The Carolinas golf industry has announced grants of almost $100,000 to turfgrass researchers whose work helps underpin the game’s $8-billion economic impact in the region. The grants to Clemson and North Carolina State universities are the first generated by Rounds4Research, an annual online auction of tee times across the region. Nearly 700 tee times were available to the highest bidder in last year’s auction. This year’s auction runs April 10 to 17 at www.Rounds4Research.com.
“We are extremely pleased and proud to be able to provide this landmark support,” says Tim Kreger, executive director of the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association, which administers the program. “The golf industry is suffering in this recession just like the universities but we are determined to be part of the solution. This is brand new funding and shows just how much the golf industry can achieve collaboratively.”
The money, $94,225 in total, will be shared between four research projects delving into efficient use of fertilizers, water conservation, and control of doveweed and nematodes. Kreger notes that two of the projects are collaborations between researchers at the two universities. “We have some of the best research minds in the country and we are excited to help put those minds together,” he says. “Golfers may never see the work these researchers do but they certainly benefit from it, just like every golf course superintendent, golf professional, and golf course owner.”
Rounds4Research was conceived to help protect research capacities at the two universities against a tide of budget cuts. Turfgrass research at Clemson and North Carolina State has helped the Carolinas golf industry produce some of the best conditioned courses in the country and host nationally-televised events such as the U.S. Open Championship and The Heritage at Harbour Town in Hilton Head and numerous Champions Tour and LPGA Tour tournaments. Awareness generated by those events and through golf-centric regions such as Pinehurst and Myrtle Beach provides a significant foundation for the Carolinas tourism industry.
The online auction raised more than $130,000 in the Carolinas in its first two years. Other states including Georgia, Virginia and Texas joined the Rounds4Research program in 2010. All of golf’s allied associations helped generate tee-time donations and awareness for the 2010 auction and will do so again this year for the auction running April 10 to 17. Those associations are:
- Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association
- Carolinas Section of the PGA of America
- Carolinas Golf Association
- Carolinas Chapter of the Club Managers Association of America
- South Carolina Golf Association
- South Carolina Golf Course Owners Association
- Turfgrass Council of North Carolina