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Building on a Legacy – the UMass and Stockbridge Turf Program
Published in The Newsletter of the GCSANE
January 2004
By Paul F. Miller, CGCS
Good things are meant to happen, and it’s amazing how pieces fall into place when the time is right. A case in point is our campaign to raise funds to build a new building at the UMass Amherst turf research facility in South Deerfield. While the idea for a new building was first floated by Dr. Troll and others many years ago, it wasn’t until this past year that the need, the university’s commitment, and our willingness to pitch in all came together.
Anyone in the business knows the history of the turf program in Amherst, and it all started in 1927 when Prof. Lawrence Dickinson started the country’s very first college-level course in turfgrass management and science. His “Winter School for Greenkeepers and Golf Course Foreman” started a level of practical instruction that continues today, and one that has been copied in similar schools throughout the United States and abroad. The success of Prof. Dickinson’s program was that he focused on having his students understand the practical solutions to the range of turfgrass problems that arise on a golf course.
Over the years, many prominent leaders in the turf industry (including Eliot Roberts, Joseph Troll, Robert Carrow, and Geoffrey Cornish) have made significant contributions to the UMass turf program, establishing it as a leading teaching and research program. These and other nationally known educators have inspired hundreds of graduates to assume leadership positions throughout the industry, as superintendents of prestigious golf courses and as managers of other fine turf areas.
As Geoffrey Cornish recently wrote in his history of the UMass turf program for the book A Commonwealth of Golfers, published by the Massachusetts Golf Association: “It is not possible to catalog all of the accomplishments of those who have attended UMass’s turfgrass programs and have gone on to maintain and enhance the golf courses of this nation and other countries. Their contributions to the excellence of the greenswards of golf are impressive. Without them and those who have graduated from programs at other universities, the playing fields of the game would never have reached their present state of excellence, providing the turf the golfer wants. This includes the nearly 400 courses that take up more real estate in Massachusetts than all fruit and vegetable crops combined.”
We as individuals and as an industry now have an opportunity to give something back to the program that got us started and which continues to benefit us today. It starts with each of us pledging our own level of financial support, and also committing matching gifts from our clubs. There is strength in numbers, and we can all pitch in to help make this building a reality. What we put in today will come back to us at each of our courses, and it will also show the university that we are behind this program 100%. When we invest, the university will follow, and our actions will speak louder than words.
Our first goal is to raise the funds necessary to build the teaching, research and storage building at the turf plots. From there, we will continue our involvement in the years to come, identifying areas for research topics, providing input and direction in an advisory capacity, giving feedback in those areas that are most important to us in the industry. We are on track to have a building in place by the end of 2004, and it will be an opportunity to celebrate Dr. Troll’s years of service. We will be hosting a breakfast to honor Joe and others during the turf conference and show on March 4, and as part of that gathering we will be dedicating the turf research plots in Joe’s name.
Between now and then, we can come together as a group to show our support for this project. A list of all donors to the turf building will be available at the conference, and there is plenty of time for each of us to get on board before the end of February. The history of the turf program at UMass is one we have all benefited from, but an even stronger future for the program is one we can make together, regaining our place as the premier teaching and research turf program in the country.
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