First started in 1953, this service permits individual facilities to reap the benefits of on-site visits by highly skilled USGA agronomists located in Green Section offices throughout the country. Each agronomist visits more than 130 courses annually. Their experience helps golf course staff and officials produce the best possible golf turf for the dollars that can be spent. The TAS's purpose is not to tell anyone how to run a golf course or what products to buy. Rather, it seeks to bring a wealth of information and an impartial yet concerned perspective regarding turfgrass growth requirements, how these requirements might best be managed for golf, and ideas that other golf courses have found to be beneficial.
During the tour of the golf course this is what we found.
We are proud of the root develpment in our greens. Root depth is critcal to summer stress management and sustainability.
The Green Section field agronomists:
Have more direct contact with golfers and course officials than any other department in the USGA. They are ambassadors and representatives of the USGA in the field.
- Are the most knowledgeable, respected, and impartial golf-turf consultants in the world. Backed by the USGA, the Green Section's services provide dependable recommendations that course officials can count on.
- Have lots of experience - they see many (100+) courses each year.
- Know what to look for when observing the course and checking for problems.
- Ask probing questions to identify symptoms or problems that the course personnel may not recognize.
- Have seen symptoms countless times and can quickly identify problems and offer the best solutions.
- Help establish long range plans and preventative maintenance programs to mitigate future problems.
- Network frequently with other USGA agronomists for additional advice and suggestions.
- Catch problems early, before they get out of hand, thereby preventing turf loss and/or large expenditures.
- Serve as a sounding board for ideas.
- Keep up with the latest in research, products and techniques. Information is backed up by the largest private turf research program in the world.
- Serve as a key communications link between course officials and the golf course superintendent.
- Write reports that serve as a planning guide and as a benchmark to compare with future evaluations.
- Have only the club's interest in mind and have no financial interest in products or services recommended, unlike many private consultants.
- Know good specialists to turn to for more detailed evaluation, if needed.
- Have access to the cumulative knowledge of 18 USGA field agronomists who make nearly 2000 visits annually.
- Know that one small suggestion can save many times the cost of the TAS visit.
- Provide our clubs and courses with reports that deliver the only history of changes in maintenance practices and the actual physical design of the course over time.
