Les Bolstad

By Andrew Hollman

When people hear that I work with turfgrass, inevitably the question comes up of “what do you do all winter?” The assumption from some people is that when the weather turns cold and you no longer need to mow your lawn, what else is there to be done? If you are involved with the turf industry, you likely know that there is a myriad of things that need to be done after mowing has stopped and before the ground freezes and the snow arrives. Irrigation needs to be blown out, snow mold fungicides sprayed, and covering greens are a few that come to mind for the golf courses.

Learn more about our research! A new research article from our group has been published in Landscape and Urban Planning. Brian Horgan, one of the co-authors, is formerly part of our Turfgrass Science group and this work was conducted while he was still at the University of Minnesota.  In this paper, Eric Lonsdorf and co-authors analyzed the ecosystem services contributions of golf courses.

By Andrew Hollman

For some people, winter and snow cover might be a welcome relief from maintaining a yard and lawn.

By Parker Anderson

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

What is a GolfLAB^SM?

The University of Minnesota (UMN), founded in the belief that all people are enriched by understanding, is dedicated to the advancement of learning and the search for truth; to the sharing of this knowledge through education for a diverse community; and to the application of this knowledge to benefit the people. UMN has an incredible resource on its campus, the UMN Les Bolstad Golf Course. The Science of the Green® initiative is focused on developing this resource as a collaborative multidisciplinary laboratory known as GolfLAB^SM.

By Parker Anderson

Monday, July 17, 2017

By Parker Anderson

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Recently, the Science of the Green Initiative at the University of Minnesota, in partnership with the United States Golf Association (USGA), collected data on golf pace of play to examine the impacts of green speed on pace of play at seven golf courses of differing characteristics around the United States. The implications of the data collected, however, are far greater than just measuring the time each player spent on the putting greens; the results have additional value regarding golf facility sustainability and productivity.

Plants that overwinter undergo physiological changes to acclimate to cold temperatures, allowing them to survive until spring.  However, when warm temperatures occur in winter, cold hardiness gained through acclimation can be lost, a process called deacclimation.