Page 21 - Transitioning Turfgrass

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The Effect of Fairway Rolling on Dollar

Spot Suppression on Golf Courses

Geunhwa Jung, Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003;
Toshihiko Yamada, Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

Introduction cide use is restricted.
Rolling is an alternative cultural practice original-
Dollar spot, caused by the ascomycete fungus ly incorporated into management programs to
Sclerotinia homoeocarpa (now Clarireedia spp.), improve speed on putting greens. In the last 25
is the most economically important turfgrass years, much of the work done to explore the prac-
disease causing significant damage to turfgrass tice of rolling has been done at Michigan State
swards throughout the growing season on golf University under the direction of Dr. Thomas Ni-
courses worldwide. Fungicide applications to kolai, where researchers examined the impact
control dollar spot during the growing season of lightweight rolling on performance of putting
account for a significant portion of golf course greens, specifically. In addition to improvements
maintenance budgets, especially on fairways. in performance and speed, Nikolai’s research
Furthermore, reducing fungicide applications on group also observed other agronomic benefits
fairways could considerably reduce overall pesti- of the practice as well, including a reduction in
cide usage on golf courses, thus saving substan- dollar spot incidence. Similarly, improvements in
tial amounts of money and allowing for resource performance and reduction in dollar spot have
allocation towards other maintenance practices. also been anecdotally reported on golf course
Moreover, with ever growing pressure to reduce fairways where rolling programs on fairways
pesticide usage due to environmental concerns, have been initiated. Therefore, University of
golf course fairways serve as an excellent place Massachusetts Amherst has begun a first fair-
to develop management alternatives where pesti- way rolling project funded by New York State

Photo 1 Tru-Turf FR-108 rolling head mounted on Jacobsen fairway mower at Star Hue CC, Korea.

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