Play golf in the interest of science

Published: March 22, 2010

LIBERTY, S.C. — Golfers have a rare chance to tee it up at some of the best-known and most exclusive golf clubs in the game thanks to an innovative online auction running April 7 to April 21.

Foursomes at more than 550 courses from the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia and Texas will go up for bid as the golf industry rallies to raise money for turfgrass research at Clemson University, North Carolina State University, the University of Georgia and turfgrass programs in Texas and Virginia.

The home of the PGA Tour Championship, East Lake Golf Club in Georgia, as well as Sedgefield Country Club in North Carolina and Harbour Town Golf Links in South Carolina are among regular PGA Tour stops donating tee times. Other exclusive private courses, ranked by Golf Digest magazine among the 100 best in the country, include Sage Valley, Long Cove, Yeaman’s Hall, The Homestead’s Cascades Course and Eagle Point.

The auction menu also includes such storied resort venues as Pinehurst No. 2, which hosts a third U.S. Open Championship in 2014; and the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Resort, which hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup and will host the 2012 PGA Championship.

The auction, at Rounds4Research.com, has the backing of 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, a Clemson graduate.

“I urge all golfers who want to get a great deal on a great course to sign up for the Rounds4Research auction right now,” Glover said. “You’ll be doing your game and the golf industry a real service.”

Proceeds benefit research critical to the continued health of the golf industry and the billions of dollars in economic benefit it generates in each of the participating states. The auction generated $55,000 in new funding for turfgrass research at Clemson and North Carolina State last year, with mostly Carolinas courses participating. Proceeds raised on courses in additional states this year will go to research in those regions.

“Obviously, with three new partner states, this year’s auction will be bigger and better in every sense,” said Paul Jett, certified golf course superintendent at Pinehurst No. 2 and Rounds4Rsearch chairman.

Jett is a past–president of the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association, which runs the auction. “Golfers will find bargains and they will find the keys to a lot of doors that would not otherwise be open to them,” he said.
                                           
Rounds4Research involves superintendents who coordinate the auction, course owners and members who donate tee times and, of course, golfers who buy them. The project also has the backing of the respective state golf associations, PGA Sections and club managers associations.

“We are thrilled that our colleagues from the golf course superintendent organizations in Georgia, Texas and Virginia have seen fit to combine resources this year,” Jett says. “It’s just one more example of how golf is an industry that is actively working together for solutions. We’re not just wringing our hands and waiting for others to come up with answers.”

In the new partner states, Rounds4Research is being piloted by the Georgia Golf Course Superintendents Association, the Lone Star Golf Course Superintendents Association and the Virginia Golf Course Superintendents Association.

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