The Pilot is publishing a monthly column on local golf course superintendents and issues they face.

For most of us, graduation represents a welcome farewell to lectures and textbooks but there is no such luxury for today's golf course superintendents. Continuing education is just a fact of life for the 21st-century superintendent. Some of it is even compulsory.

Pest and disease pressures morph from season to season, research constantly throws out new information, and regulations -- local, state and federal -- can change frequently. As much as wanting to get ahead, superintendents need ongoing education merely to keep up. The cost can be significant in terms of both money and time.

Superintendents at higher budget courses will often include a specific line item in their budgets for education. It is not unusual for that number to run $3,000 or higher per superintendent, depending on how much education is targeted. And the options are extensive.

Many superintendents in Moore County are members of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association, Turfgrass Council of North Carolina and Sandhills Golf Course Superintendents Association, each of which provides formal education opportunities.

Membership dues alone for those organizations amount to $600 a year. Classes range from $50 for a four-hour seminar to as much as $300 for some two-day sessions. Those numbers can add up quickly for someone like Paul Jett at Pinehurst No. 2 who is a certified superintendent.

Certification, administered by the national association, is a program that enables superintendents to be recognized for "superior levels of achievement in golf course management." Qualifying for certification is exacting enough, but to maintain the designation, a superintendent must take at least 150 hours of education across every five years. That's an average of 30 hours a year.

Some of that education will be devoted specifically to courses relative to pesticides. Superintendents need a license from the state to apply pesticides on a golf course. They are tested before being granted the license and then, as with certification, must take a certain amount of ongoing education over each five-year period to remain licensed.

Today's superintendents study pesticides as part of the two- or four-year degrees that most of them have in turf science or management. The same cannot be said of homeowners who can buy and apply any kind of cocktail to their lawns and gardens. The perception that golf course superintendents are often liberal with their pesticide use is a fallacy.

Superintendents understand that using any amount more than the minimum necessary is a waste of money, not to mention a threat to their license. The joke that if four ounces per gallon of water is recommended, then eight ounces must be twice as effective doesn't get many laughs among superintendents.

Not every club or course pays for their superintendent's continued professional training. Even so, many superintendents in that position still maintain active education calendars. In addition to his membership dues bill of several hundred dollars, Randy Hilburn, at Whispering Woods Golf Club, invested $1,100 of his own money to attend the Carolinas GCSA conference and trade show in Myrtle Beach, S.C., last November.

"I feel it's that important," Hilburn said. "The landscape of the industry itself changes so constantly that keeping abreast with your knowledge is worth it, and the right thing to do."

Hilburn added that the fact he paid with his own money should be some indication of how critical continuing education is for someone managing a golf course.

"You're always trying to get better at what you do and so is the industry," he said. "They are regularly coming out with new turf varieties that require less water and new equipment that saves labor. And the chemicals today are less toxic and more specific in their targeting. It's hard to get the benefit of those advancements if you're not staying up to speed."

Last year, in addition to numerous education sessions offered locally by the Sandhills GCSA, Hilburn took two half-day seminars at the Carolinas GCSA conference and trade show. In all, the regional event filled 1,281 seats in classes with titles such as "Water Wise: Maximizing Water Use Efficiency" and "OSHA and Pesticide Safety Guidelines for Turf Maintenance Facilities."

"It all comes back to professionalism," said Bill Patton, a past-president of the Sandhills GCSA who oversees management of two courses at Forest Creek Golf Club. "We are all managing a valuable asset that is subject to all kinds of changing circumstances. That's not a situation that allows you to ever think you've got it down. Honestly, most of the guys will tell you that any time you dare think you've got it all worked out is invariably when it jumps up and bites you."

Trent Bouts is a freelance writer based in Asheville and editor of Carolina Greens magazine for the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association.