Learning links: Farmlinks Golf Course sets the par with a scientific approach to its greens.

Visitors to FarmLinks Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ala., may never know that they're walking along a living laboratory. The resort provides all the usual amenities of an esteemed golf destination including lodges, cabins, pro shop and snack bar.

Typically, a golf course, with expansive views of manicured grass, is the setting of sportsmanship, camaraderie and challenge. This one is no different, with two mountains, a creek and three lakes stocked with brim, catfish and bass accenting the property. But FarmLinks founder David Pursell sees his golf course as much more.

To him, the turf underfoot is a classroom for study and a laboratory for research. Each of the 7,444 yards of the FarmLinks course contains more to unearth than just the lush greenery that meets the eye.

FarmLinks Director of Agronomy and Applied Research Mark Langner, who is charged with the task of keeping the course's experimental side going full force, explains, "FarmLinks is unique because it is the world's first and only research and demonstration golf course."

The concept of the FarmLinks Golf Club started as Pursell's brainchild. He wanted more than just an award-winning golf course or 18 holes where he could enjoy his own creation. He wanted a proving ground for different types of grasses and fertilizers. Out of this concept, which was put into action in 2000, is a course that is serving an important role in the turf industry.

Pursell is a busy guy. Not only did he put a unique golf course on the map of rural Alabama, but he's also the chief operating officer for Pursell Technologies Inc., the world's largest producer of coated controlled-release fertilizers. So it was natural for Pursell to make the transition from owning a simple family farm to experimenting with turf in a living outdoor laboratory.

The FarmLinks Golf Club is located on the 3,500-acre farm where Pursell and his family raised cattle until the golf course plan was implemented. The idea was to have a working golf course that would require maintenance to remain "immaculate at all times," he says, outlining his vision in a statement made before construction began.

Langner adds that access to the full acreage of the farm created an exciting design situation. "That kind of design flexibility--to place the golf holes where they physically fit best--is virtually unheard of," Langer says. "So we have holes in the fields, among the trees and over valleys, streams and lakes. On many holes, you don't even know another hole exists. It really is a unique situation."

Dr. Michael Hurdzan, a Hurdzan/Fry principal who helped design the course, says that the FarmLinks course design did not take many special considerations despite its unusual execution, but that the Pursell family had a definite plan. "They wanted it to be environmentally correct, something that people could come and enjoy in a very friendly Alabama-hospitality atmosphere, and they wanted it to be a learning experience," he explains.

The idea that the course would be used for experimental testing was evident from the beginning, but Hurdzan said that his primary objective was to create a playable course. "Rather than try to take in experimental design at the beginning, we just primarily focused on golf course design and let the results be what they are," Hurdzan says. "It's just a regular design approach that could have research applied to it later."

Hurdzan also adds that the property allowed the course to have different characteristics at nearly every hole, with the variation of the landscape lending itself well to experimentation with turf grass. Now an established 800-acre golf course, its greenery is used as a living laboratory. Research programs have included tests with turf cultivars, pesticides, fertilizers, fungicides and herbicides. The greens are the scene for experiments with golf course machinery, irrigation systems and management practices.

Current projects include reworking the course's bunkers. "This process includes taking out all the old sand, removing and replacing the existing liners, minor shaping the lips, and putting in new sand," Langner says. He continues to explain that this year his team will change the grass on several tees to Diamond Zoysia and Sea Isle Paspalum varieties.

"There are also several demonstrations, including fertilizer trials, a shade study of 12 zoysia grass varieties, Primo on bentgrass greens, zoysia patch control and preventative fungicide programs, as well as a turf area that has been seeded with crabgrass, signal grass and nutsedge to study control herbicides," Langner explains.

A variety of existing grasses currently blanket the course. Bermuda grass, in 419 and Tiftsport varieties, comprises a large portion, as does an A- 1/A-4 bentgrass combination and Zorro Zoysia. The secondary rough contains Jacklin's Triple A Tall Fescue and a mix of native grasses-blue stem, broom-sedge, side-oats and switchgrass.

Because the course is a proving ground, a laboratory, a classroom and even a case study, companies with an interest in golf and turf have partnered with FarmLinks. Golfers cruise the course in GPS-navigated Club Car golf carts. The busy golf maintenance crew sports its own Bobcat steeds. The Toro Company provides maintenance equipment and the irrigation system. Syngenta provides a comprehensive integrated pest management program. Other corporate sponsors include Flowtronex, Profile Products, Standard Golf, Turfgrass America, Precision, EZflow, Shot Selector and Harrell's.

According to Langner, the relationship between FarmLinks and its partners is tightly-woven. "We coordinate with all our partners and work together to discover what they want to accomplish and what equipment or plant protectants they are working on. We then put these products into use, and as a group, we provide recommendations and assessments."

He says Toro and Syngenta have onsite representatives and engineers who visit to use the course for new product development. PTI, Toro, Syngenta and Club Car have all developed new products at FarmLinks, using the course as a venue for real-life testing.

"Watching these products develop is a great experience," Langner says of his job. "It's exciting to be at the forefront of the latest and best technology in our industry."

Because of the heavy focus on research, the course attracts much more than just a steady stream of golfers. FarmLinks estimates that more than 1,000 golf course superintendents, nursery professionals and other turf and golf specialists meander the greens every year, learning about new turf products and systems.

Langner explains that these visitors to the site are educated on the new developments made at FarmLinks in order for them to make more educated decisions for their own turf facilities.

Langner says that he's keeping with Pursell's original vision to strive toward golf turf perfection through constant learning and technology, giving a word of advice to professionals in the turf business: "Adaptation in this industry is critical, and I don't believe we can ever stop learning; if we do, we will fall behind."

Sulfonylurea Herbicides for Use in Turfgrass

The sulfonylurea (SU) family of herbicides is now being rapidly introduced into the turfgrass market and managers now have more weed control options then ever before. However, with the introduction of new herbicides can come a relatively steep learning curve. For example, some SU's control the various sedge species, others do not. The simple mistake of confusing two SU herbicides can have severe results. The chart below is a brief reference to assist with use of SU herbicides.

Herbicide:               For use on:

Flazasulfuron            Primarily Bermuda and zoysia grasses.
(Katana)
(registration pending)

Foramsulfuron            Tifway 419, TifSport, Tifdwarf, Vamont, and
(Revolver)               common Bermuda varieties; Meyer Zoysia
                         grasses

Halosulfuron             All cool- and warm-season grasses.
(Manage)

Metsulfuron              Kentucky bluegrass, fine fescue, Bermuda,
(Manor)                  St. Augustine, zoysia and centipede grasses.

Rimsulfuron              Bermuda and zoysia grasses. Moderate
(Tranxit)                tolerance for centipede grass.

Sulfosulfuron            Bermuda, zoysia, centipede and St. Augustine
(Certainty)              grasses.

Trifloxysulfuron         Bermuda and zoysia grasses.
(Monument)

Herbicide:               To control:

Flazasulfuron            Annual and perennial ryegrass, tall fescue,
(Katana)                 white clover, common chickweed and numerous
(registration pending)   other broadleaf weeds, sedges and dichondra.

Foramsulfuron            Cool-season grass species such as Poa annua,
(Revolver)               ryegrass, and clump fescue, as well as
                         goosegrass.

Halosulfuron             Green kyllinga, yellow and purple nutsedge.
(Manage)

Metsulfuron              "Pensacola" bahiagrass, perennial ryegrass,
(Manor)                  wild garlic, common chickweed, white clover,
                         bristly mallow, annual lespedeza, spurges,
                         dandelion, and numerous other broadleaf weeds.

Rimsulfuron              Ryegrass, fescue, and Poa annua, and broadleaf
(Tranxit)                species such as common chickweed and spotted
                         spurge.

Sulfosulfuron            Sedge, tall fescue and certain annual
(Certainty)              broadleaf weeds.

Trifloxysulfuron         Ryegrass, fescue, corn speedwell, Virginia
(Monument)               buttonweed and sedge.

By Tim Murphy and Clint Waltz, Department of Crop and Soil
Sciences at the University of Georgia