During the past generation, few names have been as synonymous with high-level championship golf as Bob Farren, CGCS.
For his accomplishments and contributions to golf and the turfgrass maintenance industry, Farren has been named the recipient of the 2024 USGA Green Section Award.
Farren's career in turf management has spanned 45 years, including the past 32 at Pinehurst Resort where he has been director of golf course management since 2001.
At Pinehurst, Farren oversees agronomic conditions for all of the resort's nine golf courses, as well as a par 3 course and 43,000 square foot putting course.
During his time in the North Carolina Sandhills, Pinehurst No. 2 has been the site of nearly a dozen USGA national championships, including the U.S. Open in 1999, 2005 and 2014; the 2008 and 2019 U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women's Open in 2014.
A native of Tornado, West Virginia, Farren grew up working on a golf course alongside his father, Bob Sr. in his hometown.
Since deciding to follow in his father's footsteps, Farren has been a regular speaker at regional and national events and has been on the ground floor of helping prepare assistants for jobs as head superintendents through professional-development events such as the Green Start Academy.
Farren also has overseen tremendous growth at Pinehurst as well as a return to the facility's rustic golf roots that includes a restoration of the Donald Ross-designed No. 2 course in advance of the U.S. Open and Women's Open played in concurrent weeks in 2014.
That restoration, led by the design team of Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, included converting more than 40 acres of irrigated turf to native grasses, regrassing greens with heat- and drought-tolerant Champion Bermudagrass, eliminating overseeding throughout the property and bringing back a vintage appearance that more resembles what No. 2 looked like when Ross built it in 1907.
Farren learned much of what he knows about agronomy at his father's knee. He did not attend traditional turf school, and formally studied hospitality at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Thus, much of his professional development advice to superintendents and assistants focuses on customer service as well as making yourself an indispensable asset for the property.
He spoke extensively about his career and promoting the profession in a TurfNet podcast in 2017.
He also credits his mother, a former school teacher, with helping instill in him a desire to educate and help others.
The USGA Green Section Award is given annually to one who exhibits service to golf through an individual's work with turfgrass. Farren will receive the award during the USGA annual meeting, scheduled for March 2 in Nashville.
USGA Green Section Award winners:
• 1961 — John Monteith Jr.
• 1962 — Lawrence S. Dickinson
• 1963 — O.J. Noer
• 1964 — Joseph Valentine
• 1965 — Glenn W. Burton, Ph.D.
• 1966 — H. Burton Musser
• 1967 — Elmer J. Michael
• 1968 — James L. Haines
• 1969 — Fred V. Grau
• 1970 — Eberhard R. Steiniger
• 1971 — Tom Mascaro
• 1972 — Herb and Joe Graffis
• 1973 — Marvin H. Ferguson, Ph.D.
• 1974 — Howard B. Sprague, Ph.D.
• 1975 — Fanny-Fern Davis, Ph.D.
• 1976 — James R. Watson, Ph.D.
• 1977 — Edward J. Casey
• 1978 — Jesse De France, Ph.D.
• 1979 — Arthur A. Snyder
• 1980 — C. Reed Funk, Ph.D.
• 1981 — Joseph W. Duich, Ph.D.
• 1982 — Charles G. Wilson
• 1983 — Alexander M. Radko
• 1984 — W.H. Daniel, Ph.D.
• 1985 — Victor B. Youngner, Ph.D.
• 1986 — James B. Moncrief
• 1987 — Sherwood Moore
• 1988 — Roy Goss
• 1989 — James Beard
• 1990 — Chester Mendenhall
• 1991 — Joseph Troll, Ph.D.
• 1992 — C. Richard Skogley, Ph.D.
• 1993 — Ralph E. Engel, Ph.D.
• 1994 — Kenyon T. Payne, Ph.D.
• 1995 — David Stone
• 1996 — Robert M. Williams
• 1997 — Paul Rieke, Ph.D.
• 1998 — B.J. Johnson
• 1999 — Noel Jackson, Ph.D.
• 2000 — L. Palmer Maples Jr.
• 2001 — Patricia A. Cobb
• 2002 — George B. Thompson
• 2003 — Houston B. Couch, Ph.D.
• 2004 — Monroe S. Miller
• 2005 — Peter Cookingham
• 2006 — Robert C. Shearman, Ph.D.
• 2007 — Joe Vargas Jr., Ph.D.
• 2008 — Ted Horton
• 2009 — Terry Bonar
• 2010 — Daniel A. Potter, Ph.D.
• 2011 — Dennis Lyon
• 2012 — Wayne Hanna, Ph.D.
• 2013 — Victor Gibeault, Ph.D.
• 2014 — Peter Dernoeden, Ph.D.
• 2015 — Patricia J. Vittum, Ph.D.
• 2016 — Bruce Clarke, Ph.D.
• 2017 — Norman Hummel, Ph.D.
• 2018 — Tim Hiers
• 2019 — Michael T. Huck
• 2020 — William Meyer, Ph.D.
• 2021 — No Award Given (COVID-19 pandemic)
• 2022 — Frank Dobie
• 2023 — Roch Gaussoin, Ph.D.
• 2024 — Bob Farren