Virginia Turfgrass Journal – David McCall, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech Turfgrass Pathology
Those keeping watch from afar of the transformation at Independence Golf Club’s (IGC) short course into a hustling and bustling living research lab have likely been impressed with progress made in just a few years. For those of us watching from “inside the ropes”, it has been nothing short of amazing. What started as an interesting concept and loads of sprigs from around the country in May 2017 has turned into a robust outpost for the VT Turf Team. While many have played vitally important roles in the successes of the facility, none come close to matching the efforts of Jordan Booth.
It is bittersweet to say that Jordan has accepted a position with the United States Golf Association (USGA) as a Southeastern Regional Agronomist, which has long been a career aspiration of his. His last official day as a member of the VT Turf Team was May 9, 2021. However, Jordan will continue to work toward completing his dissertation research with support from the USGA, while juggling his new responsibilities. Jordan has accomplished a lot with the VT Turf Team in a relatively short amount of time.
Jordan has maintained a dual role as Research Associate and Ph.D. student since 2018, where he has been directly involved with approximately 75 field research trials, played a vital Extension role to many of you, and built a national reputation for his work with ultradwarf bermudagrass winter management. In fact, Jordan was recently named a Dr. James Watson Fellow, one of the nation’s top awards among Turfgrass Science graduate students and presented by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.
Jordan has also made the most of his time during pandemic related travel restriction by building an impromptu growth chamber in his garage, in place of weekly trips to campus, to assist with his cold-acclimation studies. Jordan has spent much of the last three years evaluating ways to reduce cold-related injury on both ultradwarf bermudagrass and on hybrid bermudagrasses used on golf course fairways and athletic fields. We have learned a lot from these efforts but the scope is much wider than this. Here is a sampling of the projects that Jordan has assisted with (with primary collaborator in parenthesis):

* numerous fungicide efficacy studies on both warm-season and cool-season grasses at IGC and several other locations in Central VA (McCall)
* spring dead spot epidemiology and management (Hutchens and McCall)
* NTEP putting green performance evaluations (Goatley)
* “bluemuda” establishment and management (Goatley)
* annual bluegrass weevil monitoring and management (Kuhar, McCall, and Del-Pozo)
* annual bluegrass and goosegrass management (Askew, Brewer, and Peppers)
* semi-dormant zoysiagrass herbicide sensitivity (Askew and Craft),
* PGR effects on plant physiology (Zhang)

Jordan is not leaving us “high and dry” by any stretch. He will aid with the transition to his successor, Travis Roberson, who officially began on May 10. With so many projects underway, there are sure to be some bumps along the way. However, we feel that Travis is uniquely qualified to step into this role and hit the ground running. Travis completed his Masters degree in the McCall lab in 2018, where he conducted an intensive research project focused on early detection of drought stress of creeping bentgrass. In addition to his graduate research, he has been involved with testing a variety of disease management solutions. Travis understands the inner workings of our program and has since spent time working at a golf course and with irrigation installation. These combined experiences will pay dividends as he continues to build his own research program with a focus on improving irrigation efficiencies across maintained greenspaces.
Travis and his wife, Jamie,