Divot Mix

"It is quite certain that, had the ground on which ordinary inland golf is played today been the only available ground for the purpose, the game would never have been invented at all." --Garden C. Smith (The World of Golf, 1898)

NGF says Year-to-Date Rounds Up 2.5 percent

Rounds played in the United States were up 2.5 percent for the first six months of the year, according to NGF's latest Quarterly Rounds Played Report .

Rounds increased 0.9 percent in the second quarter and 6.9 percent in the first quarter (revised upward from the 5.3 percent shown in the April 15, 2004, report due to 400 additional facilities reporting).

April was a strong month nationwide as rounds increased 4.9 percent. May (-0.1 percent) and June (-0.8 percent) were down marginally. The near 1 percent gain for the quarter compares to an almost 3 percent loss in second quarter 2003 vs. 2002.

The region posting the strongest gain for the quarter was the Mid Atlantic (10.5 percent), which was hard hit by inclement weather during the same period last year. Regions with the largest declines in the quarter were the Upper Midwest (-5.5 percent) and the Gulf Coast (-4.5 percent), both of which suffered from above-average precipitation during the quarter.

This marks the third consecutive quarter that rounds played have increased over the previous year. NGF estimates that about one-third of rounds in the United States occur in each of the second and third quarters. As a result, the next quarter will have a significant impact on whether the six-month gains can be held for the year.

The quarterly rounds played report is supported and endorsed by a coalition of the industry's leading associations: Club Managers Association of America, GOLF 20/20, Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, LPGA, National Golf Course Owners Association, PGA of America, PGA Tour and USGA.

For the full second quarter rounds played report, visit www.ngf.org . For more information, call NGF membership director Andy Allen, (561) 354-1647, or e-mail aallen@ngf.org .

2004 GCSAA scholars selected

Twenty-five college students were recently awarded scholarships from GCSAA and The Environmental Institute for Golf.

The Institute annually awards scholarships to outstanding students planning careers as golf course superintendents, based on academic achievement, extracurricular activities, community involvement, leadership and employment. Judging also includes evaluations from the student's superintendent and faculty adviser and a three-part essay.

“These students truly are the future leaders of the golf course superintendent profession,“ said GCSAA President Mark Woodward, CGCS. “What better way to launch their careers than by helping with their education and confirming that our expectations for them are high.”

The $6,000 Mendenhall Award is given in memory of Chet Mendenhall, a charter member of GCSAA. He was a director of GCSAA from 1940 to 1946 and president in 1948. This year's recipient is John Kauffman of The University of Arkansas.

The MacCurrach Award, funded by the PGA Tour, is $5,000. It honors Allan MacCurrach, the tour's first agronomist, who played a leading role in establishing a standard of excellence for course conditioning. The 2004 recipient is Kevin Carroll of SUNY Cobleskill.

In addition to the monetary awards, the Mendenhall and MacCurrach winners also will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the 2005 Golf Industry Show in Orlando. The committee also made 23 other awards ranging from $500 to $2,500. The 25 awards represent 17 turfgrass schools across the United States.

GCSAA scholars competition winners:

Mendenhall - John Kauffman, University of Arkansas

MacCurrach - Kevin Carroll, SUNY Cobleskill

Scholars - $2,500

• David Akrabawi, Oklahoma State University
• David Byers, Penn State University
• David Delsandro, Penn State University
• Dan Fuhrman, Colorado State University
• Bradley Kiepert, Michigan State University
• Shea Nelson, Iowa State University
• Jacob Schneider, University of Wisconsin

Scholars - $1,250

• Loren Frost, University of Tennessee
• Steadman Nall, Louisiana State University
• Steven Shand, Penn State University
• Michael Sheely, University of Nebraska
• Benjamin Stover, Iowa State University
• Chase Turpin, University of Arkansas

Merit - $500

• Clay Breazeale, University of Florida
• Graeme Calder, Penn State University
• April Canfield, North Carolina State University
• Vincent Kuhn, Mississippi State University
• Michael McClafferty, Michigan State University
• Benjamin Pease, University of Wisconsin
• Sam Reznicek, Kansas State University
• Troy Schader, Oregon State University
• Jim Sedrel, Iowa State University
• Bradley Sladek, Texas Tech University

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NOAA, Louisiana scientists issue “Dead Zone” forecast

A team of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Louisiana Universities' Marine Consortium and Louisiana State University says the “Dead Zone” off the Gulf coast this summer should be roughly the same size as it has been since 1990.

The so-called “Dead Zone” is an area in the Gulf of Mexico where seasonal oxygen levels drop too low to support most life. It is caused when algal growth, stimulated by input of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, settles and decays in the bottom waters. Oxygen is consumed faster than it can be replenished from the surface, leading to decreased levels of dissolved oxygen.

This summer the area is predicted to be between 4,100 and 6,500 square miles, about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. Since 1990 it has averaged approximately 5,700 square miles. The forecast is based on nutrient loads from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers in May and June provided by the U.S. Geological Survey.

“This effort is an example of an innovative environmental service – officially referred to as ‘ecological forecasting' – that NOAA scientists believe will become an important tool in coming years for both decision makers and the public,” according to Richard Spinrad, Ph.D., assistant administrator of NOAA's National Ocean Service.

Research indicates that nearly tripling the nitrogen load into the gulf over the past 50 years has led to the heightened hypoxia problem. The scientists say their research will improve assessments of hypoxic effects under various gulf coast oceanographic conditions. Multiple models of the size of the hypoxic zone are useful in evaluating the influence of nitrogen load and variations in ocean currents on the size of the “Dead Zone.”

“By using a river-dissolved-oxygen model based on Mississippi River nutrient loadings in the northern Gulf of Mexico, our research team was also able to look back more than 30 years and determine that these now virtually perennial events were uncommon before the mid-1970s,” said Donald Scavia, Ph.D., professor of natural resources and environment at the University of Michigan and former chief scientist of the National Ocean Service.

Last year, the team made the first advance forecast of the event. The modeling effort led by Eugene Turner, Ph.D., of LSU predicts that the “Dead Zone” will be 5,600 square miles and the modeling effort led by NOAA scientists predicts the size will be 5,400 square miles (with a range of 4,100 to 6,500).

The northern Gulf of Mexico's bottom-water summer hypoxic zone in recent years has extended roughly 375 miles westward from the mouth of the Mississippi River across the Louisiana/Texas border.