Kikuyu twists or manipulates the club through impact.
Editor’s Note—An original version of this article ran in 2021.
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The grass does, however, have roots in East Africa, which explains the name. Officially Pennisetum clandestinum, Kikuyu grass—which is actually an invasive species, categorized in some places as a noxious weed—has found homes in the warm weather climates of Asia, Australia, South America, South Africa and Southern California. Torrey Pines, the host of the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, is covered in Kikuyu. But it’s Riviera that’s more closely linked with the grass than any other golf course.
RELATED: 10 players to watch at this year's U.S. Women's Open
So, why is this a grass worth talking about? Because it’s different than the Bermuda, bentgrass, zoysia and Kentucky bluegrass that you’ll see at most PGA Tour and LPGA venues. Kikuyu is a spongy turf, and it has an uncanny ability to stop balls dead in their tracks. On other grasses, a fairway-wood approach that lands just short of the green could well bound through the putting surface, into a bunker or rough. With Kikuyu, it could well bounce one yard forward before stopping completely. Bump-and-runs around the greens are virtually impossible; chips have to land on the putting surfaces, which feature a different (and yet equally polarizing) grass in Poa annua. We’ll save the Poa conversation for another time.
The fact that Kikuyu plays this way around the greens became a particular point of conversation in February during the Genesis Invitational after a change was made Riviera’s famed par-3 fourth hole. Former a beefy 236 yards for the men, the Redan hole green was already tricky because the natural way to play it would be to draw a tee shot shy of the green and let it funnel to the hole. The Kikuyu added a bit of luck then to whether your shot would release of not. But ahead of this year’s event, the hole was stretched to 273 yards, making it that much more of a factor. For the women this week, it's listed at 192 yards.
“I actually think it’s a horrible change,” noted Rory McIlroy during his pre-tournament press conference in February. “Like if you want it to be a 275-yard par 3, you have to change the apron leading up onto the green. It can't be Kikuyu. It has to be another type of grass that can help you run it onto the green because again, in the right conditions, you try to fly that ball on the green with a 3-iron, it's going to land … it's going to finish up on the fifth tee box. That's sort of what I mean by why it's not a great change."
RELATED: The evolution of Riviera—how this timeless classic has changed through the years
As far as the rough goes, Kikuyu giveth, and Kikuyu taketh away. It’s a dense grass, so often times a ball will sit up on top of the rough, almost on a tee, which leads to some serious flyer lies. But it can also nestle down to the bottom, forcing guys to grip the club extra tight to prevent the grabby Kikuyu from closing the clubface. The best you can do from one of these lies is to hack it out and hope it chases on the green—even though, as previously discussed, that’s probably not going to happen.
The strategy, as always, is to keep the ball in the fairway, where Kikuyu is its friendliest.
“It’s nice—you hit it in the fairway, you always have a good lie,” Dustin Johnson, a former winner at Riviera, told Golf Digest in 2022. “The ball sits up really nicely.”
So nicely, in fact, that you have to worry about catching it too cleanly. Several players note that you get a lot more spin with your wedges, which impacts where you’re aiming on the greens.
So, does it benefit one type of player or another? Some tour pros say if you’re a “picker” of the golf ball—a la two-time Riviera winner Adam Scott—you’ll have an easier time adjusting. The steeper your swing, the more of a chance the Kikuyu twists or manipulates the club through impact.
Editor’s Note—An original version of this article ran in 2021.
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