Golf Course Management Training

Education Funded

2010 Education

  • Thatch Management - Dr. Bob Carrow, University of Georgia
  • Thatch Management Research - Dr. Jack Huang, University of Georgia
  • Paspalum Breeding and Management - Dr. Paul Raymer, University of Georgia
  • Bentgrass Disease Management - Dr. Lee Burpee, University of Georgia
  • Field Tour - NTEP Studies, Penncross Green, Warm-season Research Green, Seashore Paspalum Breeding Plots, Greenhouse,  and Maintenance Building -Drs. Waltz, Huang, Raymer, Burpee, and McCullough, University of Georgia

2012 Education

  • Reducing Chemical Use on Golf Course Turf – Redefining IPM - Dr. Frank Rossi, Cornell University
  • Updates on Ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues – UGA Turf Team

2013 Education

  • Updates on Ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues – UGA Turf Team
  • Turfgrass: Management, Politics, Society and the Environment – Dr. John Steir, University of Tennessee

2014 Education

  • Updates on Ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues – UGA Turf Team
  •  “What’s Good About Golf and What’s Wrong With People?” - Bob Cupp - Bob Cupp, Inc.

2015 Education

  • Updates on Ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues – UGA Turf Team
  • Going Native...Native Grasses & Organizing Methods
    – Mark Hoban—Rivermont Golf & Country Club
  • Uncovering the Spirit of Pinehurst No. 2 for historical Back to Back U.S. Opens
    – Bob Farren, CGCS—Director of Golf Course Maintenance & Grounds Pinehurst Resort

2016 Education

  • Updates on Ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues
    – UGA Turf Team
  • Understanding Factors that Affect Pesticide Fate and Behavior
    – Dr. Travis Gannon - North Carolina State University
  • Going Undefeated in the War Against Warm Season Turf Insect Pests
    – Dr. Rick Brandenburg - North Carolina State University

2017 Education

  • Updates on Ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues
    – UGA Turf Team
  • Maintaining the Fields of Play in Harmony with Nature
    – Nelson Caron, The Ford Plantation

2018 Education

  • Updates on Ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues
    – UGA Turf Team
  • Practical Organic and Sustainable Golf Turf Management Strategies
    – Jeff Carlson, CGCS, The Vineyard Golf Club

2019 Education

  • Updates on Ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues
    – UGA Turf Team
  • Georgia Best Management Practices - Creating Your Facility BMPs
    – Dr. Gary Hawkins, UGA & Mark Johnson, GCSAA

2020 Education

  • Updates on ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues
    – UGA Turf Team
  • Good Business Practices Promotes Sustainability
    – Tim Hiers, CGS, White Oak Conservation Golf Course, Yulee, Fla.

2021 Education

  • Updates on ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues
    – UGA Turf Team
  • How to Set Yourself Apart in the Golf Industry: The Art of Self Promotion
    – Darren J. Davis, CGCS, Olde Florida Golf Club
    Darren J. Davis, CGCS, uses personal stories and real-life examples to demonstrate the importance of communication, professionalism and self-promotion as a way to set yourself apart and advance. Davis covers a variety of topics designed to help you present yourself at the highest level and become the “author of your own destiny.”
    The presentation is for anyone looking for tips and techniques to enhance their marketability in the golf course management industry.
  • The Georgia Golf Environmental Foundation Presents Ongoing and Future Research Updates
    – Dr. Patrick McCullough, University of Georgia
    – Dr. Brian Schwartz, University of Georgia
  • Professional Presence
    – Amy Wallis, PhD, SPHR, Chief Human Resources Officer, Sunbelt Solomon
    Full Professor of Practice in Organizational Behavior, Wake Forest University
    This half day interactive workshop will focus on professional presence, particularly in relation to influence without authority, advocating to stakeholders, and representing the industry. We will discuss strategies for influencing others, projecting authority, and establishing credibility, and role-play opportunities such as media interviews, boards of directors, and committees. Tools for designing your message, reading your audience, and guiding decision making will be provided.
  • What You Really Need to Know About Turf Pathology: An Insiders Guide to Disease
    – Dr. Jim Kerns, NC State University
    Diseases can be mysterious as three factors must converge with a certain amount of time to develop: a susceptible host, virulent pathogen, and a conducive environment. Many times, in the Southeast the environment is conducive for disease and a susceptible host is always present.
    This seminar will focus on the specific information needed about pathogens to assist superintendents in building successful fungicide programs. Specifically, the difference between foliar and root pathogens will be covered and how the management for them is different. Topics such as epidemiology will be addressed to provide confidence that fungicide applications when applied representatively will perform for a certain number of days. Finally, the seminar will cover how fungicides affect the microbiome of the turf.

 2022 Education

  • Updates on ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues
    – UGA Turf Team
  • Current turfgrass research activities at the University of Arkansas
    – Dr. Mike Richardson, University of Arkansas
    In this seminar, we will summarize some of the latest work we have been doing in our research program, including a look at the latest information on shade tolerance, applications of wetting agents and nanobubble-oxygenated water to sand-based greens and using fraise mowing to assist with pest control in turfgrasses. Finally, we will talk about zoysiagrass as a new putting green option for southern and transition-zone golf courses

2024 Education

  • Updates on ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues
    - UGA Turf Team
  • Effects of Climate Change on Turfgrass Management and Turfgrass Pests
    - Fred Yelverton, PhD, Professor and Extension Specialist, NC State University
    In this seminar, we’ll expose the latest research regarding climate change and the current and future impacts on turfgrass management. While the majority of national discussions focus on sea-level rise and tidal flooding, our discussion will focus to how turfgrass management and the industry is and will be affected by Green House Gasses (GHG), CO2, nitrous oxides produced from the denitrification process and the effects on plants, turfgrass and pests. These trends are likely to continue for the indefinite future. Join us to get a better understanding of climate change and what it means for our industry as whole.

2025 Education

  • Updates on ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues
    - UGA Turf Team
  • Developing Sustainable Turfgrass Products
    - Kevin Kenworthy, Ph.D., Professor and Graduate Coordinator, University of Florida, Agronomy Department
    The current UF turfgrass breeding program was initiated in 2004. The program is focused on the future sustainability of the turfgrass industry and is breeding warm season species for improvements against abiotic and biotic stress that currently increase inputs needed for maintenance of high-quality turfgrass. The primary emphasis is to improve drought tolerances in new cultivars. Secondly, the program emphasizes improvements in pest tolerances depending on the species. The presentation will cover aspects of the breeding program designed to decrease water and pesticide inputs for turfgrass,

2026 Education

  • Updates on ongoing Turfgrass Research and Programs Including Management, Breeding and Pest Related Issues
    - UGA Turf Team
  • Management of Root Diseases in Turfgrasses
    - Dr. Jim Kerns, Entomology and Plant Pathology, NC State University
    Seminar Description: Root diseases are quite problematic in turfgrass systems, especially on golf course putting greens. Our program at NC State has conducted extensive research on these pathogens, and this presentation will provide an overview of the diseases diagnosed in 2025, followed by a discussion of best management practices to ensure fungicides reach the proper location to protect the roots. Finally, I will allow attendees to choose what specific diseases we will cover, but typically the most popular are take-all root rot, mini-ring, Pythium root rot, Pythium root dysfunction, summer patch, and nematodes. For the selected diseases, we will discuss the
    epidemiology of each, followed by an in-depth review of current knowledge on managing them.