February 23, 2006
       

  • NGF says golf rounds finish the year flat
  • Project EverGreen reports 2006 fundraising success
  • USGA Green Section site offers turfgrass animations

  • FarmLinks Innovations Committee looks ahead
  • Golf Industry Show results positive
  • STMA kicks off 25th anniversary celebration
  • Deere has first-quarter earnings of $236 million

  • Jacobsen announces InCommand Control System
  • UpLink debuts maintenance vehicle tracking
  • Standard introduces Magnum Harvester
  • SePRO offers new growth regulator
  • Grip-Pix offers marketing alternative
  • ASGCA offers RFP form
  • Nufarm launches new family of herbicides

  • Steve Auckland is hosting the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship
  • Alan Nakamura is hosting the Fields Open
  • Jason M. Kubel is hosting the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am
  • NYSTA elects 2006 officers and directors

  • Neill named head of Syngenta Professional Products
  • Turner gets Midwest Regional Turf Foundation award
  • Bogin to retire at PGA of America

  • Upcoming events in the world of golf course management

 

Divot Mix

"Old Tom Morris was popular and consistently successful at endearing himself to the owners of the land for a new course by remarking on his arrival that 'surely Providence had intended this for a golf links'". -- author David Hamilton

NGF says golf rounds finish the year flat

The National Golf Foundation says same-facility rounds played in the U.S. were down 8.1 percent in December 2005 compared to December 2004.

As a result, total rounds for 2005 finished the year at -0.1 percent, or flat, compared to 2004. Private clubs were down one percent for the year while public courses broke into positive territory.

December data was reported by 1,573 golf facility operators across the country. (Same-facility rounds means that only facilities reporting rounds for both December 2005 and December 2004 are included in results.)

Rounds Played, 2005 vs. 2004
Source: NGF/Allied Golf Associations

 

December

Year-to-date

Total U.S. facilities

-8.1 percent

-0.1 percent

Private Clubs

-5.4 percent

-1.0 percent

Total Public Courses

-9.0 percent

0.1 percent

Public Courses:

 

 

  Premium

2.1 percent

0.1 percent

  Standard

-9.5 percent

0.3 percent

  Value

-11.0 percent

0.1 percent

 

 

 

Northeast

-53.3 percent

-0.1 percent

Mid-Atlantic

-34.2 percent

-0.6 percent

Southeast

2.9 percent

-0.1 percent

Central/South Florida

3.2 percent

-0.3 percent

Gulf Coast

6.8 percent

4.1 percent

South Central

1.7 percent

2.5 percent

Lower Midwest

-53.2 percent

-0.7 percent

Upper Midwest

-34.2 percent

0.4 percent

Mountain

-4.8 percent

3.2 percent

Southwest

7.3 percent

-2.3 percent

Northwest

-34.5 percent

-0.9 percent

Public facility categories are based on peak season weekend green fees with cart:

Premium (High) - Above $70
Standard (Middle) - $40-$70
Value (Low) - Below $40

Contact www.ngf.org.

Project EverGreen reports 2006 fundraising success

Project EverGreen, a national non-profit organization representing the green industry to promote the benefits of landscapes and the people who preserve and enhance green spaces, has received significant financial support already in 2006.

A report of financial contributions shows that nearly $400,000 has been received or committed this year from a broad range of companies, associations and individuals within the green industry.

"This is an encouraging show of support and solidarity for our efforts," says Den Gardner, executive director of Project EverGreen. "It's particularly important at a time when we are ramping up our programs to raise consumer awareness about the importance of preserving and enhancing green spaces."

According to Gardner, Project Evergreen contributors through February 1 included the following: BASF, Brickman Group, Ltd, Cindy Code, Ewing Irrigation, Husqvarna, Irrigation Association, James Martin Associates, John Deere, LESCO, Paul McDonough, RISE, Specialty Products Cons., LLC, Spring-Green Franchise Systems, Mike Ward Landscaping/Eastgate Sod, PBI /Gordon Corporation, ServiceMaster (TruGreen), Syngenta International, TurfGrass Producers International and Curtis VanderWall.

Gardner said, "Anyone who has an interest in helping focus on the positive benefits healthy landscapes and other green spaces provide can contact us at (877)758-4835 or http://www.projectevergreen.com."

USGA Green Section site offers turfgrass animations

The USGA Green section Web site now offers a number of animation clips explaining maintenance techniques that commonly prompt questions from golfers to golf course superintendents. 

Topics covered in the animations include:

  • Repairing Ballmarks
  • Why Bunkers Are Not Consistent
  • Bunker Etiquette
  • Why Aerate Greens?
  • Etiquette Toward Maintenance Personnel
  • Watering For Healthy Turf
  • Selecting Hole Locations
  • Changing A Hole Location
  • Trees On The Golf Course
  • Divot Repair Etiquette
  • Use Of The Stimpmeter
  • Golf Cart Etiquette
  • Frost Issues
  • Making A Great Putting Green Surface
  • TV Golf Versus Daily Play
  • Environmentally Sensitive Areas

To view the clips, visit http://www.usga.org/turf/articles/educational_video_clips.html.