Turf tourism

I’ve been selecting some of my favorite photos each year since 2015. This post lists those all in one place. There are photos of tournaments, parks, lawns, stadiums, machines, driveways, temples, hikes, golf courses, meadows, kangaroos, bunkers, waterfalls, and airports.

Every year I take a lot of turfgrass photos. These are some of my favorites from 2025. First, however, my flight map for the year. I also make a lot of charts every year, and I especially enjoy creating maps.

The 15th International Turfgrass Research Conference is happening from July 12 to 16 in Karuizawa, Japan. I put this post together for a quick intro to golf course grass in Japan.

In the first seven episodes of the Turf Without Borders show, we’ve talked with turf managers working in Scotland, India, Dubai, Canada, New Zealand, Iceland, and the Philippines. Full episode list If you enjoy the show, please rate and review it on the podcast apps.

I brought my measuring tools to Fukuoka Raizan Golf Club last week. I measured green speed before and after tournament play with the stimpmeter, among other measurements. Here are some of the observations I made during the JLPGA’s Sky RKB Ladies Classic tournament.

I was a guest on the USGA Green Section podcast for an episode with the title Hot Takes on Turf with Dr. Micah Woods. Host John Petrovsky asked a range of questions that I found quite interesting, and I hope you will too.

This is one of my favorite posts to put together each year. I looked through my turf photos from 2024 and chose these as favorites. First, however, the flight map, which I like to do to remind myself where I went in the past year, and how far I traveled to get there.

I’m lucky. I get to visit a lot of golf courses. When I visit a course, I ask a series of questions that helps me to understand more about the property, the superintendent, and the grass.

I’ve been listening to Joe Gulotti’s The Talking Greenkeeper since the first episode back in 2018. I’m sure many of you listen to his show as well. We’ve heard Joe talk about the turf on the Montchanin course that he manages.

I looked through my photos from this year and chose these as favorites. I’ve added a little commentary about each one. Some are educational, some sentimental, some illustrative, some poignant, some just pretty.