The late artist formerly known as Prince was looking into the future in 1982 when he told he was going to "party like it's 1999."
Unlike Prince, Thom Nikolai, Ph.D., (at right) of Michigan State University is, in a sense, going back in time to that same era to repeat much of the same rolling research he made famous two decades ago.
After conceding that most golf course superintendents were up to speed on his rolling research, Nikolai, who was dubbed Dr. Green Speed, dismissed the topic during speaking engagements quite a while ago.
"I stopped discussing rolling in talks probably seven or eight years ago. I figured everybody knew about it by now," Nikolai said.
That is, until a roller company recently approached him to pick up where he'd left off when they noticed roller sales. Shortly after the 2024 GCSAA conference in Phoenix, he received funding for a multi-year study to show the many benefits of lightweight rolling on golf course greens.
"They want me to do everything I've already done. Well, why?" he said "None of these young guys want to roll anymore. They don't care about the research I did in the '90s."
I was dumbfounded when I was asked to do that research again. I thought I solved that problem already. What did I do wrong? I thought I beat that horse to death.
Nikolai recounted a recent speaking engagement where his window to speak was chopped down from 90 minutes to 30 minutes to make time for an unrelated outdoor demo.
As Nikolai explained the benefits of rolling, attendees who knew nothing about the practice implored him to continue past his appointed stop time.
"When I stopped, people's mouths fell open and they were dead silent," he said. "Then they asked me if I could go on. I told them I could talk for an-hour-and-a-half. They said, 'can you go for 20 more minutes?' They said they thought rolling killed grass."
Some of those findings in that early research that changed the way educated superintendents manage greens today surprised even Nikolai.
His early trials consisted of alternating mowing and rolling every other day, rolling every two days and eventually rolling daily without any negative effects on turf health. In fact, quite the opposite was true.
"I was afraid to tell people what I'd found," Nikolai said. "I knew they would be afraid of compaction.
"I have not seen a change in bulk density. I've seen a change in pore size, but not enough to influence bulk density."
The economic benefits of rolling do not require peer approval.
"Have you ever seen anyone have to backlap a roller? Have you ever seen anyone change the reels on a roller?" he asked. "Me either."
Nikolai's groundbreaking research on the benefits of rolling greens became the cornerstone of cultural practices for many superintendents.
"On Mondays we're closed, but we roll six days a week all year," said Ross Miller, CGCS at The Country Club of Detroit. "We mow based on clipping yield when we reach a half-quart of clippings per thousand (square feet). We can maintain green speed with rolling."
His work showed anecdotal evidence of many other benefits besides just a smoother putting surface.
Dr. Green Speed's top 10 reasons to roll
- Improved golfer satisfaction by producing a smoother putting surface
- Economic impact — a program of alternating mowing and rolling every other day, or rolling daily and mowing less often is cheaper than mowing daily and still allows the superintendent to maintain consistent green speeds
- Disease resistance — his research showed that plots that were rolled had less incidence of dollar spot than control plots
- Rolling improves topdressing incorporation
- Reduced cutworm activity — mowing followed by rolling is thought to pick up cutworm eggs that are laid on the turf surface
- Improved plant health by raising height of cut while still maintaining desired green speeds
- Increased moisture retention without an increase in compaction, which resulted in a reduction of localized dry spot
- Reduction of broadleaf weeds, moss and algae
- Improved seedbed preparation
- Rolling before mowing can reduce the threat of scalping by reducing what Nikolai calls thatch swelling
The benefits exhibited in his research, however, were purely anecdotal, and none of the work conducted at the Hancock Research Center on the MSU campus and other locations like Crystal Downs Country Club in Frankfort, Michigan, was refereed or published in a scientific journal.
I stopped discussing rolling in talks probably seven or eight years ago. I figured everybody knew about it by now.
He knows rolling works, but what he hopes to prove in this latest research is the science behind those benefits, or the "how" it works.
"Where we were double-rolling in March, to be honest, looked terrible, but it looked awesome in April," he said. "It greens-up in April two to three times faster than the check plot, and the snow mold disappears almost overnight.
"I know that rolling decreased dollar spot more than nitrogen. Why? I don't know. I didn't publish the research. I'm getting really good at saying this for an answer: I don't know."
He does have his theories. Now, he just has to prove them as he embarks on his second year of the study.
I know that rolling decreased dollar spot more than nitrogen. Why? I don't know. I didn't publish the research. I'm getting really good at saying this for an answer: I don't know.
"Rolling does a couple of things," he said. "It keeps soil temperature colder, I think that's because it holds more water after rolling. We've also found that rolling has resulted in strongly improved bacteria populations in soil. Diseases are caused by fungi. More bacteria in the soil may take away the food source for the disease and put beneficial nutrients in the plant. That would be my hypothesis.
"We just took more samples, and we're going to look at it again. I'm the person who knows better than anyone else that you need two years of data to publish it."
A second round of research will give him that opportunity.
"I was dumbfounded when I was asked to do that research again," he said. "I thought I solved that problem already. What did I do wrong? I thought I beat that horse to death."
