Frank Dobie earns USGA Green Section Award

The United States Golf Association (USGA) recognized the recipients of its 2022 Annual Awards.

David Franklin “Frank” Dobie received the Green Section Award recipient, for introducing new technologies and processes that advance golf course management.

Other honorees included Ede Rice, the recipient of the Joe Dey Award, which recognizes meritorious service to the game as a volunteer; and “A Matter of Course: The Life of William Herbert Fowler, 1856-1941, Golf Course Architect,” by Derek Markham, the winner of the Herbert Warren Wind Book Award, which recognizes and honors outstanding contributions to golf literature.

“We need more people in golf like Ede, Frank and Derek, who are ensuring that the game of golf is better for all of us 50 or 100 years from now,” said Mike Whan, CEO of the USGA. “Just as Fowler did a century ago, we can be inspired and learn from the past as we propel the game forward, and these awards are a shining light for all of us.”

The USGA recently said it would conduct its Annual Meeting in a virtual setting for the second year in a row, with the result that its in-person Annual Awards Dinner will move from February to its biggest stage in June during the week of the U.S. Open Championship, which will be played at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.

The USGA Green Section Award honors distinguished service to golf through an individual’s work with turfgrass.

Dobie, of Sharon Center, Ohio, superintendent, senior agronomist and retired general manager of Sharon Golf Club, has passionately promoted turfgrass research, education and innovative course maintenance practices through his career.

A mentor and friend to countless golf management workers for more than 60 years, he started working on golf courses at age 15 and went on to graduate from Penn State’s turfgrass management program. He would later dedicate himself to the stewardship of the Musser International Turfgrass Research Foundation, which honors top doctoral turfgrass students nationwide. Through hands-on trial and error, he co-developed more than a dozen golf course innovations, including bunker liners that improve drainage and quality, air pumps on greens and automated irrigation systems.