Grass species diversity is an insurance policy, notes Stuart Yarwood, regional technical manager of DLF Seeds

Spring 2025 was the hottest and driest on record. Four heatwaves, rainfall 40% below average and soaring evapotranspiration left reservoirs low and much of England officially in drought.
This is the new normal for turf managers and golf fairways, in particular, have taken a hit with heavy traffic and hydrophobic ‘dry patch’ soils slowing recovery and reducing the overseeding window.

Resilience counts
Beneath the surface, next season’s outcomes are already being decided so what can you do to create surfaces than not only survive, but thrive?
Resilience isn’t about one species — it’s about balance. Each grass brings unique strengths and, when blended intelligently, they create swards that can survive drought, recover faster and maintain presentation. The deep roots and rolled leaves of fescues provide natural drought tolerance. Slender and strong creeping red deliver rhizomatous recovery, while chewings provides fineness and root mass – hard and sheep’s adding density on poorer soils.
The creeping roots of bents provide stability, boost drought recovery and wear tolerance, all with low inputs. Ultrafine ryegrasses deliver rapid establishment and resilience to traffic, ideal where fast cover is critical.
Botanical diversity is an insurance policy: if one species falters, others fill the gap. This strategy forms the backbone of mixture formulation, with each Johnsons Sports Seed and Masterline mix for example a carefully tuned orchestra of grasses working in harmony to protect your surfaces from whatever the climate throws next.

Cultivar cocktails
J Sustain Fairway is a five-fescue blend of hard, slender, strong, chewings and sheep’s working together. J Fescue is a smooth, balanced and adaptable all-rounder for greens, tees, approached and fairways, while J Premier Fairway is a focused, premium fescue cocktail for fairways that provides consistency, density and top-class presentation.
The new 2025 formulation of Johnson’s J Fairway features 5% Teetop browntop bent which equates to 10 million plants per bag. Its creeping roots stitch fairways together for resilience and accelerated recovery.
When traffic is high and recovery needs to be fast, the J Ultrafine rye range comes with 25%, 50% or 100% ultrafine rye for superior play and presentation. For coastal conditions, you can consider the 100% slender creeping red fescue blend of J Links – salt-tolerant, wind-tough and bred for links authenticity.

Time for overseeding
The autumn brings warm soils, cool air and dews — perfect conditions for overseeding. Walk your fairways and study what’s survived to match seed choice to site conditions. Relieve compaction when soils soften, aerate to chase roots deeper and use wetting agents to re-wet profiles. Once overseeding is complete, protect seedlings from traffic and communicate realistic timelines with golfers.
Intelligent overseeding is your defence in a year as brutal as 2025. Combine botanical diversity, cultural best practice and seed purity to future-proof your fairways. Overseeding isn’t just repair — it’s an investment in resilience, playability and sustainability.
www.dlf.co.uk