Hodge to Head Major Turfgrass Research Group

Continuing to advance turfgrass research for Northeast golf course, landscape and sports turf professionals will be the focus of Val Halla Golf Course head superintendent Jim Hodge, who was recently elected president of the New England Regional Turfgrass Foundation (NERTF).

“Our goal is to fund as many research projects as possible at New England universities every year,” said Hodge, who has been in charge of the 18-hole municipal layout Cumberland, Maine, for the past 15 years and a member of the NERTF board of directors since 1997.

The NERTF represents seven New England superintendent association chapters as well as the Massachusetts Association of Lawn Care Professionals and the New England Sports Turf Managers Association. Its major fund-raising event is the New England Regional Turfgrass Conference and Show held annually in Providence, R.I., that has raised $100,000 annually for turfgrass research projects and generated an additional $175,000 toward a new turfgrass research facility at the University of Massachusetts and $25,000 for equipment at a new turfgrass laboratory at the University of Connecticut.

“Over the past eight years, we have funded studies on new bentgrass cultivars, bluegrass wear tolerance, pesticide exposure and many other areas of interest to turfgrass professionals,” Hodge said. “Each fall we put out a call for proposals from various New England universities, evaluate the proposals and then make recommendations to the board to determine which projects to fund. We have funded well over $800,000 in turfgrass research.”

Prior to taking over Val Halla, Hodge was the assistant superintendent at Portland (Maine) Country Club. He is a past president of the Maine Golf Course Superintendents Association and a recipient of that organization’s Distinguished Service Award. He is married with two children and a resident of North Yarmouth, Maine.

“It has been an honor and privilege to work with the NERTF board since its inception,” Hodge said. “It was just an idea nine years ago. The superintendents wanted to regionalize the small state shows into one large regional show. Separately the state shows could not raise much for research. By combining them into one larger event, we were able to place a premium on vendor booth space and maximize the amount of money we could generate to support research.

“The research funding comes from the vendors and the 2,000-plus attendees who go to the show. It has been a pleasure to see it grow and become recognized as one of the top events nationwide in such a short period of time, to work with the talented people on the board and various industry representatives to make this such a success.”

Driving snow and sleet held attendance at the March 2005 show to around 2,000 attendees. Hodge hopes better weather and an expanded program will improve that number at next year’s event, scheduled for March 6-9, 2006 in Providence.

“We want to increase that number, not just among golf course superintendents, but also with the landscape industry in general to reach out to a broader audience,” Hodge said.

“We are always looking for alternatives to how we offer our education. There is a lot of competition with manufacturers and suppliers putting on their own symposiums and the growing use of the Internet as an educational tool. We are looking at new ways to educate superintendent, landscape and sports turf professionals and continue to attract them to our conference and show.”