IPM Handbook for Golf Courses (2002)

 

With the rise of environmental awareness round the globe over the past decade, the drive to maintain golf courses with reduced reliance on chemicals has been taken up by many within the industry. Integrated pest management techniques have found a home at many golf clubs, proving not only highly successful but also improving the environmental image of the industry.

Recognising the importance of developing a culture of IPM within the industry, in the late 1980s the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America conducted a seminar titled ‘Introduction to Integrated Pest Management’ by Dr. Patricia Cobb and Dr. Patricia Vittum. Throughout the 1990s this seminar was held around the US with the help of fellow researchers Gail Schumann and Monica Elliot. From this it was decided to summarise the basics of the seminar in book form and the end result is the 265-page hard-cover publication ‘IPM Handbook for Golf Courses’ released by John Wiley and Sons in 2002.

IPM Handbook for Golf Courses provides a solid base of knowledge for superintendents and turf managers and the opening chapter defines what IPM is – the authors like to refer to it as ‘intelligent plant management’ – and lists the basics of what an IPM programme entails. As the authors point out in the introduction to this chapter, “Experienced golf course superintendents realise that the concept of IPM is not new. Every superintendent, to some extent, practices IPM already. IPM is a commonsense process that continues to evolve over time. IPM never begins as a ‘complete’ programme. It generally begins with a few simple efforts and emerges over time.”

Following chapters on site assessment and scouting and monitoring, the authors delve into cultural control strategies as well as biological and chemical control strategies. From there they concentrate on pest management, devoting separate chapters to insects, diseases, nematodes and weeds before looking at developing technologies for pest management.

Perhaps the most practical information in the book can be found in the final two chapters. Chapter 12 , titled ‘Getting Started’, gives a step by step guide and tips on how to develop an IPM programme, looking at the critical areas of goal setting and policy statements (a handy sample policy statement is included as part of this).

Chapter 13 – IPM regional Portraits – takes that to the next level with superintendents from four regions of the United States providing summaries of their IPM programmes which contain both a mix of tried and tested IPM strategies as well some innovative practices they have implemented as a result of unique site characteristics. The authors pay tribute to these superintendents as well as the many others who have embraced the concept of IPM.

The book is full of pictures (predominantly black and white, although there is an eight-page section of colour slides in the middle) and there is a comprehensive glossary of terms. Another handy feature is the list of recommended further reading material contained at the end of each chapter. Since the book was published there have no doubt been improvements in technologies but the basics of implementing an IPM programme have essentially remained the same and this book provides those superintendents and turf managers with a solid base to help them establish such techniques at their facility.