The Georgia Golf Environmental Foundation will give nearly $10,000 to the University of Georgia to help fund ongoing search for more sustainable golf course grasses. The money will help compensate graduate students working with Brian Schwartz, Ph.D., of the university's crop and soil sciences department.
"We are very happy to provide this support to Dr. Schwartz and UGA," said GGEF research committee chairman Kyle Marshall of the Capital City Club in Woodstock. "It seems to us to be such a sure thing to support. I don't know of any research department anywhere that has had the record of success that UGA has produced when it comes to turfgrass."
Schwartz's work continues a tradition of turfgrass breeding research at UGA established by Glenn Burton, Ph.D., and Wayne Hanna, Ph.D. Schwartz and Hanna partnered on the recent release of a new drought-tolerant Bermudagrass called TifTuf.
"While the nature of our funding is to review programs each year, we do expect this support of Dr. Schwartz's research will be long-term," Marshall said. "The fact that he is doing much of this work on fully functioning golf courses promises real world results, but it also adds considerably to the cost in terms of travel. It makes sense for us to support this research that promises to benefit all superintendents and therefore the golf industry."
Schwartz believes that "input from experienced superintendents around the state that know what is needed day in and out will pay dividends well into the future."
Partnership between the Georgia Golf Environmental Foundation and the Georgia Golf Course Superintendents Association is the best way to develop new turfgrasses that will benefit the game of golf, he says.
The GGEF has supported various research efforts since it was established in 2004 with UGA a major beneficiary. Total funding of research efforts by GGEF has exceeded more than $150,000 during the past decade. Each year, GGEF also provides a free daylong education seminar for golf course superintendents with the latest information on advances in environmental sustainability for golf courses.
GGEF is a fundraising arm of the Georgia GCSA and delivers programs and services involving information collection, research, education and outreach that communicate the best management practices of environmental stewardship on the golf course.
