2011 USA Weather Recap: Natural Extremes or Global Warming?

From snowstorms to floods and tornadoes, severe weather wreaked havoc across the United States this year, with 2011 marking far more extreme weather events than a typical year. In this video from PBS, Hari Sreenivasan discusses the science behind this year of extreme weather with NOAA's Kathryn Sullivan and Weather Underground's Jeff Masters (check out his top ten weather events of 2011 here).

So what do you think? Global warming or just natural extremes? 

GDD Tracker: Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio

Predicting pest outbreaks by calendar date is unpredictable and unreliable from year to year. Growing degree-days accumulate heat unit to accurately predict biological phenomenon even when the weather is fickle. GDDTracker is a online tool created for turfgrass managers in the US Great Lakes Region (Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio); helping them predict pest outbreaks and application timing for their location.

System Check Vol. 2

Now that you have had a chance to go through your central control computer you have gone a quarter of the way.  The next step to preparing for the season is taking a closer look at your weather station.  Are you using your $7k tool to your advantage, or is it a perch for the local fowl?

Urban Golf Courses Influence on River Basins in SC

Recently a pissed off superintendent brought to my attention that industry organizations have made too many cuts to environmental research related to the effect of golf courses on the environment. "The future of golf relies on this kind of research" he said. "How are future superintendents suppose to know what to change if we don't understand why something happens, how do we even know if we are influencing changes in the first place?". I told him to donate some money to Turfhugger and we'll do our own studies... I haven't seen any come in yet! haha.

Re: Research Cuts - check out PSU's letter to the GCSAA.

Regardless there's still lots out there, and perhaps we should look outside our industry for a look at the effect of golf courses on the environment.

The River Basins Research Initiative (RBRI) in SC, began in 1996 with two Furman University students studying a 3 km2 watershed, and has grown to become an interdisciplinary study of the Broad and Saluda River Basins that, since 1999, has involved more than 170 student participants.

Ice Golf?

When it comes to introducing golf to new areas of the world the environment/climate is usually one hazard that requires some ingenuity and resourcefulness to overcome. There are many possible solutions to help us overcome some of these environmental hurdles, including Artificial Turf, Grey Water, Urban Golf, and Pasture Golf, but Ice Golf?