Tee up New England

Masters week means the Tee up NE auction is coming. The program began last year and it is a simple one: rounds of golf are donated to the NE Regional Turfgrass Foundation and we then auction them off on-line. The auction begins Monday 4/15 at noon and ends Monday 4/22 at 6 PM. All proceeds go to the local universities to fund turf research in NE. If you are a regular reader of this blog you may remember me mentioning a conference in Providence last month and know that I sit on the board of this foundation. That Spring conference is our main fundraiser. We will actually be part of a couple of studies here at Mink for the next two years. Umass is conducting bio-assays on beneficial bacteria to see if there is a difference between conventional and organically maintained turf. This has never been done before in turf, only potatoes. We are a hybrid more than conventional and do use some synthetic herbicides in fairways for weed control but have not used synthetic fungicides in fairways since 1997, should be interesting.

Back to the auction. This is a way for the end user of golf turf, namely you the golfer, to give back to the research that helps keep the conditions you play on as good as they are and improving. New diseases pop up and new pests migrate into the area. Our knowledge and training on how to deal with these issues come from university studies. If a new product comes to market the use rates and timing of use all come from university testing. For over a century we have been conducting peer reviewed scientific studies in turf and agriculture and much of the government funding is going away. Any new source of funding is a huge help so check out the participating courses from all over New England HERE

display from the show in March trying to drum up rounds

This is a way for the end user of golf turf, namely you the golfer, to give back to the research that helps keep the conditions you play on as good as they are and improving

screen capture from website- partial listing of clubs