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Organic or non-chemicalturfgrass management will

require more skilledemployees who can scout

for pests constantly and befamiliar with turf healthacross the gol#course.

Moss and otherinvasive weeds ofputting green turfpose difficult problemsfor golf coursesuperintendents tosolve without allavailable tools.

Agriculture and consists of 15 members repre-senting farmers, food processors, retailers, con-sumers, environmentalists, scientists, and certifyingagents.9 The NOPS were created to protect pro-ducers against marketing fraud and assure con-sumers that organic products meet uniform andconsistent standards.

The national standards governing the labelingand marketing of organic products have raisedpublic awareness regarding organic products inthe marketplace. A tour through most any super-market will reveal choices for organic fruit, vege-tables, meat, breads, dairy, baby food, pancake mix,potato chips, frozen meals, alcoholic beverages,and almost any other type of food product.Although organic production is nothing new, thelabeling laws, consumer confidence, industrygrowth, and marketability are new, and the rise inorganic popularity is spilling over into othersectors of agriculture beyond food products,including golf.

The push to eliminate or reduce the use ofsynthetic fertilizer and pesticides in golf coursemanagement has risen in many communitiesacross North America, including Seattle, SanFrancisco, Long Island, Quebec, and others. Thisgroundswell of community support for organicgolf management has prompted debate withinand outside the golf industry regarding its feasi-bility and at least one research project aimed

specifically at evaluating non-chemical turfmanagement.5

Would the game of golf survive if only organicmaintenance practices could be employed? Theanswer would have to be a qualified "yes." If, forargument's sake, the game of golf is 500 years old,then it has been totally organic for about 400 ofthose years. Golf is truly a great game and hasendured many challenges throughout its history,but maintenance practices have evolved withadvances in agronomy, equipment, travel, andmarketing.

The business of golf, on the other hand, wouldchange dramatically if present-day organic stan-dards and products were imposed on mainte-nance. Turf is perennial (ideally) and golf is playedaround the world. The myriad of pests, environ-mental extremes, and traffic stress would limit aturf manager's ability to maintain a competitiveproduct at many sites without plant pr.otectantsand synthetic fertilizers. While organic mainte-nance programs might mean that opening day forgolf courses in the Rocky Mountains wouldtypically be around July 15th, spring and fallwould be the "seasons" in St. Louis, and over-seeding wouldn't be a marketing option in theSouth but rather an annual necessity, there mayexist a market for organic golf somewhere in theUnited States. What that implies for the golfindustry is the focus of this article.

DEFINITIONS OF ORGANICWebster's Dictionary defines organic as "1) of orpertaining to an organ or its functions, 2) pro-duced by the organs, 3) acting of instruments ofnature or of art to a certain destined function orend, 4) forming a whole composed of organs,and 5) of or pertaining to compounds whichare derivatives of hydrocarbons." The OxfordAmerican Dictionary defines organic as "of,relating to, or derived from living organisms." Theregulatory text of the National Organic Program(NOP) defines organic as "a labeling term thatrefers to an agricultural product produced inaccordance with the Organic Foods ProductionAct and its regulations."9 The NOSE definesorganic agriculture as "an ecological productionmanagement system that promotes and enhancesbiodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biologicalactivity."7 Of course, there also is popular slanguse, and little could be more" organic" to a golferthan playing the back nine solo at the local trackjust after a late afternoon summer rain. Organic

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Studies and fieldexperience have shownthat IPM strategies canreduce pesticide use,safeguard environmentalquality, and provideacceptable playingconditions.

means different things to different people. Whilethe OFPA provides coverage and standards forcrops, livestock, and derivative products, theUSDA has no organic standards for health-careproducts, cosmetics, fertilizers, or turf and orna-mentals, including golf courses.8

This is an extremely important distinction forgolf and for the turf industry as a whole. Withoutapplicable standards for organic management or,perhaps more importantly, no official certifica-tion, the term organic carries less weight. Withoutofficial standards for organic turf managementand a formal certification process, it is conceivablethat different golf courses in the same geographicarea adhering to "organic" management practicescould be following different rules, yet competingagainst each other for the same golfers. Organic isno longer a catch-all term to be used looselywhen describing any agricultural or horticulturalsystem - the USDA has made sure of that.4 Infact, agricultural producers selling more than$5,000 worth of product annually must be certi-fied to use the term organic on any labeling or elseface a fine.9

CAN IT BE DONE? -CORNELL UNIVERSITY RESEARCHWithout dependable pest control products, golfcourse turf management would be an extreme

challenge in most areas of the United States.Golfer demands for high-quality turf and fastgreen speeds cause stiff competition among golfcourses and considerable stress on the turfgrass.Currently there are many turfgrass pest, weed, anddisease problems without a dependable and/oreconomical organic solution, including snowmold diseases, anthracnose, goosegrass, nematodes,and many others.3 Turf quality and the game ofgolf would change radically if organic manage-ment practices (strictly defined as no syntheticpesticides or fertilizers) were imposed on golfcourses across the United States. The game mightalso become much more expensive than atpresent, especially if any semblance of modernplayability were to be retained.

In response to anti-pesticide legislation onLong Island, N.Y, researchers at Cornell Univer-sity initiated a study at Bethpage State Park in2001 to evaluate the agronomic, environmental,and economic impact of managing putting greenswith few or no chemicals.12 The study was con-ducted at the Green Course of Bethpage StatePark, which is a public access golf course thatreceives about 50,000 rounds of golf annuallywith turf that is subject to an array of fungaldiseases, turf insect pests, and invasive weeds.

This research study produced several interestingfindings and has generated significant outreach to

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2005 3

Organic turf manage-ment may requireadditional cultivationinputs such as fairwaytopdressing to improvethe growing medium.

thousands of people within the golf industry andto environmental advocates worldwide.5 Puttinggreen treatments receiving no chemical applica-tion suffered significantly in all three years andseveral had to be closed during part of the seasoneach year. In the last two years of the study, non-chemical greens reached unacceptable quality bylate summer, despite receiving emergency fungi-cide applications.5 Integrated pest management(IPM) strategies, including scouting, establishingpest thresholds, and using weather forecasts and allavailable management options, were employed asone of the treatments, and the study found thatpesticide use on these IPM greens could be sig-nificantly reduced in some years and still provideacceptable quality, but further research is neededto realize acceptable results with few or nochemicals.5 The significance of this finding is thatproposed legislation banning pesticide use onSuffolk County-owned (Long Island) golf courseswas modified based upon this scientifIC study. 12

Another important discovery in this researchis that a minimum of one or two additionalemployees per 18-hole golf course will berequired to implement IPM or non-chemical golfcourse management.5

,12 Specialized equipmentand occasional renovation to establish new turf-grass also may result in additional expenses. Whilethe results from this study are fascinating, the

reality is that the treatments in this researchproject and common golf course maintenancepractices are a long way from organic.

CAN IT BE DONE? -A SCIENTIFIC EVALUATIONEnvironmental and Turf Services (ETS) ofWheaton, Maryland, completed a thoroughscientific evaluation for the town of Stone Point,N. Y, concerning the potential for organic turfmanagement and concluded through scientificevidence and field experience that a pesticide-free golf course is not feasible in this location.3

The goal of the construction project was to builda high-end daily-fee golf course with anticipatedannual play of 50,000 rounds. ETS consideredtheir conclusion valid even if natural organicpesticides were allowed. They further determinedthat nine natural organic pesticides were suitablefor use at the site, but would best be used in anintegrated pest management program that in-volved scouting for pests, using pesticides pre-ventatively rarely, using curative pesticide appli-cations only when established pest thresholds hadbeen exceeded, using a combination of syntheticand natural organic pesticides, and using culturalpractices to minimize the need for pesticides.3

These conclusions are consistent with the Cornellstudy and assert that a chemical-free approach is

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not realistic and that IPM techniques can reducepesticide use without sacrificing playing quality.

CAN IT BE DONE? -THE VINEYARD GOLF CLUBThe application to build The Vineyard Golf Club(Edgartown, Massachusetts) was approved in 1999by the Martha's Vineyard County Commissionon the condition that the golf course be main-tained by way of an organic program. Theterm O1ganicwas defined as "derived from plantmaterials or biological organisms or mined fromnatural deposits."2 Further conditions specifiedthe types of fertilizer to be used and the limits onnutrient loading per year. A review committeeconsisting of one member of the EdgartownBoard of Health, the Edgartown Ponds AdvisoryCommittee, and the UMASS/ Amherst extensionservice was established, with the club furnishingthe necessary funding to define and implementprotocols concerning water quality monitoringon an annual basis.2 The committee consists offive individuals, including one member from theclub. Quarterly updates from monitoring wellsand lysimeters are provided to the committee,along with all pesticide and fertilizer requests. Thecommittee has established the approved list ofpesticides and fertilizers.

The golf course superintendent, Jeff Carlson,CGCS, a champion of environmental stewardshipin the golf industry, has discovered some interest-ing challenges and findings with respect toorganic golf course management. I Dollar spot isthe most significant fungal disease at the site, andnightly applications of Pseudomonas aureifaciensand biweekly applications of Bacillus licheniformishave helped keep this disease in check. Nightlyapplications, however, add considerable expenseto the maintenance cost Oabor, fuel), not to men-tion accelerated wear and tear on sophisticatedand expensive spraying equipment and increasedwear injury to collar turf from sprayer traffic.Polyoxin D zinc salt (Endorse) fungicide hadbeen used to combat brown patch at The Vine-yard Golf Club through 2003, but this product isnot on the National List of approved substancesin the NOlJ, even though the EPA considers thisa biochemical-like pesticide and required onlylimited toxicological data for federal registrationand waived the requirement for environmentalfate data.13 A limited amount of synthetic solublefertilizer is used to stimulate growth and recoveryduring cool weather or following pest pressure or

other forms of injury, and both the rate per appli-cation and annual rate are closely monitored.Leachate is constantly measured in monitoringwells and lysimeters, but the use of syntheticfertilizers would not comply with the NOP eventhough it clearly would follow best managementpractices. According to the NOlJ, this golf coursewould have to cease using polyoxin D zinc saltand synthetic fertilizer for three years before theywould be considered organic. <)

Mr. Carlson also has made the shrewd obser-vation that their success with managing accept-able playing quality with "almost" (at least accord-

ing to the NOP) organic maintenance programshas a lot to do with the fact that The VineyardGolf Club is a new golf course with a new standof turf that was chosen carefully for pest resistanceand local adaptation. As populations of Poa annua(annual bluegrass) increase, pest problems andenvironmental stress will become more severe.This may require periodic regrassing of the golfcourse to achieve acceptable quality, and sod willalmost certainly be required to expedite therenovation in an effort to minimize golf coursedisruption. Technically, that would requireorganically grown sod, which would be a seriouslimitation. Assuming standards for organic turfmanagement are ever adopted, it may be possibleto obtain an exemption from this requirement inthe absence of any alternative.

While commitment to environmental steward-ship at The Vineyard Golf Club is commendable

The Vineyard Golf Club(Edgartown, Mass.)brews a microbialproduct on site that isapplied every eveningthroughout the golfseason to suppressdollar spot.

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2005 5

and their maintenance achievements to date arenothing short of remarkable, the definition oforganic they established and the list of approvedproducts does not conform to the USDANational Organic Program, nor is there anyformal certification beyond the approval from thelocally established committee. National standardsfor organic turf maintenance are needed to pro-tect all parties presently or potentially involvedwith organic golf and to assure everybody thatwe're all talking about the same thing, even ifthose standards don't necessarily represent bestmanagement practices with respect to agronomicsor the environment.

CAN IT BE DONE? -HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIOThe Rocky Mountain region of the UnitedStates is a favorable place to grow cool-seasonturf grass with minimal pesticide requirements.This is not to say it is an easy place to grow grass;winters can be a huge challenge and rendercatastrophic turf failure, and golfers are just asdemanding as anywhere else. But low summerhumidity, cool nights, and few turf insect pestslimit the use of pesticides as compared to manyother areas of the U.S. It may be a good site tohypothetically construct "Holistic Golf Club" inan attempt to follow the agricultural standards ofthe NOP

Assuming there is no organic sod available,commercially grown Kentucky bluegrass sod willbe used to establish the tees, fairways, and rough.Fairways will be capped with 6-12 inches of sand,surface drainage will be excellent, shade and aircirculation will not be issues, not a dime will becut from irrigation design and installation, andgreens will be built to USGA guidelines andseeded to the best available creeping bentgrasscultivar.

Weeds will be removed physically, regardlessof the labor requirement. Any summer insector disease pressure will be dealt with throughcultural methods including, but not limited to,fertility (organic), irrigation, mowing height,cultivation, and manipulation of the growingenvironment to the extent possible. Approvedpesticides on the NOP National List will beutilized if deemed worthy. Damaged areas will bereplaced with sod. This all sounds fairly rosy untilabout October, when a decision regarding snowmold control must be made.

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Snow cover in the Rocky Mountains canextend for at least five months at northern orhigher elevation sites. Pressure from pink and graysnow mold diseases can be fierce, often resultingin widespread turf loss that may require monthsof good growing weather to recover or be largelydisplaced by annual bluegrass. The latter possibilityresults in decreasing turf reliability from year toyear and an increase in pest-related problems.Without the use of pesticides to combat pests ofannual bluegrass or the use of synthetic fertilizerto promote rapid recovery from winter damage,Holistic G. C. becomes less competitive in the golfmarket and financial woes ensue.

This imaginary scenario is not too far removedfrom some of the newer golf courses in theRocky Mountains. Many golf course superinten-dents in this region use very few pesticides duringthe golf season, but none will risk their jobs orthe viability of the operation by forgoing pre-ventative snow mold applications to at least thegreens. At this time there are no biological ororganic alternatives for snow mold control thathave been proven to work at golf courses in thefield.6,l1 While golf courses in the RockyMountain region of the U.S. could conceivablyget by with pesticide applications for the controlof just one pest (snow mold), they wouldn't beorganic. Dr. Frank Rossi, associate professor ofturfgrass science at Cornell University, puts it bestwhen he says, "The difference between organicand almost organic is the Grand Canyon."

WHAT ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT?There is a widespread assumption that organicproduction systems are naturally better for theenvironment. Organic systems have many positiveenvironmental attributes, but organic does notimply best management. The USDA or FDA willnot state that organic foods are more nutritious orhealthy. Similarly, organic systems may not alwaysbe best for the environment.

Nutrient loading is a consideration withnatural organic fertilizers. Exclusive use of thesefertilizers can result in nutrient loading of the soilsystem and watershed, and untimely and uncon-trolled nutrient release can make available morenutrient than the plant and soil fauna are able toutilize. Mineralization of organic nutrient sourcesrequires microbial processes dependent on soiltemperature. Another concern is the high amountof phosphorus contained in most natural organic

fertilizers. Satisfying a plant's nitrogen require-ment with natural organic fertilizers can resuilt inoverloading of the soil system with phosphorusand a potential for eutrophication of waterfeatures.

Approved organic pesticides may also presentconcerns. One of these is copper sulfate, amongthe oldest pesticides used worldwide. Coppersulfate is relatively immobile in soil and is quicklybound by organic matter and clay particles, but itis higWy water soluble. Regular use of copperproducts will result in copper accumulation in thesoil and can be a concern if flooding occurs.14

Copper sulfate is classified by the EPA as aGeneral Use Pesticide with a toxicity rating ofclass 1 (higWy toxic) and requiring signal words"Danger - Poison."14 Copper sulfate is higWytoxic to fish and other aquatic organisms, but it isregularly used for disease control in organic farm-

ing operations, even in regions with endangeredanadromous fish runs.

IS INORGANIC OR ORGANIC IN~There may well be a growing market for organicgolf at certain locations in the United States and adefinite opportunity for golf course superinten-dents willing to embrace that challenge. Anybodywho can rise to that challenge and meet theexpectations and desires of the clientele should becompensated accordingly. Research and practicalexperience would suggest that it isn't possible ifcurrent industry standards for golf are to be metand a true adherence to organic management isfollowed.

Use of the term organic as it applies to golfcourse management is questionable at best.Strictly developed standards for organic produc-tion by the USDA and the hugeness of the

Snow mold is apotentially devastatingfungal disease of cool-season turf without anydependable alternativesto fungicide for control.

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2005 7

organic industry likely preclude the casual use ofthe term as any meaningful management defini-tion for golf courses. Any effort to expand thescope of the NOP to address certification ofnontraditional crops such as turf should includeinput from various stakeholders, including theUSGA, GCSAA, university and industry turf grassscientists, golf course owners, golfers, and environ-mentalists. The golf industry is much too large toallow community action groups like the LongIsland Neighborhood Network to be the solecrafter of legislation concerning organic or anyother form of golf course maintenance. Aneconomic impact study of the Colorado golfindustry conducted by Colorado State Universityand THK Associates, Inc., found that in 2002 theColorado golf industry contributed $560 millionin direct revenues to the state's economy andproduced a golf-related economic impact of$1.2 billion in ColoradoPo Representatives of thegolf industry need to be at the table for anydiscussions of organic golf maintenance.

The pressure from factions of the public toreduce pesticide use on golf courses is' not goingaway. Golf industry officials need to stay apprisedof efforts to impose non-chemical or organicmaintenance protocol and the science and regu-lations concerning pesticide use. The USGA hasinvested $25 million since 1983 in turf grass andenvironmental research, much of which hasfocused on the development of turf grass speciesrequiring less pesticide, fertilizer, and water, andbest management practices aimed at reducing riskto the environment. Audubon International haspromoted resource conservation, habitat develop-ment, community involvement, and environ-mental stewardship at golf courses through theircooperative sanctuary program since 1990.Chemical manufacturers have continued todevelop reduced-risk products for safer use alter-natives to many pesticides. University researcherscontinue to evaluate best management practicesto safeguard environmental quality. There also areexamples of interactions and cooperation amongpublic and private entities concerning ecologicallyresponsible golf course management, such as thePeconic Estuary Nitrogen ManagementChallenge. 15

The development of non-chemical alternativesto pest problems and holistic management solu-tions is some of the most exciting agriculturalscience research being conducted today. We allhave a stake in environmental stewardship,

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whether we realize it or not, but this does notmean that legal agricultural practices should beabandoned when economic viability is at risk andno suitable pest control alternatives exist.

Organic golf management will continue to bediscussed and promoted throughout the country,but uniform and consistent standards, along withthird-party certification, need to be adoptedbefore the term organic has any meaningfulapplication for the golf industry.

LITERATURE CITED1. Carlson,). 2004. Personal communication.

2. Carlson,). 2003. The Vineyard Golf Club organic coursemaintenance summary. The Vineyard Golf Club. 1-5.3. Cohen, S. Z., M. O'Connor, K. Olson, and S. S. Reid.2002. The potential for organic turf management at theStony Point golf course: a scientific evaluation. White Paper.1-41.

4. Cummins, R., and B. Lilliston. 2003. Whose organicstandards? http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/usda.html.1-5.5. Grant,). A., and F. S. Rossi. 2004. Evaluation of reducedchemical management systems for putting green turf.http://usgatero.msu.edu. 3(4):1-13.

6. Johnston, W)., and C. T. Golob. 2003. Snow mold controlin the Intermountain Northwest. http://usgatero.msu.edu.2(23):1-9.

7. Koenig, R. L., and B. Baker. 2002. U.S. NationalOrganic Program Standards: Implications for researchers.The American Phytopathological Society.http://www.apsnet.org/onlinelfeature/organic/ .

8. Mathews, R. H. 2004. National Organic ProgramGuidance Statement. 7 CFR Part 205.1-3.

9. Merrigan, K. A. 2000. The National Organic Programregulatory text. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service.7 CFR Part 205. http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/NOP/-standards/.

10. McCleary,). 2004. Colorado golf economic info. TheReporter. 39(5):8.11. Nelson, M. C. 2004. Carving an edge in snow mold.USGA Green Section Record. 42(2):6-7.12. Oatis, D. A. 2004. Research results in use today: TheBethpage Green Course project. USGA Green Section Record.42(3):12-14.

13. Serafini, M. P. 2002. Polyoxin D zinc salt (Endorse WPturf fungicide) letter from NYS DEC - application forregistration. http://pmep.cce.comell. edul profiles/.

14. USDA National Organic Standards Board TechnicalAdvisory Panel. 2001. Copper sulfate. http://www.ams.-usda.gov Inop/NationalList/TAPReviewsl cprsulfte. pdfl-17.

15. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2004. East endLong Island golf courses pledge to reduce fertilizer use.Region 2 News and Speeches. http://www.epa.gov/region02/-newsI2004/04139.htm.

MATT NELSON is an agronomist in the GreenSection's Northwest Region. He is an instrument ifnature) composed if organs)and an organ donor whobuys organic bananas.