That Golf Course May Owe Its Lush Greens to Big Red Researchers

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By Cornellians staff

It’s mid-June 2002. At the PGA’s U.S. Open, Tiger Woods prepares to putt on the damp 18th hole at Bethpage Black, the notoriously difficult public golf course in Farmingdale, NY.

The spectator gallery stands silent as Woods taps the ball into the cup, winning the championship by three shots. He raises his arms—and putter—to the heavens in triumph.

Standing several yards away, Frank Rossi, PhD ’92, absorbs the scene—and thinks about the turf below Woods’s feet.

A few years earlier, Rossi, an associate professor of horticulture science and director of the Cornell Turfgrass Program, had helped the course prepare for its first major pro tournament.

And it would hardly be the last: Bethpage has gone on to host the 2009 U.S. Open, the 2019 PGA Championship, the Barclays in 2012 and 2016 and—most recently—the 2025 Ryder Cup, which had never before been held on a public course in the U.S.

Nearly a quarter-century since Rossi witnessed Woods’s victory, the turf at Bethpage (which is located at the eponymous state park on central Long Island) is a global example of environmental stewardship, with much of the credit due to two and half decades of partnership with Big Red researchers.

Even during last fall’s Ryder Cup, the Cornell team remained on site—embedded with the maintenance crew, conducting research, and sharing expertise with PGA personnel.

And the University’s focus on turfgrass isn’t limited to Bethpage; it maintains a research and service partnership with the entire New York State park system, covering all 23 of its golf courses and 18 additional state park facilities, from Long Island to Buffalo.

“Fundamentally, the Turfgrass Program has been driven by a citizenry increasingly concerned about contaminants in their environment,” Rossi observes. “And this is really heightened in urban areas.”

The turf at Bethpage is a global example of environmental stewardship, with much of the credit due to decades of partnership with Big Red researchers.

While food crops grab the lion’s share of agriculture attention in New York, grass quietly blankets nearly 3.5 million acres statewide, covering athletic fields, roadsides, private lawns, and more.

Healthy, dense turf tempers concrete-covered, population-dense environments, and offers more than a backdrop for football, softball, or backyard croquet: it filters pollutants, recharges groundwater, and generates oxygen.

For the past three decades, Rossi and his colleagues have carved a path to sustainably maintaining golf courses and other grassy expanses—particularly through the use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), in which pest-population models and risk assessments help turf mangers choose the least toxic options.

“Our work is maybe three or four inches deep and a mile wide,” says Rossi. “We’re paying attention to multiple things including insect ecology, pesticide chemistry, and weather conditions.”

The Big Red researchers’ relationship with Bethpage stretches back to the late 1990s, when course superintendents contacted Jennifer Grant, PhD ’01—then director (now emerita) of Cornell’s IPM program—with the aim of reducing pesticide use, given that their facility is on state parkland.

Our work is maybe three or four inches deep and a mile wide—we’re paying attention to multiple things including insect ecology, pesticide chemistry, and weather conditions.

Frank Rossi, PhD ’92

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At the time, there was no protocol for managing a golf course without using pesticides; Bethpage offered one of its five courses as a research site.

Methods showing promise for improving playability and environmental stewardship were soon implemented on other courses at Bethpage—and eventually across the entire state park golf course portfolio and beyond, to other park facilities.

“It has been a proving ground,” says extension support specialist Carl Schimenti ’14. “You wouldn’t think that state parks, environmental stewardship, and one of the most elite golf courses in the world would go together. But it became a case study for all the other courses; we can say, ‘Bethpage is doing this—you guys should probably, too.’”

A generation ago, vastly reducing pesticides once seemed unthinkable for golf courses, where many types of insect—from chinch bugs to the bluegrass weevil—can wreak havoc.

Superintendents used to spray insecticides a half-dozen times a year; now, thanks to Rossi and his research, that may happen only once or twice, along with the use of less-toxic methods.

This strategy includes closely monitoring insect populations to identify their most susceptible life stage; selecting products that have the lowest risk; paying attention to weather conditions when scheduling applications; and targeting only areas of concern, rather than blanketing an entire course.

It became a case study for all the other courses; we can say, ‘Bethpage is doing this—you guys should probably, too.’

Carl Schimenti ’14

The idea is to decouple the factors that go into decision-making about pesticides, Rossi explains, so course managers “can look at: here’s the actual risk of the pest occurring, here’s where that pest is, and here’s the least toxic material you could use.”

(One notable discovery: a common lemon-scented dish detergent, much diluted with water, can reliably flush out chinch bugs; if the concoction doesn’t bring them to the surface, they’re not there—and a pesticide application can be skipped.)

Rossi estimates that over the past 15 years, New York’s private, public, and state-run golf courses have reduced pesticides by 35% to 40%—bringing usage down to half the national average.

Over the past 15 years, New York’s private, public, and state-run golf courses have reduced pesticides by 35% to 40%—bringing usage down to half the national average.

Says Rossi: “This is our primary role in helping industry: leading them to think about their biggest problems in progressive ways, then doing the science and implementing it.”

In addition to his research, Rossi teaches a plant science class called “It’s Just Grass: Grassing the Urban Eden,” which includes a field trip to NYC parks and other green spaces—sometimes even Yankee Stadium.

To educate turf professionals and the public, he and his group host seminars and offer three podcasts: his flagship Frankly Speaking; Clippings, cohosted with Schimenti; and Cornell Turf Show, aimed at field-management professionals.

“This isn’t just for golf: we do it for lawns, sports fields, school districts, municipal parks, urban green spaces, and cemeteries,” Rossi says.

“Until we came along with this work, decision-making was primarily about cost, effectiveness, and ease of application. It’s a fundamental shift: we’ve brought environmental stewardship into the equation.”

Top: Turfgrass and a bunker before the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage. (All photos provided by CALS, unless otherwise indicated)

Published February 25, 2026

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Comments

1. 

   William Brewer, Class of 1975

   28 Feb, 2026

   Thanks for all the hard work!

   Reply
2. 

   Andrew Weber, Class of 1977

   1 Mar, 2026

   I play at Bethpage. Never knew Cornell participated in limiting pesticides on the course. Maybe I can also get help with my golf game from Cornell

   Reply
3. 

   Dan Leonard, Class of 1979

   1 Mar, 2026

   why don’t you put him to work on the dreadful Cornell course?

   Reply

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