During the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California, you’re going to hear the name kikuyugrass quite a bit, but most golfers have probably never played on this grass or even seen it firsthand. At Riviera, however, this seldom-used grass has been the preferred option on fairways and rough for decades. So, let’s learn more about this grass that is seen as a weed by many but can provide championship playing conditions for the best golfers in the world.
The basics
Kikuyugrass is a warm-season grass that came to the United States from Kenya. Most of the time, it is viewed as a weed that spreads aggressively into desired grasses once it gains a foothold. Kikuyugrass is very difficult to eradicate from other warm-season grasses such as bermudagrass, which has led some golf courses to adopt it as their desired turf. In Southern California and other warm areas around the world, a handful of golf courses choose to promote kikuyugrass, including USGA championship venues like Riviera and Torrey Pines.
Why would anyone want kikuyugrass on their golf course?
Kikuyugrass is versatile. It can tolerate a wide variety of mowing heights and is often used as both fairway and rough, which is the case at Riviera. That means if you want to adjust fairway and/or rough lines, you simply mow it lower or let it grow higher and after a short period of adaptation to the new height, a new line is born. This flexibility is extremely helpful in a championship context because we often want to adjust mowing lines for elite players and then put them back to normal for everyday play.
Kikuyugrass also provides a dense fairway canopy and excellent lies. The ball sits up beautifully in kikuyugrass fairways, which is why golfers often become attached to this “weed” even if it wasn’t the intended fairway turf. Kikuyugrass is drought tolerant, which helps in areas like Southern California where water is at a premium. It also has moderate to high salt tolerance which allows it to function well on courses that have lower-quality water sources and limited rainfall – a common situation in the southwestern U.S.
That all sounds great, so why wouldn’t I want kikuyugrass?
Kikuyugrass grows aggressively and creates a dense mat of organic matter beneath the surface. That makes it challenging for superintendents to provide firm conditions in fairways and approaches, even with considerable effort. Aggressive vertical mowing and topdressing are critical for maintaining good fairway playability with kikuyugrass. Some courses that have kikuyugrass have converted their approaches and closely mown areas around putting greens to bermudagrass to give them a better chance at maintaining firm conditions in these areas.
Another issue is that when kikuyugrass escapes from a desired location, it is difficult to eradicate with herbicides. Yet where it is desirable, it can be injured by herbicides that are needed to control other weeds. Easy to injure and difficult to kill is not an ideal combination for golf course maintenance. The fluffy, white kikuyugrass seed stalks can be an aesthetic nuisance, and they re-emerge quickly after being mowed off when the turf is under stress, which is common when preparing for elite golf events like the U.S. Women’s Open.
Kikuyugrass also has trouble shaking its reputation as a weed that offers inferior playability when compared to other warm-season grasses. There is no doubt that getting good fairway and approach playability from kikuyugrass takes a lot of hard work, but it is definitely possible and some of the advantages that it offers in terms of ball lie, winter color retention, and general durability are valuable where golf is played year-round.
What’s the verdict?
Kikuyugrass is not for everyone. In fact, it is a turfgrass cultivated by relatively few courses. However, kikuyugrass can be managed to be an exceptional fairway surface and a challenging rough depending on height of cut. Conventional wisdom says that kikuyugrass is a weed, but in some instances, this weed has proven to be the grass of choice with proper maintenance. Kikuyugrass is not perfect, but where it works, it can work well – and better than many expect.