Through years of research and sharing their results with others, Thom Nikolai, Ph.D., and Michael Morris, CGCS, have changed the way golf course superintendents manage putting greens.
Their work, which focused on maximizing putting conditions based on a combination of agronomics, budget limitations and (course-specific) customer satisfaction was the basis for a seminar entitled Taking Control of Green Speed.
During the past four weeks, Nikolai, a professor of turfgrass science at Michigan State University, and Morris, superintendent at Crystal Downs Country Club in Frankfort, Michigan, have resurrected their research in a four-part webinar series sponsored by Grigg entitled the ABCs of putting green management.
Although the live broadcasts have concluded, recordings of all four, along with archives of hundreds of other webinars, are available only through TurfNet University.
In Part I - Speed does not kill, ignorance does - the presenters set the table for the subsequent three sessions by discussing the role of customer satisfaction in achieving consistent playing conditions, rather than a target green speed.
This presentation challenges the notion that fast greens and compromised turf health go hand in hand. Specifically, Morris and Nikolai review how consistency and customer satisfaction were achieved at Crystal Downs Country Club through a four-part process that includes: measuring daily green speeds, surveying golfers to determine their target range, evaluating maintenance practices to manage those speeds and communicating results to stakeholders.
Part II - Putting green management and the law of diminishing returns: cultural practices - focuses on achieving customer satisfaction through sound cultural practices, including irrigation, fertility, plant growth regulators and topdressing.
Part III - Putting green management and the law of diminishing returns: mechanical practices - explores how processes, such as mowing, brushing and rolling, can help superintendents maximize customer satisfaction.
The series concluded with Part IV - You cannot manage what you cannot measure - which ties together information from the previous three webcasts and focuses on how any golf course superintendent can develop a program that includes rolling, brushing,mowing and PGR applications to maximize playability, customer satisfaction and turf health.
All TurfNet University webinars, including the live broadcasts and recorded archives, are free for everyone.