There is a great article in the May/June 2009 issue of USGA Green Section Record about cost savings and turfgrass maintenance. Sometimes golf courses must find ways to reduce expenses on turfgrass maintenance, and the article "Dollars and Sense: Making It in a Tough Economy" provides a number of tips to save money.

Another way to save money on course maintenance is by modifying the growing environment to produce healthy turfgrass. I have written and spoken about the six key points of turfgrass maintenance many times, and articles about the six key points can be downloaded in English or in Japanese from the Asian Turfgrass Center's turfgrass information page.

The best way to save money while obtaining the best turfgrass conditions possible is to follow the basic principles of greenkeeping. The objective of greenkeeping is to modify the growing environment of the turfgrass in such a way that a playing surface for golf is created. The greenkeeper can modify the amount of light that reaches the turfgrass canopy, the amount of air in the soil, the amount of water in the soil, the quantitiy of mineral nutrients that are available to the plant, the mowing of the turfgrass, and the plan for control of disease and insect pests.

The article from the Green Section Record includes a number of excellent tips, and I encourage anyone interested in getting the most efficient use of their turf maintenance expnditures to read it. From the use of growth regulators to reduce mowing, soil nutrient analysis before fertilizer purchase and application to ensure unnecessary elements are not being applied, the use of cheaper fertilizer products, to more frequent rolling of the greens, there are scores of ways in which you may be able to save money.