FarmLinks at Pursell Farms introduces educational pilot programs
20 Aug, 2010 Athletic Turf News An educational session takes place in FarmLinks' Solutions Center. |
SYLACAUGA, AL — For more than a decade, the Pursell family has offered guests the opportunity to experience one-of-a-kind educational programs, beginning with their formerly owned fertilizer company, Pursell Technologies, Inc., and continuing today with FarmLinks at Pursell Farms.
In the beginning, the Pursells brought golf course superintendents to their Sylacauga home for the day to cook out and fish or dove hunt, while learning about innovative fertilizer technologies. Today, more than 1,000 industry professionals every year take part in The Experience at FarmLinks. They enjoy two-and-a-half days of solutions-oriented educational programs. They demo products and learn from partners like The Toro Co., Club Car, Aquatrols, Tru-Turf and Wacker Neuson, and they spend time with representatives from Agrium Advanced Technologies and BASF, who share information on the products they manufacture for the golf industry.
This collaborative, customized instruction, along with the On The Course agronomic tour, is designed to provide much-needed answers and to help superintendents do their jobs better. As well, the new and improved Experience at FarmLinks awards superintendents 0.85 CEU points through the GCSAA's External Education Program.
 The educational tour allows guests to experience hands-on learning. |
But the benefits of the educational experience at FarmLinks are even more far-reaching now, as the program is expanding yet again and growing beyond the current focus to include a number of different participants within the golf industry as well as additional industry segments. And over the course of the next 12-18 months, FarmLinks, along with a number of existing partners and several new companies, will pilot a collection of new programs, to deliver issues-based, solutions-oriented content to even more guests.
Currently, new pilot programs under way or planned for the coming months include the following:
For the golf industry:
- The business of agronomics: An agronomy program for golf course owners, managers and greens committee chairpersons.
- Renovation planning: For those considering golf course renovations, this educational program provides a framework to assist in making the best decision for your course.
- Water management A to Z: This program considers all aspects of water management — from the source of the water used to the point water is absorbed into the plant (and everything in between).
For other industries:
- Sports fields and grounds: For those involved in agronomic management.
- Lawn care operators: Designed to provide answers for the challenges this industry faces, from an agronomic and business perspective.
- Wildlife management/vegetation management/forestry: Using our 3,200-acre, high-fence facility, which includes hunting, forestry and related land management practices, we will undertake a new educational program for this broad industry segment.
- Pest management professionals: 22 different building structures (ranging from new construction residential and commercial buildings to Antebellum homes, and from crawl spaces to slab foundations) provide a perfect demonstration platform for varying types of pest management applications.
 FarmLinks' R&D sign. |
"The set-up and the facilities that we have here are second to none," President Erle Fairly states. "We are the world's first and only research and demonstration golf course. And it just makes sense to take the educational model we've used so successfully over the past decade to introduce new programs and reach new industries, all while delivering the same quality instruction along with luxury lodging, high-tech meeting spaces, top-of-the-line amenities and hospitality like nowhere else."
FarmLinks also uses a unique system of gathering knowledge of all program participants through pre-visit and during-visit data collection. "This allows us to get to the heart of our participants' real issues, as well as gain an understanding of their 'current condition,' like their facility details, budget information, product usage and more," explains Brent Fuhrman, FarmLinks' COO. "This data allows us to deliver on the promise of customized, issues-based, solutions-oriented content."
The educational programs at FarmLinks foster collaborative discussions.
"We have found that all the answers are not necessarily found within one entity or entities, but most of the time real and practical solutions are found when discussing the issues with colleagues and other industry professionals without hindrance," says Fuhrman. "This happens in our focus on solutions time, as well as through the hand-on field time we include in our programs. We have learned — and continue to learn — how to facilitate conversations that help people!"
Ultimately, the goal at FarmLinks, no matter what the specific program or industry, is to make a positive impact on its guests.
"We want them to leave here with a better understanding of how to use new information and innovations, to be more successful in whatever their careers," Fairly concludes. "We want to offer as many professionals as possible the chance to refine their skills and utilize our venue for learning, planning, collaborating and training. We want to impact our guests and help every one accomplish his or her job more efficiently and effectively."
To learn more, visit FarmLinks.org.
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