Clemson honors scientist for keeping region green

A Florence scientist is being honored for his work to make sure people are seeing green.

Dr. Bruce Martin, a Clemson University Pee Dee Research and Education Center turfgrass pathologist, has received the 2010 Alumni Distinguished Cooperative Extension Public Service Award.

Turfgrass is grass that is adopted for lawns, athletic fields or — most importantly, in Martin’s case — golf courses.

Martin has been devoted to the field of turfgrass since coming to the research center in 1988.

One of the first things he did when coming to Florence and the research center was to set up a turfgrass disease diagnostic clinic. Although the main Clemson campus had a clinic, one was needed in the Pee Dee and Grand Strand area due to the many golf courses.

A big part of what Martin does is help golf courses eradicate disease or other problems that try to turn their seas of green to brown.

“Superintendents are incredible plant managers,” Martin said. “When you think about what they do and the surfaces they have to have for their clientele, what they do is pretty amazing, really.”

Some, including golf course superintendents across the Southeast, would say what Martin has done through his work is amazing, too.

Martin has been involved extensively with Rapid Blight, a turfgrass disease that popped up in 2000. The disease was wiping out grass on golf courses from Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head to Charleston, to Georgia and beyond.

At first, Martin said, he and his colleagues had never seen anything like it before, but that kind of challenge is what he likes about his job.

“This job always changes; every year is different,” he said. “We know pretty much what the diseases are going to be, but every now and then we get thrown for a loop.”

The pressure was on for Martin to find a solution to Rapid Blight as hundreds of thousands of dollars were being lost from golf courses.

Part of the process was to visit the affected golf courses . At one particular golf course, an owner approached Martin and asked if he had a solution because he had already lost $200,000 in revenue.

“It’s definitely not boring when stuff like that happens,” Martin said.

That kind of situation had a happy ending. Through a lot of research, time and effort, Martin and his colleagues were able to develop solutions.

When you’ve been working in the field of turfgrass as long as he has, there are bound to be a few experiences on the lighter side that make it all worth it.

Once, Martin was working with a sod farmer with a turfgrass problem. As part of normal scientific protocol, Martin set up a rather large test plot at the sod farm to grow and study.

After a few weeks passed, he returned to look at his test plot and found the farmer had harvested and sold all of it — enough for at least two residential lawns.

“He knew it was a test plot so I asked him why he sold it and he said, ‘It was the best looking grass we had,’” Martin said with a laugh.

Experiences like that and working with people out in the field are what Martin said have kept him going all these years in the field of turfgrass pathology.

The Alumni Distinguished Cooperative Extension Public Service Award is given annually to an extension service professional who has significantly enhanced the well-being of the citizens of South Carolina and beyond and has provided exemplary service to his or her field on behalf of Clemson University

Among the many awards he has received over the years, he said, this one stands out because he feels it really validates what he’s been doing all this time.

“It’s nice to see it (the work) pay off and be recognized by everyone. I’m humbled to get the award,” he said.