STRI (Sports Turf Research Institute) Bulletin April 2014 | Page 5

GOLF
Adam Newton Turfgrass Agronomist, STRI
& Richard Windows Agronomy Manager, STRI

A MEASURE
of SUCCESS
Several years ago STRI developed the
Disturbance Theory to improve the
understanding of the development of
finer grasses within golf green swards.
The Disturbance Theory looked at the
various growth strategies of plants and
how they had evolved to cope with
different environmental pressures.
This enabled us to investigate ways
of manipulating the environment on
golf greens to better suit the more
desirable finer grass species. We feel
the fine grass debate has been quiet for
a while. Perhaps further evidence was
required to rekindle the debate? Analysis
of STRI Programme data taken over the last
four or five years has provided the evidence
that greens dominated by the finer grasses offer
superior performance.

looking back
The first Disturbance Theory article was “Changing the Nature of your
Greens” and it started with a bold ambition…
“Our objective is to help you understand that the nature of the environment controls the
composition of the sward. With this understanding you can take better control and bring improved quality.
If you can see how nature works you may become a better part of it. You need to be able to adapt. We want
you to start formulating your greenkeeping strategy in terms of managing environmental pressures. We mean to get
you thinking about your greens differently.”
We’ll let you be the judge of our success. Looking back, the motivation for its development was to help
our clients make progress towards a greater dominance of the finer grasses because of their superior
performance. We also felt making a stand for the finer grasses was important to our profession
especially in terms of sustainability. With positive feedback from the experts (greenkeepers
mainly) the ideas began to develop. One article led to another and the concept took its shape.
The articles are still available if you are interested and it’s sometimes good to look back.
Bulletin April Issue 265

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