Over the last year there has been an increase in the buzz surrounding a potential new problem on golf course putting greens. The issue has been occurring in the UK for some period of time and potentially in other parts of the world, namely New Zealand. In a recent article in Golf Course Management Magazine entitled “Thatch Collapse: A disease of fine leaf fescue”, we discussed some of the symptoms on a golf course in Scotland. Prior to this trip to the UK, however, I had never seen or even heard of this disease in the United States.

Fast forward (or rewind) to the fall of 2010. Shortly after returning to the U.S., symptoms similar to what we saw in the UK began to appear on our research putting green at Penn State’s Valentine Turfgrass Research Facility. We monitored the disease and made a few futile attempts to isolate the apparent basidiomycete from the thatch. In the spring of 2011, the problem started to appear on a separate area of our research facility and with enough severity that we were able to put out a fungicide trial. The trial (results are ongoing and I will post a full update in the research section when our season has ended), evaluated several commonly fairy ring fungicides in combination with the wetting agent Revolution in an attempt to determine if any would help to alleviate the sunken patch symptoms. Few visible changes were observed during the season, but a late season rating indicated that multiple applications of ProStar were the most effective at suppressing this problem. None, however, completely eliminated the symptoms.

Since our first observations in 2010, we have heard a few reports of the problem in California, Connecticut and Michigan. The increasing reports of this problem has lead to a new research project for my newest Master of Science student. As we move forward with the isolation, identification and ultimate management of thatch collapse we are calling on anyone that has or thinks they have the symptoms to submit a sample for our study.

If you would like to help us in our study, please fill out the form below.