Superintendents have at least nine good reasons to use plant growth regulators (PGRs), says a leading PGR researcher. Some of the incentives are turf-specific, says Dr. Dennis Shepard of Syngenta Professional Products. Others benefit the bottom line.

More often than not, though, it's the improved quality of turf, superintendents say, that fuels their appetite for PGRs. Balancing the budget is important, they add, especially with gas prices continually rising, but the product's ability to reduce mowing-related costs is secondary to the course looking like a million bucks.

Terry Bonar, certified superintendent of Canterbury Golf Club, says plant growth regulators are one of the top innovations of the last decade. "If I had to cut my budget, (PGRs) would not be one of the things I would cut," he says.

"Certainly with fuel and labor reduced, PGRs help to justify cost, but really the bottom line is the overall healthier plant and quality of cut," says Jerry Coldiron, the certified superintendent of Boone Links/Lassing Pointe in Florence, Ky. "That equals a happy customer or member, which is our No. 1 priority. ... Fuel savings, truthfully, are most likely an intangible."

Terry Bonar, the certified superintendent of Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, Ohio, considers PGRs one of the top three innovations during the last decade, along with soft spikes and aeration equipment. His crew uses the product virtually everywhere — greens, fairways, roughs — to limit turf growth. But as is the case with many Northern courses that collect clippings, the objective isn't to reduce gas consumption through less mowing.

"We still mow every day," Bonar says. "But you can do it faster because there's not as many clippings. When you cut a whole fairway and you dump once, you're not getting many clippings."

Better yet, the result is a double-cut look in half the amount of time and effort.

"We used to double-cut fairways (during tournaments), and I'm telling you those were the smoothest fairways I had ever seen," Bonar says. "I said, 'Man, if I could do this for the members, it would be great.' But there was no way you can stripe fairways when there's play."

Laylah Vanbibber, Marketing Manager PBI/Gordon

Bonar's wish came true when PGRs arrived in the mid-1990s. The product stunts the vertical growth of the blade but allows the plant to become thicker horizontally because of boosted root growth.

"It was really a monumental shift when this product came out," says Shepard, a field technical representative for Syngenta. "Suddenly we could manage the way grass grows instead of it managing us."

As for managing the budget, Bonar doesn't worry about saving money with PGR use. In fact, he has become increasingly liberal in using the costly product. This isn't atypical, he says, noting that some superintendents have graduated from using the recommended rate of 0.25 per thousand square feet per month to using the same rate per week.

"We're not up to that high yet, but we're getting there. And I don't care," Bonar says. "(PGRs) are worth every penny."

Bonar, who lists PGRs as an herbicide in his budget ("even though they're not," he notes), pays more than $11,000 per year for at least 30 gallons.

"If I had to cut my budget, (PGRs) would not be one of the things I would cut," Bonar says. "I would probably pay whatever they cost. I would complain about it, but I would still probably do it."