MTF President’s message- 5-11-2018

I want to take the opportunity every few months to let you know what the MTF is working on and doing for the Turfgrass Community in Michigan. We have a very active and dedicated board with several thoughtful concepts and many undertakings.  Numerous have already been accomplished and others are in the process of being implemented.

Here are a few bullet points of our activity.

• Tee Times 4 Turf will end Sunday May 13 at 8:00pm   It is the MTF’s  largest Fund Raising effort during the year.  We appreciate all those that donated their course and we are pleased to acknowledge that the number of courses willing to donate were significantly higher than last year!  Auction proceeds go directly to support the research at MSU by our Turf Team. All Board members participated in soliciting clubs to support this event. Thank you to those who support this event!
• The Research Committee has been very active this spring with the turf team. The following is a link to the current research going on at MSU.

**A little known fact about researching funding- all the funding for turfgrass research projects at MSU is raised thru grants, donations, sponsorships. The department does not provide support funding for professors research projects. 

• The Gordon LaFontaine Golf Outing:   Registration will soon be underway.  The date:  June 21^st at The Coyote Preserve Golf Club.  Hope you may be able to attend / or be a sponsor.
• Founders Committee:   Recently approved funding for some technology upgrades at the Hancock Turf Research Center. Thank you for your support!
• Membership committee: has been hard at work over the past 6 months to correct information and get a mailing out for membership renewal. Thank you to those who once again have renewed your membership. 

Finally, the MTF would like to congratulate Jesse Scholl on his new position at the Hancock Turf Research Center as the Farm Manager.  Jesse replaces Mark Collins who retired this year after decades of caring for the HTRC.   We are very happy for Jesse and his new position.  We would also like to thank Mark for all his years of caring for the Facility.  The MTF looks forward to supporting Jesse for many years to come.

The Michigan Turfgrass Foundation goal is to provide our members with research information and we encourage those with comments and suggestions to please contact us.

Have a great summer!

Amy J. Fouty, CSFM President 2018

fouty@msu.edu