Otto Schmeisser Research Green
Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center

Ultradwarf bermudagrass varieties (foreground) and Otto Schmeisser Research Green (background) at University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center.

South Florida Turf EXPO March 23, 2006:  Program, registration

By helping to privatize the maintenance of University of Florida turf research, golf course superintendents demonstrated an unprecedented example of how government and private industry can work successfully together.  This is the case of the gigantic Otto Schmeisser Research Green at UF's Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center.  The Research Green is set in urban South Florida, now struggling between the environmental constraints of Everglades Restoration, and the need to sustain a lagging tourist economy.

Just as South Florida depends on tourism, tourism depends on healthy golf course greens.  But South Florida's shallow, sandy soils can create a nightmare out of pesticides and nutrients, if they are not properly applied.  Named for a pioneer of golf course management, UF's Otto Schmeisser Research Green brings the answers through science, using private investment to finance the maintenance of an outdoor laboratory for grass.

	Seventh Annual South Florida Turfgrass EXPO, 1994, University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center.

In 1987, Golf Course Superintendent Bill McKee innocently asked one of the researchers at the UF Center about hosting an equipment show, to bring in a few dollars for research.  One thing led to another.  Using equipment company donations, the Otto Schmeisser Research Green was constructed in August 1989 by the Florida Golf Course Superintendents Association.  During 14 years of subsequent shows (the South Florida Turfgrass Exposition, an annual educational event of the South Florida Golf Course Superintendents Association), money was raised to sustain a continuous, privately maintained, research effort by UF scientists, who have remained free to investigate and publish their research on bermudagrass.  Almost from the beginning the Research Green was a win-win situation. Other early industry supporters of the program included Kevin Downing, Loy Faulk, Ray Hansen, Bud Nolder, Bill Rayside, and Scott Wahlin.

Brochures for the South Florida Turfgrass Exposition and Conference, 1988-2001.

But there were obstacles.  Within weeks after the initial idea, an issue emerged on the relationship of the project to the Orlando-based Florida Turfgrass Association (FTGA), which requested to be an intermediary.  But because all the parties of the initial plan were in South Florida, the logistics of an FTGA connection seemed unnecessarily complicated.  There was also a delay as University attorneys provided many pages of contract language, but finally the Research Green got built based on no more than a memorandum of understanding, and a maintenance person was hired on money raised by the South Florida Golf Course Superintendents Association.  The next challenge was for the scientists, who had to agree on a basic series of treatments, covering the drainage and the construction.  The United States Golf Association (USGA) has long provided the primary specification of how a green should be constructed, but not every green can meet those requirements.  So it was decided among the scientists to split the area, part USGA-spec, and part off-spec.

	Scientists and golf course superintendents discuss advantages and disadvantages of new, so-called "Ultradwarf" bermudagrasses.

The Otto Schmeisser Research Green has enabled scientists to test their research ideas on leaching, disease management, comparison of grass varieties, and the use natural organic nutrient sources on bermudagrass turf.  Consequently, numerous scientific studies have been completed and published, based on work done on the Otto Schmeisser Research Green, applicable to the soils and climate of urban South Florida.

Being the first facility of its kind in Florida, the Research Green has brought in additional major grants from the national organizations.  And to support the maintenance, each year, vendors bring their dueling 3-gangs, and other equipment, to show an audience of 350-450 people.  Results of research are discussed.  The rest of the year it's strictly research.