Florida Golf Course Best Management Practices Program

Hey Pros! I know you are always looking to up your game. And practice makes perfect!

That saying holds true for golfers, superintendents, and other golf professionals alike. Now, you can up your game by taking the Best Management Practices for the Enhancement of Environmental Quality on Florida Golf Courses online or catch an in person class when it comes to town (see class information below). Depending on your local jurisdiction, this training may be required!

While golf courses do adhere to intense standards focused on performance, they are also some of the only remaining green islands in densely populated urban areas. Golf courses are important for water and wildlife. Managing a living ecosystem that will not compromise athletic performance requires balance and best practices, and vice versa.

This Golf BMP program approaches environmental stewardship by starting with an understanding of the environment and how it gets harmed. Then, each best practice is discussed explaining how to avoid contamination, waste, and habitat loss. Correcting past errors and reducing the other negative impacts is also discussed so that golf courses can serve as important urban green islands providing beneficial services beyond the putting green.

How we manage landscapes can either intensify environmental challenges OR how we manage landscapes can provide long term solutions to wicked problems. UF/IFAS scientists engage in research answering these questions and then raising new ones. Dr. Bryan Unruh, UF/IFAS Professor of Turfgrass Science, works with the best in the industry to develop Golf BMP trainings for golf pros.