Golf course superintendents deal with weather daily and now also with weather extremes more frequently than historical weather patterns. J. Bryan Unruh, Ph.D., University of Florida, and Darren J. Davis, CGCS, GCSAA Past President, discuss El Niño’s impact to golf courses in Florida and surrounding states in this 60-minute webinar. Learn high-level points concerning impacts to turfgrass regarding the science elements of water, light, temperature and nutrition as the key drivers for plant growth and how these have been affected by El Niño. Davis shares key communications strategies to help superintendents provide important messages to their stakeholders.
Original presentation date: Feb. 28, 2024
Education Points: 0.10
About the Instructors
Darren J. Davis, CGCS, is the golf course superintendent at Olde Florida Golf Club and served as GCSAA’s 82nd President. He attended the Turfgrass Management program at The Pennsylvania State University where he graduated with highest distinction. He earned an associate degree from Tallahassee Community College and a bachelor’s from Florida Gulf Coast University. Prior to joining Olde Florida GC, Davis was the assistant superintendent at the Loxahatchee Club in Jupiter, Fla., served as an apprentice superintendent and as IPM technician at the Augusta National Golf Club. Davis is presently Chair of the GCSAA Centennial Celebration Committee and in 2011 the FTGA presented Davis with the Wreath of Grass - that association’s highest award.
J. Bryan Unruh, Ph.D., is a Professor of Environmental Horticulture at the University of Florida, IFAS, West Florida Research and Education Center. Unruh earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kansas State University and his Ph.D. from Iowa State University. Unruh’s turfgrass science research and extension program focuses on water quality and quantity, pest management, and new cultivar development. Results from his team’s work are included in all three Florida turf industry BMP manuals. Unruh also serves as the primary educator for GCSAA’s BMP initiative and is the winner of the GCSAA President’s Award for Environmental Stewardship for 2023.
