Evaluation of Golf Putting Green Management Systems with Reduced Chemical Pesticide Inputs

This is the fifth year of a study assessing the feasibility and performance of golf course putting green turf comparing traditional management techniques with an IPM approach utilizing population-based pest management and to a system that utilizes biologically-based controls and reduced risk chemistry. The work, initially funded by the USGA, was initiated on the Green Course at the Bethpage State Park, Long Island, New York in 2001. The Green Course is one of five public courses at the Park and accommodates approximately 50,000 rounds of golf annually. The greens are made of push-up native soil and have been heavily sand top-dressed for the last six years, and are typical of a high-use public course in a northern metropolitan community