Continue to Learn Conference 2027 - Day 1

Daniel Lightfoot and Glenn Kirby will share their experiences transitioning from greenkeeping to their current positions within The R&A and STRI. They will explore the various challenges they have encountered and highlight the key factors they believe are crucial for advancing a career in turfgrass management. Listen to their insightful perspectives on the future of the industry, the upcoming challenges, and the necessary steps clubs and turfgrass managers must take to adapt and overcome the turfgrass challenges of the next 50 years.

Dollar spot, caused by Clarireedia spp, is an important disease for turf managers worldwide. As environmental conditions shift and disease management options evolve, understanding how to prevent, identify and manage this disease has never been more important. In this joint presentation, Dr Deborah Cox and Dr Andy Owen will explore the biology and drivers of dollar spot, the factors that influence disease development, and practical approaches to accurate diagnosis and integrated management. Combining the latest scientific understanding with real-world experience, the session will highlight key research findings, emerging trends, and practical case studies to help delegates make informed management decisions. An interactive Q&A will address the "million dollar (spot) questions", providing attendees with evidence-based strategies to build resilient, healthy turf while minimising the impact of this disease.

1. What is Dollar Spot disease and why this matters

2. What conditions and management practices drive disease

3. How do we detect/confirm it with confidence

4. Research update and lessons learned from 2023-2025 isolates of the fungi

5. 'The million dollar (spot) questions': Q&A focus on practical management and case study examples

Learning outcomes:

• Understand the biology and impact of Dollar Spot disease
• Identify the key environmental conditions and cultural practices that promote or suppress Dollar Spot development
• Understand current detection methods and how different approaches can help your management plans
• Evaluate different management strategies, including cultural, chemical, and integrated approaches, based on real-world case studies and current best practice

Achieving consistent greens performance remains one of the key challenges in modern turf management. While nitrogen inputs are often carefully planned, the resulting plant response is not always measured or fully understood. This session explores how linking nitrogen inputs with clip volume data can provide a clearer picture of turf growth and performance. By measuring both what is applied to the plant and how it responds, turf managers can make more informed decisions around nutrition, growth regulation and surface consistency. Drawing on real-world experience, the session will demonstrate how this approach can reduce variability, avoid unnecessary inputs, and improve confidence in day-to-day decision making. The session will focus on practical application rather than theory, providing delegates with simple, actionable ideas that can be implemented immediately within their own programmes.

Learning outcomes:

• Understand how measuring both inputs and outputs improves turf management decisions
• Use clip volume as a practical tool to monitor and interpret turf growth
• Link nitrogen applications to observed plant response for more precise feeding
• Reduce inconsistency in greens performance through data-informed decisions
• Gain confidence in applying simple data collection methods within daily operations

Great course management isn’t just about turf, it’s also about communication. In today’s club environment, the golf course manager must engage members, boards, and staff using the right channels at the right time. This session explores how to use tools such as WhatsApp groups, Instagram, short video updates, board presentations, member evenings, and course walks to communicate clearly and confidently. Learn how to explain agronomic decisions in simple, relatable terms, manage expectations proactively, and build trust through consistent, visible communication. Practical and modern tips that are immediately applicable because the people at your course matters just as much as the condition of it.

Learning outcomes:

• Understand the purpose and impact of communication
• Recognise why proactive, transparent communication is essential
• Apply best practice in social media engagement
• Confidently use WhatsApp groups, short-form video, and basic production/editing tools to deliver timely updates
• Deliver confident and engaging in-person communication

Topdressing is often taken for granted—but should it be? This session will examine why topdressing is considered necessary and important, and will put the practice under closer scrutiny. We will consider; How and why topdressing practices have developed across the industry,  whether topdressing is always necessary, the sustainability challenges linked to finite topdressing supplies and the cost of topdressing in a difficult economic climate.

The session will also look at methods and management approaches that can reduce topdressing use and improve the long-term sustainability of the practice.

Learning outcomes:

• Reconsider why topdressing is used, including its key benefits and potential drawbacks
• Evaluate different sources of topdressing and recognise the implications of relying on finite materials
• Understand the economic and environmental costs and benefits associated with topdressing
• Explore methods for reducing topdressing requirements, helping to lower demand, cost, and environmental impact
• Identify the risks of excessive topdressing and consider whether current practices are always appropriate

This session delves into the world of surfactants, wetting agents, and penetrants - whatever name you give them! Are they truly beneficial, and do they justify their costs? This session will shed light on their uses and advantages, revealing that these products offer far more than just improved water delivery for your turfgrass. Drawing upon six years of solid scientific research, including findings from recently published peer-reviewed studies, we will highlight the significant positive impact that surfactants, including the latest nanoparticle-based formulations, can have on rootzone moisture, turfgrass health, quality, and surface playability. Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your understanding and application of these innovative solutions in turf management!

Learning outcomes:

• Distinguish between different types of surfactants, wetting agents and explain how their modes of action influence rootzone moisture management
• Assess the agronomic and economic value of surfactant use by interpreting six years of research data
• Describe how surfactants, including newer nanoparticle-based formulations' affect rootzone moisture distribution, soil–water repellency, and water use efficiency
• Evaluate the impacts of surfactant programmes on turfgrass performance indicators such as rooting, colour, density, stress tolerance, and surface playability
• Develop or refine surfactant application strategies and scheduling for various turf environments based on current scientific evidence

Golf courses evolve continuously. Bunkers are rebuilt, mowing lines change, and features are added in response to technology, play patterns and expectations. Over decades, this process can lead to an accumulation of design elements that no longer serve their original purpose but still require ongoing maintenance. This session explores how historic layering can complicate golf courses and increase maintenance demands. Through examples from historic architecture, including Tom Simpson’s work at Muirfield, and modern projects across the UK and Europe, the presentation demonstrates how rationalising accumulated features can improve strategic interest while reducing maintenance burden. By examining bunker placement, turf areas and lifecycle maintenance considerations, the session highlights how thoughtful simplification can help greenkeeping teams focus time and resources on the elements that matter most. The session provides practical insight into how course managers and architects can work together to review existing features, strengthen strategic design and ensure maintenance effort is directed where it delivers the greatest value.

Learning outcomes:

• Understand how golf courses evolve over time and how design features can accumulate without strategic review
• Learn how bunker placement and quantity influence maintenance workload and long-term resource allocation
• Recognise how simplifying accumulated features can improve both strategic design and maintenance efficiency
• Explore practical examples where rationalising course features has strengthened golf architecture while reducing maintenance burden
• Gain insight into how course managers and architects can work together to review historic features and prioritise those that deliver genuine value

Managing people has never been easy but managing Gen Z has introduced new challenges for greenkeepers and golf managers alike. Expectations around communication, feedback, flexibility, purpose and work-life balance are changing fast, and many leaders feel unprepared for it. This session cuts through stereotypes and frustration to look honestly at how Gen Z think, work and engage and what that means for golf clubs today. Drawing on real-world management experience, the session focuses on practical, realistic ways to motivate, retain and lead younger team members without lowering standards or losing authority. Delegates will leave with a clearer understanding of how to adapt their leadership style, reduce conflict, improve retention, and build stronger teams that work across generations, all while protecting their own time and energy as managers.

Learning outcomes:

• Understand the motivations, communication styles, and expectations of Gen Z team members in a golf course environment
• Apply practical leadership strategies to engage and retain younger staff without lowering standards
• Identify and avoid common generational misunderstandings that can cause conflict or disengagement
• Adapt feedback and mentoring approaches to suit the needs of different age groups within the team
• Build stronger, multi-generational teams that deliver high performance while maintaining a positive workplace culture

Resilience is a popular buzzword, but it is often misunderstood. It's not as simple as "just grin and bear it", and ideas such as "just toughen up" are both outdated and harmful. In this session we will look at why the path to resilience is different from person to person, and by understanding where you are now is the best way to figure out the next steps. We will then look into a resilience building process that can easily be tailored for any individual. In previous years at BTME, many attendees have come to my talks because they want to help others. That desire is built into this session. Whether it's your family members, your best friend, or your team, this session is designed to help. Not only will I teach the resilience framework, but I will do so in a way that enables you to easily share it with and influence others.

Learning outcomes:

• Learn to understand where your resilience is to begin with
• Learn a framework to build more resilience in yourself
• Learn how to help those around you build their resilience too (extremely useful for team leaders or parents)

In this quick-hitting and energising session, Chris will share a focused collection of thought-provoking ideas designed to help attendees reflect on how they approach both work and everyday life. Through practical examples and immediately usable insights, the session will explore attitudes, habits and behaviours that can make a meaningful difference in personal effectiveness, resilience and outlook. Attendees can expect to leave with simple but powerful takeaways that encourage curiosity, discipline, positivity and continuous improvement, with each item offering a clear prompt for action beyond the session.

Learning outcomes:

• Outcomes that offer immediate action
• Attendees will take away items ranging from wonderment to discipline designed to improve both their work and personal lives
• How to bring a positive mentality to work and home every single day
• How to shake off criticism and turn it into a means of improvement