Page 17 - GreenMaster Fall 2023

turfgrass areas. Data regarding the role golf courses play in water quality shows they can be either a positive or a negative influence depending on implementation of appropriate best management practices (Malin & Wheeler, 2000, Davis & Lydy, 2009).
The Cornell turf team was early to identify water quality on golf courses as a concern. This resulted in the development of codified Best Management Practices (BMPs) for New York Golf Courses back in 2014. The BMPs outlined in that documented have been and continue to be implemented on many NYSPGCs to protect water quality.
A primary BMP for water quality protection is simply to use only the amount of fertilizer required to grow healthy turfgrass. For this, a method of soil testing guidelines called the Minimum Levels of Sustainable Nutrition has been outlined to all NYSPGCs. This method is scientifically based on data from turfgrass, whereas traditional methods used estimates from agriculture crops to recommend unnecessary amounts of fertilizer.
Soil testing is conducted annually with recommendations given to managers using MLSN guidelines. While greens are the most intensely fertilizer area on a course, fairways require much greater volumes of fertilizer due to their size. Over the years, fertilizer use has dropped on putting greens (table 3), but the largest nutrient reduction volumes are found on fairway surfaces (table 4).
Table 3: NYSPGC fertilizer use on putting greens.
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Table 4: NYSPGC fertilizer use on fairways.
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