It\u2019s mid-June 2002. At the PGA\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The spectator gallery stands silent as Woods taps the ball into the cup, winning the championship by three shots. He raises his arms\u2014and putter\u2014to the heavens in triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standing several yards away, Frank Rossi, PhD \u201992, absorbs the scene\u2014and thinks about the turf below Woods\u2019s feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few years earlier, Rossi, an associate professor of horticulture science and director of the Cornell Turfgrass Program<\/a>, had helped the course prepare for its first major pro tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2014most recently\u2014the 2025 Ryder Cup, which had never before been held on a public course in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly a quarter-century since Rossi witnessed Woods\u2019s victory, the turf at Bethpage<\/a> (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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even during last fall\u2019s Ryder Cup, the Cornell team remained on site\u2014embedded with the maintenance crew, conducting research, and sharing expertise with PGA personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the University\u2019s focus on turfgrass isn\u2019t 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<\/a> and 18 additional state park facilities, from Long Island to Buffalo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFundamentally, the Turfgrass Program has been driven by a citizenry increasingly concerned about contaminants in their environment,\u201d Rossi observes. \u201cAnd this is really heightened in urban areas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n While food crops grab the lion\u2019s share of agriculture attention in New York, grass quietly blankets nearly 3.5 million acres statewide, covering athletic fields, roadsides, private lawns, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the past three decades, Rossi and his colleagues have carved a path to sustainably maintaining golf courses and other grassy expanses\u2014particularly through the use of Integrated Pest Management<\/a> (IPM), in which pest-population models and risk assessments help turf mangers choose the least toxic options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur work is maybe three or four inches deep and a mile wide,\u201d says Rossi. \u201cWe\u2019re paying attention to multiple things including insect ecology, pesticide chemistry, and weather conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Big Red researchers\u2019 relationship with Bethpage stretches back to the late 1990s, when course superintendents contacted Jennifer Grant, PhD \u201901<\/a>\u2014then director (now emerita) of Cornell\u2019s IPM program\u2014with the aim of reducing pesticide use, given that their facility is on state parkland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our work is maybe three or four inches deep and a mile wide\u2014we\u2019re paying attention to multiple things including insect ecology, pesticide chemistry, and weather conditions.<\/p>\nFrank Rossi, PhD \u201992<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Methods showing promise for improving playability and environmental stewardship were soon implemented on other courses at Bethpage\u2014and eventually across the entire state park golf course portfolio and beyond, to other park facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt has been a proving ground,\u201d says extension support specialist Carl Schimenti \u201914. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t 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, \u2018Bethpage is doing this\u2014you guys should probably, too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A generation ago, vastly reducing pesticides once seemed unthinkable for golf courses, where many types of insect\u2014from chinch bugs to the bluegrass weevil\u2014can wreak havoc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It became a case study for all the other courses; we can say, \u2018Bethpage is doing this\u2014you guys should probably, too.\u2019<\/p>\nCarl Schimenti \u201914<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The idea is to decouple the factors that go into decision-making about pesticides, Rossi explains, so course managers \u201ccan look at: here\u2019s the actual risk of the pest occurring, here\u2019s where that pest is, and here\u2019s the least toxic material you could use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n (One notable discovery: a common lemon-scented dish detergent, much diluted with water, can reliably flush out chinch bugs; if the concoction doesn\u2019t bring them to the surface, they\u2019re not there\u2014and a pesticide application can be skipped.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rossi estimates that over the past 15 years, New York\u2019s private, public, and state-run golf courses have reduced pesticides by 35% to 40%\u2014bringing usage down to half the national average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the past 15 years, New York\u2019s private, public, and state-run golf courses have reduced pesticides by 35% to 40%\u2014bringing usage down to half the national average.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Says Rossi: \u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to his research, Rossi teaches a plant science class called \u201cIt\u2019s Just Grass: Grassing the Urban Eden,\u201d which includes a field trip to NYC parks and other green spaces\u2014sometimes even Yankee Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To educate turf professionals and the public, he and his group host seminars and offer three podcasts: his flagship Frankly Speaking<\/a><\/em>; Clippings<\/em><\/a>, cohosted with Schimenti; and Cornell Turf Show<\/a><\/em>, aimed at field-management professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t just for golf: we do it for lawns, sports fields, school districts, municipal parks, urban green spaces, and cemeteries,\u201d Rossi says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUntil we came along with this work, decision-making was primarily about cost, effectiveness, and ease of application. It\u2019s a fundamental shift: we\u2019ve brought environmental stewardship into the equation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Top: Turfgrass and a bunker before the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage. (All photos provided by CALS, unless otherwise indicated) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Published February 25, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Led by Frank Rossi, PhD \u201992, CALS\u2019 Turfgrass Program helps promote optimal growth, reduce pesticides, and more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":65983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alumni_hub_syml_posts":[63883,51641,64665],"footnotes":""},"categories":[227],"tags":[],"cornell_year_post":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-65579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-beyond"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Frank](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/DSC04482-A-1024x576.jpg\")
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