Cutting edge research at university extensions keeps superintendents from having to face season stresses alone. Some have discovered that relationships with university researchers can give them a strong advantage for improving their courses.
Kip Fitzgerald, a golf superintendent at Spotswood Country Club in Harrisonburg, Va., was at a seminar hosted by Virginia Tech’s extension a few years ago when he heard Shawn Askew speak. Askew is an associate professor and extension specialist on the Blacksburg campus of Virginia Tech, where he specializes in weedgrass management research.
“He said it would really be nice to test some of his research on courses outside the Blacksburg area to see how things worked in different climates and situations,” Fitzgerald says. As an avid student of new technologies, Fitzgerald was enthusiastic about testing a product with the potential to address a big problem for courses in his area — Poa annua.
If the product removed Poa the way he thought it might, Fitzgerald realized it could help him provide more consistent year-round playing conditions. Before he embarked on the Virginia Tech partnership that tested the product on his course, Fitzgerald educated the club’s membership.
“When we brought the members up to speed on this, they were all excited about it,” he says. Fitzgerald invited members to tour the course with Askew, who explained how the research worked. “I think education is really the key to making some of these experimental projects successful,” he says. Once he had buy-in, Fitzgerald embarked on a relationship with lasting benefits.
Through collaboration, Fitzgerald observed how researchers refine new products to meet common, real-life goals. It also gave him an open door for posing other questions related to course management. “It’s a very friendly relationship we’ve developed with these guys over the past few years,” Fitzgerald says.
Research-based educational programs hosted by universities have high value for superintendents. Bill Keene, a golf superintendent at Blacksburg Country Club in Blacksburg, Va., has been a regular attendee at Virginia Tech’s Turf Research Field Days, where superintendents examine research plots and learn about promising new grass selections, pesticide applications and other cutting-edge research.
Usually held at end of August, when turf has been through summer’s worst conditions, these annual events are apt to sway course management decisions. “At that point, the cream definitely rises to the top,” Keene says. “You can see what summered well and what didn’t. If there’s a product they’ve used, and you can really see the difference it made, it might change my approach for the following season.”
As a visual person, he likes attending field days to see what works before he tries it. “If I decide to use a product, I know exactly everything I need to do because the researchers have done all the legwork, which takes the guesswork out of it,” Keene says.
Keene’s golf course has participated in research with Virginia Tech, an experience that was easy to manage, with little to no impact on his daily routine. “There are no surprises when you work with Shawn,” he says. “He lays everything out in advance.”
Keene says he took full advantage of one of the hidden benefits of participation—the one-on-one opportunity to pick a researcher’s brain while they are on site. The club’s involvement with Virginia Tech gave Keene yet another friend in times of need.
“Any time you fight Mother Nature toe to toe, it never hurts to have people in the industry on your side,” Keene says. He advises superintendents who are considering on-course research participation to take the pulse of membership before making the commitment.
Beyond putting golf courses on the leading edge, university research is credited with elevating the professionalism and building industry-wide camaraderie. “I think we’ve really seen the turf industry come together for the betterment of golf,” Fitzgerald says. “The educational aspect that universities and state and local organizations bring, have fostered that.”
An abundance of educational opportunities through universities and golf associations has built a larger network of golf professionals and greater concern for a common goal: strengthening the industry through shared knowledge. As someone with a long tenure in the profession, Fitzgerald says the broader horizon of opportunities has been good for golf. “The possibilities for education are endless,” he says. “It just depends on how much time people want to take to go after it.”