SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/30215
Facility&Operations | Turf Textbooks 101 Turf textbooks 101: what’s currently being taught Editor’s note: The idea behind this article was hatched at a meeting for STMA Committee members before the association’s conference opened in Austin last January. Chad Follis, a hor- ticulture instructor at Mineral Area College, Park Hills, MO gets an “A” for thinking it would be interesting to poll turfgrass professors on their favorite textbooks. H country: What textbook(s) is required for your introductory college course on turfgrass management? Why was this book chosen? What textbook(s) is required for any ad- vanced courses college courses related to pest management, soils, plant science? Besides your introductory turf text and, most likely, Sports Fields: A Manual for De- sign, Construction and Maintenance, what other turf book(s) would you recommend turf managers have on their reference shelves? GREG BELL, PhD, Oklahoma State I use Nick Christians’ book, Fundamen- tals of Turfgrass Management, for my intro- 20 SportsTurf | May 2011 ERE ARE THE QUES- TIONS we sent some of the most prominent turfgrass teaching professionals in the ductory turfgrass class and will be using my own book, Turfgrass Physiology and Ecology: Advanced Management Principles that was published in January, for my advanced class. I also like Al Turgeon’s Turfgrass Man- agement, as an introductory text. However, I prefer the Christians’ book slightly be- cause it is a little more practical and a little bit easier to read. I believe that Jim Beard’s Turfgrass: Sci- ence and Culture, is still a good reference in spite of being published in 1973, and his book, Turf Management for Golf Courses, and the Bert McCarty et al. book, Best Golf Course Management Practices, are also excel- lent for understanding and practicing the agronomic practices necessary for sports field management. For basic field construction and mainte- nance questions I usually refer to Puhalla, Krans, and Goatley, Sports Fields: A Manual for Design, Construction, and Maintenance. The McEntire and Jakobsen book, Practical Drainage for Golf, Sportsturf, and Horticul- ture is great for learning drainage principles, and the Pira book, A Guide to Golf Course Irrigation System Design and Drainage, is good for learning more advanced design and theory for both drainage and irrigation. I look to Carrow, Waddington, and Rieke, Turfgrass Soil Fertility and Chemical Prob- lems: Assessment and Management, for help with soil problems. My favorite disease book is Houston Couch, Diseases of Turfgrass, although it pre- dates some of the recently discovered dis- eases and some major problems such as gray leaf spot on perennial rye. The Compendium of Turfgrass Diseases, 3rd edition, by Smiley, Dernoeden, and Clarke is also very good, reasonably priced, and more up to date. My favorite insect book is Dan Potter’s Destruc- tive Turfgrass Insects. TROY MCQUILLEN, Kirkwood Community College (IA) Fundamentals of Turfgrass Management by Nick Christians of Iowa State University is the required textbook for our introductory Teaching in an applied science program, it’s nice to have textbooks that re- flect the hands-on learn- ing techniques we as faculty promote in the classroom. www.sportsturfonline.com