Cornell research powers sustainable Ryder Cup

When the top golfers from the U.S. and Europe face off for the Ryder Cup this week at Long Island's famed Black Course at Bethpage State Park, they'll be playing on a public course renowned for its sustainability, and engineered by Cornell researchers.

This marks the first time the Ryder Cup will be played on a state-owned public course in the U.S. The Black Course is one of 23 state park courses and 18 facilities that have benefited from the Cornell Turfgrass Program's 25-year partnership with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to deliver environmentally responsible practices.

"There was a shared belief that this is our responsibility to the citizens of New York state and to the environment," said Frank Rossi, associate professor of horticulture in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the state's turfgrass extension specialist.

Cornell research has informed such practices as managing soil health, reducing pesticide inputs through the incorporation of integrated pest management techniques, and reduced fertilizer use. The seemingly small practices add up to major environmental benefits, including a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, from Beaver Island State Park Golf Course outside Buffalo to Montauk Downs on the east end of Long Island.

"In working with Cornell, we have all become much more mindful and diligent about when to apply inputs and use the right product that helps protect the environment overall," said Mike Hadley, superintendent of the Green Course at Bethpage State Park.

The partnership emerged in 2000 when New York state restricted pesticide use on state parkland. Long Island soon followed with additional regulations. State park golf course managers were eager to demonstrate stewardship or risk turf decline under stricter rules.

Rossi, along with former New York State Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Director Jennifer Grant, stepped in to transform public courses, including Bethpage, into living laboratories for managing courses with few to no pesticides. From 2001-09, the Bethpage Project redefined golf course IPM on putting greens, proving that a 45% reduction in chemicals and a 60% reduction in nutrients was possible while maintaining acceptable playing conditions.

What began on the park's Green Course was expanded to the other four courses, including the Black Course, before being implemented across the entire portfolio of state park courses.

"We started doing those practices in our research, and they immediately began to be used under championship conditions," Rossi said. "You would not be able to produce the conditions possible if you didn't have the science to back it up."

In addition to hosting this year's Ryder Cup, Bethpage Black was the site of the 2002 U.S. Open, the 2009 U.S. Open, the 2019 PGA Championship, and The Barclays in 2012 and 2016.

With the number of golf rounds increasing each yearand interest in the sport surging since the pandemic, putting greens, the most intensively used surfaces on a course, require more management than ever before. Cornell tools - including disease-prediction modelsand the environmental impact quotient, which determines the environmental impact of most commonly used pesticides - have gained adoption nationwide.

"Because there are so many pockets around the world where pesticide use is restricted, our work here has taken on heightened importance," Rossi said.

State park superintendents follow best management practices, a set of science based standards co-authored by Cornell and the New York Golf Course Foundation. Additionally, they collaborate with Cornell Cooperative Extension research specialists on third-party reviews of their infrastructure, labor and inputs, with a focus on preventing pollution.

At the Ryder Cup, Cornell researchers will work alongside Hadley and other superintendents to assist the agronomy team tracking greens quality and speed on the tournament course.

"We want to have the golf course in as good a shape as we can, but our work is not 100% focused on golf conditions," said Andrew Wilson, director of agronomy at Bethpage. "We are also thinking about the nature we recreate in."

Some of the park's managed turf has been converted to native grassland, benefiting pollinators and allowing state park staff to study and further protect wildlife. Wilson said he hopes all state park courses will continue to serve as public recreational spaces, nature havens and be recognized for their high-quality management.

"The Ryder Cup is an invitation to the world to show up here and to see what we do," he said.

For more information on New York State Parks and sustainable golf course management, visit https://parks.ny.gov/golf/and https://turf.cals.cornell.edu/.

Jake Zajkowski '26 is a senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.