ABSTRACT
The growth of turfgrass science seems to have paralleled the growth in the game of golf. In Scotland there were only 43 courses prior to 1880 but 266 by 1910 (Price 1989). A similar upsurge in the number of courses occurred in the USA between 1895 and 1900, and an even larger growth took place between 1920 and 1930 (Beard 1982). Turfgrass research had started in the USA in the late nineteenth century and a milestone was reached with the publication in 1917 of the work ‘Turf for Golf Courses’ by the pioneering agronomists Piper and Oakley. Europe at this time, however, was plunged deep in the horror of the First World War and the need was for agricultural production. It is no surprise therefore that when course construction resumed after the Great War agricultural principles were often invoked in course management. This was despite the fact that it had been realised even before the Great War that golf turf and agricultural grassland were of a greatly different nature. Hall (1912) stated “The use of potash manures should be avoided on the golf links,
and lime or fertilisers containing lime, such as basic slag, must be used with discretion”. In 1920 in his famous treatise on golf architecture Mackenzie (1920) stated succinctly: “It must be borne in mind that the turf required for a golf course is entirely different to that required from a farming point of view”. Despite these, and similar observations agricultural practices of liming and use of lime-containing fertilisers continued. Beale (1924) describing the construction of a golf course on heathland stated “That an ample provision must be made in the budget for chalk, manure and fertilisers”. “It (lime) counteracts sourness… and practically no form of manure can feed turf satisfactorily without the co-operation of lime”. Meanwhile in the USA matters had progressed further with the formation in November 1920 of the USGA Green Section. In the UK the work of Piper and Oakley became known, Oakley visiting in England in 1926 where he established a rapport with Norman Hackett a keen amateur and businessman who was later influential in setting up the then Board of Greenkeeping Research (now The Sports Turf Research Institute) in 1929. Much was achieved in improving courses according to ‘non-agricultural’ principles until the outbreak of war again in Europe in 1939. In post-war years the research effort into golf agronomy in Britain dwindled through lack of funds in contrast to the vast growth in agricultural research. In the USA, on the other hand, steady progress was made on all fronts. One of the consequences of this imbalance in research in the USA and Britain led to the adoption of American practices on British golf courses, particularly the use of heavy fertilisation programmes coupled with lavish irrigation. This, together with injudicious use of lime, led once again to the old mistakes being made such that during the ‘sixties and ‘seventies many greens became Poa annua dominated ‘sponge puddings’ incapable of sustaining winter play, totally at variance with the sound principles outlined by the early golf constructors and agronomists. Mackenzie (1920) wrote “The course should be equally good during winter and summer….” Piper and Oakley (1917) stated “good grass turf is conditioned by two great factors, climate and soil. The latter can be modified but the former must be accepted as it is”. Piper and Oakley were keenly aware of the climatic differences between the USA and Britain and strove to adapt agronomic practices accordingly. The corollary, of course, is that we can not expect to transplant agronomic practices wholesale from the USA to Britain and expect success, failure is guaranteed in the long run, even if temporary success in the short-term is achieved. Mackenzie (1920) in his usual concise manner stated “A common mistake in greenkeeping is to imagine that because one form of treatment benefits one course that it will necessarily benefit another”. Mackenzie was referring to different courses within Britain but the argument applies even more strongly when comparing conditions in Britain on the one hand and the USA on the other hand. The main climatic differences between Britain and the northern parts of the USA are the greater extremes of heat in summer and cold in winter experienced in the USA.
