Industry partners fund research golf green and Extension soccer field at UGA

Bayer Environmental Science, Green Tee Golf, Sports Turf Company, NG Turf and Pike Creek Turf provided financial support for a new research golf green and Extension soccer field at the University of Georgia (UGA).

The completed golf green at the UGA Griffin campus. (Photo: Ashley Biles/UGA-Griffin)

Bayer Environmental Science funded the construction of a 9,000-square-foot research golf green built to United States Golf Association (USGA) specifications. The project used a UGA-developed bermudagrass species known as TifEagle for the putting surface, and the experimental green has eight independent irrigation zones.

“The industry partners involved and the university both benefit from this. With us using the state-of-the-art facilities, it allows us to collaborate with them and use their products for research,” Alfredo Martinez-Espinoza, a professor in plant pathology and Extension specialist at UGA, said. “With this relationship, it’s a win-win situation.”

The golf green, strictly used for research and education purposes, gives researchers the opportunity to evaluate disease and physiological stress factors such as temperature extremes and soil quality.

“These projects allow us to create an up-to-date infrastructure that is state-of-the-art. These facilities give us the chance to develop, highlight and enhance research,” Martinez-Espinoza said. “The final goals of these infrastructure projects are to provide turfgrass managers with new and improved disease and physiological stress management tools and better turf quality in Georgia.”

UGA also installed a 22,000-square-foot sports-field research and education area built as a soccer field with primary funding by Sports Turf Company. UGA filled the area with its own development of Tifway bermudagrass, one of the most popular varieties ever developed at the university.