I've just returned to Bangkok after the Sustainable Turfgrass Management seminar held at Saujana Resort on October 26 & 27. This event was supported by The R&A and was presented by Saujana in partnership with The R&A, the Malaysian Golf Association, Golf Course Superintendents Association of Malaysia, Asian Golf Industry Federation (AGIF), and ATC. John Geary, Environmental Agronomist from the Australian Golf Course Superintendents Association, spoke about water management plans, preparing for drought and managing turfgrass through drought conditions, and on irrigation water quality and grass variety trials conducted at Australia.

Kenne James (from Toro) and David Patterson (from RainBird) gave a presentation on optimized irrigation of golf course turf on behalf of AGIF and during the field seminar demonstrated the procedure for measuring the distribution uniformity (DU) during an irrigation audit. I found this session especially helpful. Understanding how much water is applied and where it is applied and how one's irrigation system is operating in the field is critical to the maintenance of high-quality playing surfaces. James and Patterson provided a number of helpful tips to ensure that an irrigation system will operate at its optimal level of efficiency.

Geary and I spoke during the practical session about optimizing the rooting system of turfgrass, techniques on organic matter control for putting green turf, and the importance of organic matter management in general, and on problem-solving techniques, drainage, and a host of other topics as we had a look round the newly-renovated Bunga Raya course at Saujana. During the classroom session, I gave seminars on grass selection for golf courses in SE Asia, irrigation water quality, and golf course renovation with more discussion of grass choices. It was an excellent program at a superb venue with an engaged and inquisitive audience.