Point: The time for organic golf has arrived / Counterpoint: Is organic golf realistic?

POINT

The time for organic golf has arrived

By NEAL LEWIS

Golf has become a target for efforts to reduce toxins in our environment due to its substantial and highly visible use of pesticides. The public is becoming increasingly unwilling to accept the use of substances that are possible carcinogens over drinking water supplies, alongside streams and wildlife habitats, or near homes.

Environmentalists, for the most part, are adamantly anti-golf. However, as executive director of the Long Island Neighborhood Network, I am an environmentalist and a golfer who believes golf can be a great source of environmentally friendly recreation. We call our project Organic Golf, because our goal is not to eliminate golf courses but instead to eliminate the toxic pesticides from golf courses.

The increasing environmental pressure against chemical pesticide use and the greater availability of innovative organic products make this a good time to consider converting to non-chemical methods of golf course maintenance. However, before simply replacing synthetic fertilizer with organic fertilizer and calling it an organic management program, it is important to understand the underpinnings of a true organic approach to turfgrass maintenance.

Healthy soil is teeming with a diverse ecosystem of microorganisms. These microbes are the key to non-chemical methods of turf maintenance. Beneficial microbes feed on the microbes that cause disease, out-compete the disease-causing microbes, depriving them of food and water, coat the roots and blades of plants blocking pathogens, and make nutrients more readily available.

Compost and compost tea are vital for promoting diverse soil ecology. Compost provides both a wide variety of microorganisms and a source of organic matter to feed them. Compost can be incorporated into the soil when building a new golf course, when reconstructing features on an existing course, or when applied as a topdressing material. This results in healthier, greener turf, a reduced need for irrigation, and increased disease and pest resistance.

Compost tea is easier and cheaper to apply than compost, and its microbial makeup can be tweaked when it is brewed to help fine-tune the soil microbiology. Golf courses using compost tea on Long Island are reporting dramatic reductions in the number and severity of outbreaks of diseases such as dollar spot. A comprehensive organic program will require other inputs that may be unfamiliar to some superintendents. Microbial inoculants, kelp extract, rock dust minerals, beneficial nematodes, earthworm castings, plant growth hormones and vitamins are all being incorporated into golf course maintenance programs.

Critics of organics insist that there is a lack of university-based research involving many of these products. However, there is decades-old research that demonstrates that compost has turf disease-suppressive qualities. Enhancing microbial activity is the presumed mechanism for compost's effect, and is the design of many organic products. Unfortunately, when it comes to brand-name products, universities rely upon funding from large corporations to determine what they will study. Manufacturers of organic products may first need to achieve a significant level of financial success before they will be able to fund the research that will prove the effectiveness of their products.

New golf courses represent the best opportunity for establishing an organic program. Compost can be incorporated into the soil throughout the root zone. Grass cultivars that are resistant to disease can also be selected. For example, in the Northeast where dollar spot is a major problem, L-93 bentgrass is a good choice for greens. It is because new golf course construction presents an opportunity to do things right from the beginning that the courts have required that the organic alternative be considered. However, existing courses that are being converted to organic maintenance practices demonstrate that it is never too late to change.

Neal Lewis is an attorney currently serving on a committee overseeing construction of organic golf courses in Suffolk County (NY).

Copyright United Publications, Inc. May 2002
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved