Tee-2-Green Company History and the Penn BentsPenn State University developed and released the first Penn bentgrass, Penncross, back in the 1950s. Over the years, their continued efforts have produced many successful new bentgrass varieties through careful breeding and seed production. Today, all Penn varieties, including Penncross, Penn A-1, Penn A-2, Penn A-4, Penn G-1, Penn G-2, Penn G-6, PennLinks, Penneagle, salt and drought tolerant Seaside ll and a variety of blends, are considered by the golf course industry as the standard bentgrasses for putting greens, fairways and tees.

Producing bentgrass seed that would yield uniform, disease-resistant greens and perform predictably around the world required years of research and evaluation. When Penncross was developed there were no variety protection laws to shield consumers and Penncross became the first public grass variety that was limited to the first generation of seed production.

In the 1960s, sales of ‘uncertified’ Penncross bentgrass seed combined with a lack of enforcement by Federal Seed Control officials caused Penn State University to declare Penncross a proprietary or "private" variety. Through formal agreement, Penn State University authorized the Penncross Bentgrass Growers Association of Oregon to receive breeder stolon planting stock for production of commercial seed. The association formed Tee-2-Green to market the Penn bents, which is allowed use of the variety names on certified seed only. Penn State took these steps to assure superintendents that the Penn bentgrass seed they buy from Tee-2-Green is of certified varietal integrity. Any Penn bentgrass seed that is produced by unauthorized growers or by other methods should be considered fraudulent.

Penneagle, PennLinks, Penn A-1, Penn A-2, Penn A-4, Penn G-1, Penn G-2, Penn G-6, all developed by Dr. Joe Duich at Penn State University, are covered under the Plant Variety Protection Act. Penn variety bentgrass cultivars may only be sold as certified seed. In fact, these varieties have certification requirements that are much higher than other bentgrass types. The immediate acceptance of all the Penn bents by turf professionals around the world reflects the outstanding reputation of the Penn State breeding program and the continuing effort towards quality control.