If you are a golf course superintendent or sports turf manager, the TurfNet Championship Showcase was designed with you in mind.
This is not a general golf industry conference. It is nott a sales meeting disguised as an event. And it is not a trip built around sitting in hotel meeting rooms listening to presentations.
The TurfNet Championship Showcase, scheduled for Sept. 23-25, is an opportunity for professional turf managers, i.e., golf course superintendents, assistant superintendents and sports field managers, to step away from the daily demands of managing playing surfaces and spend a few days learning, networking and experiencing some of the best the turf and golf industries have to offer.
If you are a golf course superintendent or sports turf manager, click the button below for more information, including the full schedule and hotel information.
TurfNet has connected golf course superintendents and turf professionals worldwide since 1994, with a focus on sharing knowledge, advancing careers and building relationships within the profession. The Championship Showcase takes that same philosophy off the screen and into the field.
The event is built around access and experience.
Attendees will have opportunities to see championship-level facilities, interact with turf professionals and industry representatives, talk shop with peers and experience firsthand the people, places and products that make the turf industry unique.
And while the educational and professional opportunities are important, this event is also designed to be fun.
The Showcase begins Wednesday, Sept. 23, with an interactive equipment demo day at Greenbrier Golf & Country Club, where attendees can compare and operate equipment from leading manufacturers under real-world conditions. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and evaluate equipment that could make an immediate impact on their own operations. Our host superintendent at Greenbrier is Jason Abner. (The demo day experience is limited to our demo day sponsors.)
After Demo Day (participation is limited to our generous sponsors), attendees can play golf at Greenbrier Golf and Country Club, or spend time fishing on the property’s private lake. The following days include golf, meals, tours and bourbon tastings — giving attendees plenty of opportunities to enjoy the destination while connecting with fellow turf professionals.
Day 2 begins at the Southeastern Turfgrass Research Center. Speakers include John Sorochan, Ph.D., of the University of Tennessee, Kenneth Clayton of the University of Kentucky and Mike Harrell, Ph.D., of the Southeastern Turfgrass Research Center.
Day 2 continues with two stops on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and dinner in historic Midway, Kentucky.
The showcase concludes on Sept. 25 with a tour of Keeneland Race Course, site of this year’s Breeders’ Cup, and insight into how the team there prepares the surfaces for world class racing.
The major components of the event are covered, including golf, Thursday breakfast, lunch and dinner, Friday breakfast, racetrack tour, and the distillery tours and tastings.
Highlights of the showcase include:
- Developing playing surfaces for the 2026 FIFA World Cup
- New and emerging turf-management challenges in the transition zone
- Preparing and maintaining racing surfaces for world-class thoroughbred racing
- See and test the latest equipment at the showcase demo day
- Network with colleagues and industry professionals on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail
That makes the Championship Showcase considerably more than another industry event to squeeze into an already crowded calendar.
It is a chance to get out of the maintenance shop, away from the phone and temporarily removed from the never-ending list of things that need to be done back at the course or facility.
For GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENTS, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENTS and SPORTS TURF MANAGERS, those opportunities are increasingly valuable. Turf professionals work in demanding environments where weather, budgets, staffing, disease, pests, equipment and expectations can change by the hour. TurfNet’s community has long recognized the importance of giving professionals opportunities to exchange information and experiences with their peers.
The Championship Showcase is an extension of that philosophy — with considerably better scenery.
If you manage turf for a living, this event is for you.
Whether you are responsible for a championship golf course, a municipal facility, a collegiate field, a professional sports venue or another high-level playing surface, come spend a few days with people who understand exactly what you do.
Golf course superintendents, assistant superintendents and sports field managers can click the button below to register. Manufacturers, dealers and distributors interested in DEMO DAY OPPORTUNITIES, please email John Reitman at jreitman@turfnet.com, or call 561-315-4119 for more information.
Bring your questions. Bring your ideas. Bring your appetite for learning — and maybe your golf clubs.
The TurfNet Championship Showcase isn’t simply an event for people who work around turf. It is an event built specifically for the professionals responsible for making turf perform.
* Attendees are responsible for transportation to and from Lexington, Kentucky and hotel expenses. All other expenses, including meals, golf and tours, are covered through the generosity of our sponsors: STEC Equipment, Syngenta, Frost Inc., FireFly Robotix, Molasses Kings, Standard Golf, Turf Drainage Company of America, the Kentuckiana GCSA and the Southeastern Turfgrass Research Center.
If you still have questions, or if you are a manufacturer or distributor interested in DEMO DAY OPPORTUNITIES, email John Reitman at jreitman@turfnet.com, or call 561-315-4119.
