Tennessee Turfgrass – Julie Holt, Content Director, TheTurfZone.com
Our industry has come together in the face of unprecedented challenges to protect our workers, courses, sports fields, jobs, and the people we serve. So many of you have made quick changes and adjustments to create safer environments and we are proud of the hustle and innovation of our Tennessee turfgrass professionals. Take a look at how we’ve adapted to keep our state’s turfgrass managers working and successful.
Ryan Storey, TTA Secretary/Treasurer, Sports Turf Manager at Vanderbilt University
What adjustments have you made to operations during this time?  We have cut out all overtime and people that can work remotely have been asked to do so until further notice.
What safety measures are you taking to protect yourself, your staff, and others who use your fields and facilities? We have to wear a face covering at all times when on campus unless we are in our private office. We have increased the number of hand sanitizer stations throughout campus. We have also purchased and distributed multiple style masks to all employees.
What advice/encouragement do you have for TTA members in this challenging time? Do whatever you can to remain essential. I am doing things a turf manager would not normally do (removed 364 bikes on campus, doing inventory of items students left behind, etc.). If a layoff is coming, I would hope they see value in an employee who is multi-faceted and can/will do tasks that may not be associated with everyday maintenance but are necessary to get through tough times.
Jim Brosnan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Turfgrass Weed Science, The University of Tennessee
I certainly have been proud of what I’ve seen both from an advocacy standpoint in defining our work as essential to staffs taking a leadership role in implementing distancing procedures to facilitate operations remaining open.
The joint letter to Gov. Bill Lee’s office (below) that was spearheaded by TTA helped ensure maintenance operations, particularly on golf courses, were declared essential such that work could continue during the stay-at-home order. The association showed real leadership in submitting a single document signed by TTA, TGA, TGF, Tenn PGA, and TVSTMA. This is one reason that supporting an association like TTA is so important.
From a university standpoint, the first major change was obviously moving all classes online. UT mobilized this process fairly rapidly and while I’m sure there were a few bumps in the road, the process was successful from what I’ve heard/seen.
Like many of the other turfgrass operations in the state, we have been tasked with becoming more intentional with scheduling work at our research farm in order to keep social distancing a priority. This has taken a little while to get accustomed to but all of our turfgrass research programs are moving forward normally.
Probably the biggest hurdle the turfgrass program faced in light of COVID was how to handle our annual Field Day event in August. With UT facilities being closed to the public and restrictions in place (both on campus and in Knox County) on large gatherings, we needed to decide how to move forward in providing continuing education and networking opportunities for those in the turfgrass industry this year. We landed on the concept of TN Turf Tuesdays, a series of online webinars hosted on the first Tuesday of every month from May-October 2020. You can learn more about that initiative here: www.tennesseeturfgrassweeds.org/Pages/TurfTuesday.aspx.
This has been a fun endeavor for our team and something that we think we can build on for the future.
One thing that was communicated to me earlier this year is that regardless of how one feels about the COVID situation, it’s the biggest challenge that all of us will face in our careers. I think it’s important to recognize that!