Astronomers say that you can fit around 1,300 Earths into the planet Jupiter. When I look at the amount of research that has been done for the golf course maintenance industry, it feels like golf research is Jupiter and research into all other sports or recreational pursuits combined are Earth. The amount of research that continues to be produced by universities and private organizations is remarkable. Between the USGA, NTEP, USDA, chemical companies, GCSAA and many other organizations, tens of millions of dollars have been devoted to turfgrass research projects that help superintendents be better at what they do. The way that golf courses are maintained now is the direct result of decades of research that have developed improved grasses and refined our understanding of best practices. How we manage courses in the future will be based on research that is being done now. The big engine in this research machine is universities. Countless students, staff and professors have spent innumerable hours replicating field trials, recording results and publishing their findings for the benefit of the golf world.
As the holidays rapidly approach, most northern superintendents are looking forward to a much deserved “offseason” – typically about two or three days! Devoting at least one of those offseason days to reviewing some of the latest research will be worth the effort.
While reading through one of our industry magazines or searching a university’s turfgrass website can be fruitful, the motherlode of research information is found on the USGA’s Turfgrass and Environmental Research Online (TERO) website. Research summaries dating back to the 1950s can be found here. The most recent edition is the 2020 Research Summaries. This easy-to-navigate, 402-page juggernaut details the latest and greatest turfgrass research being supported by the USGA. Spend some time looking through these summaries to see what is applicable to your facility. I guarantee you’ll be better off for it.
West Region Agronomists:
Brian Whitlark, senior consulting agronomist – bwhitlark@usga.org
Cory Isom, agronomist – cisom@usga.org