Great idea, great cause, and some great courses lined up. This is especially important now that we're on the cusp of several exciting advances and turfgrass research, yet funding is drying up:

New States Sign-on to Online Golf Auction 500-plus Courses Up for Bid

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 500 courses from the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia and Texas will go up for bid as the golf industry rallies to raise money for turfgrass research.

The home of the PGA Tour Championship, East Lake Golf Club in GA, as well as Sedgefield Country Club in NC and Harbour Town Golf Links in SC 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 spectacular and storied resort venues such 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, running under the web banner Rounds4Research.com, has the backing of 2009 U.S. Open champion, Lucas Glover. “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 says. “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 universities last year with mostly Carolinas courses participating. Proceeds raised on courses in the new 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,” says Paul Jett, certified golf course superintendent at Pinehurst No. 2 and Rounds4Rsearch chair. Jett is also 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.”

Industry observers hail Rounds4Research.com for engaging so many aspects of the industry to help generate funding for turfgrass research. As the economy contracted, so did state budgets, which historically provided the lion’s share of resources for turfgrass research.