Virginia Turfgrass Council – A bittersweet changing of the guards at the Virginia Tech Research Short Course of Independence Golf Club

June 14, 2021 | Virginia Turfgrass Council | PODCAST

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Virginia Turfgrass Journal – David McCall, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech Turfgrass Pathology

Those keeping watch from afar of the transformation at Independence Golf Club’s (IGC) short course into a hustling and bustling living research lab have likely been impressed with progress made in just a few years. For those of us watching from “inside the ropes”, it has been nothing short of amazing. What started as an interesting concept and loads of sprigs from around the country in May 2017 has turned into a robust outpost for the VT Turf Team. While many have played vitally important roles in the successes of the facility, none come close to matching the efforts of Jordan Booth.

It is bittersweet to say that Jordan has accepted a position with the United States Golf Association (USGA) as a Southeastern Regional Agronomist, which has long been a career aspiration of his. His last official day as a member of the VT Turf Team was May 9, 2021. However, Jordan will continue to work toward completing his dissertation research with support from the USGA, while juggling his new responsibilities. Jordan has accomplished a lot with the VT Turf Team in a relatively short amount of time.

Jordan has maintained a dual role as Research Associate and Ph.D. student since 2018, where he has been directly involved with approximately 75 field research trials, played a vital Extension role to many of you, and built a national reputation for his work with ultradwarf bermudagrass winter management. In fact, Jordan was recently named a Dr. James Watson Fellow, one of the nation’s top awards among Turfgrass Science graduate students and presented by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

Jordan has also made the most of his time during pandemic related travel restriction by building an impromptu growth chamber in his garage, in place of weekly trips to campus, to assist with his cold-acclimation studies. Jordan has spent much of the last three years evaluating ways to reduce cold-related injury on both ultradwarf bermudagrass and on hybrid bermudagrasses used on golf course fairways and athletic fields. We have learned a lot from these efforts but the scope is much wider than this. Here is a sampling of the projects that Jordan has assisted with (with primary collaborator in parenthesis):

• numerous fungicide efficacy studies on both warm-season and cool-season grasses at IGC and several other locations in Central VA (McCall)
• spring dead spot epidemiology and management (Hutchens and McCall)
• NTEP putting green performance evaluations (Goatley)
• “bluemuda” establishment and management (Goatley)
• annual bluegrass weevil monitoring and management (Kuhar, McCall, and Del-Pozo)
• annual bluegrass and goosegrass management (Askew, Brewer, and Peppers)
• semi-dormant zoysiagrass herbicide sensitivity (Askew and Craft),
• PGR effects on plant physiology (Zhang)

Jordan is not leaving us “high and dry” by any stretch. He will aid with the transition to his successor, Travis Roberson, who officially began on May 10. With so many projects underway, there are sure to be some bumps along the way. However, we feel that Travis is uniquely qualified to step into this role and hit the ground running. Travis completed his Masters degree in the McCall lab in 2018, where he conducted an intensive research project focused on early detection of drought stress of creeping bentgrass. In addition to his graduate research, he has been involved with testing a variety of disease management solutions. Travis understands the inner workings of our program and has since spent time working at a golf course and with irrigation installation. These combined experiences will pay dividends as he continues to build his own research program with a focus on improving irrigation efficiencies across maintained greenspaces.

Travis and his wife, Jamie, already live in the Richmond area. As with Jordan, Travis will collaborate on many research projects with his VT Turf Team colleagues from campus, the Hampton Roads AREC, and our many industry partners. We look forward to seeing the next phase of research at the Independence Golf Club’s Turfgrass Research Short Course that Travis will bring. Please be sure to welcome Travis (travislr@vt.edu) back to the VT Turf Team and ask to stop by for a tour if you’re nearby.

The ultimate accomplishment when one leaves a position is to be able to say that things are in better shape than the day they started. In this case, Jordan far exceeded these expectations early on and has built the Virginia Tech Turfgrass Research Short Course into a top-notch turfgrass science test bed. The entire VT Turf Team is indebted to Jordan for what he has helped build for our future successes. We wish Jordan well in his new career with the USGA and look forward to many more future collaborations. If you know Jordan, please take a minute to send a congratulatory note on this new position (jordanbooth@vt.edu).

A Unique Partnership

At Independence Golf Club, a unique partnership exists between the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences researchers and industry professionals that helps make these memorable moments on the putting green. The unique agreement allows research to be conducted on an active golf course, with true feedback on playing surface quality — a rarity in the field.

A few years ago, researchers from Virginia Tech were approached by Giff Breed, owner of Independence Golf Club that houses an 18-hole championship course and a 9-hole par 3 course, about using warm-season grasses at the course instead of the northern grasses typically used in the region, making work much easier for course superintendents in the hottest months.

“Not a whole lot was known about how these are going to respond in this part of the country. Warm-season grasses in varied climates were new to everyone and Giff was curious about how it would respond. It naturally evolved into trying out as many different grasses as we possibly could,” said David McCall, an assistant professor in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences and member of the research team.

While creeping bentgrass remains the norm for most putting greens in Virginia, Independence is demonstrating how well-managed bermudagrass putting greens can play firm and fast during some of the heaviest play periods, desirable traits amongst golfers.

The Virginia Tech researchers have used a variety of methods to keep ultradwarf bermudagrass alive in the winter, which include regular installation and removal of blankets and plant growth regulators, chemicals that slow plant growth.

“Management and cultural practices during the summer are critical to set ultradwarf bermudagrass putting greens up for long-term success,” Booth said. “We’re looking at fertility programs, aeration, cultural practice management, and fungicide programs to best prepare the turfgrass for dormancy, which is the plant’s natural defense system and its best defense system against the cold. These programs are also critical to providing desired playing conditions for the game of golf.”

The use of warm-season grasses could also benefit smaller golf courses with limited budgets that typically use native soil greens without internal drainage. Ultradwarf bermudagrass, despite a less-than-stellar perception, could be easier for these golf courses to maintain during the stresses of summer, providing high-quality putting greens while not requiring nearly as much water and other inputs as bentgrass greens during warm months.

“This group is showing that you can have championship-caliber golf with bermudagrass greens in Richmond,” Goatley said. “It’s not just possible and, in some cases, these may even be the best playing conditions in Richmond proper.”

The work of Virginia Tech researchers impacts how golfers can approach their game in the region. When a golfer takes a putt and watches it drop into the hole, it won’t just look like a championship moment. It will be on a championship-caliber surface.

Excerpted from “Fore: A unique partnership exists between Virginia Tech and a Richmond golf course” in Virginia Tech Daily, written by Max Esterhuizen.