Golfers love to talk about great layouts but when push comes to slice, they actually care more about the condition of the course they play than how it is crafted.

A survey by Golf Digest magazine revealed that nine out of 10 golfers prefer a well-maintained course of lesser challenge to a tougher course in poor condition.

That's tantamount to slapping a big "The Buck Stops Here" sign on the door to the golf course superintendent's office.

Fortunately, most relish the challenge although the battle to produce is getting tougher as the gasping economy puts a squeeze on budgets and resources.

There's simply not as much money these days to pay for labor, equipment, fertilizers, you name it. Corners are being cut almost as much as the grass.

Still, at least to date, superintendents have dragged enough rabbits out of their hats to maintain the standard of course conditioning that golfers are accustomed to.

But a tipping point is nearing.

All the more reason, then, why golfers should care about an innovative new program being launched this spring with help from members of the Sandhills Golf Course Superintendents Association.

Using a process similar to eBay, Rounds4Research.com will auction more than 250 tee-times across the Carolinas and beyond from April 19 to May 6.

Some of the highest-ranked private clubs in the country, like Forest Creek Golf Club, are among those on offer along with classic resort courses such as twice U.S. Open Championship venue, Pinehurst No. 2, and PGA Tour stop, Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, S.C.

The timing provides a great opportunity to wrap up something truly special for Father's Day on June 21, but the real point is that proceeds from the auction will benefit turfgrass research.

As dry as grass under a microscope sounds to many of us, the subject sits a lot closer to our enjoyment of the game than we realize.

Successful turfgrass research means a playing surface that serves the interests of the golfer, the environment and the business of the golf operation.

A healthy, hardy turf that performs better with less water and less tender loving care makes the game more affordable and even more compatible with nature, two factors that also add up to more fun.

Some of the best of that research is performed at North Carolina State University and Clemson University, which will share the bounty from the Rounds4Research.com auction.

Like everyone else right now, both colleges are having to stretch their budgets, a fact that could threaten deeper ramifications for the region's economy.

Golf generates more than $5 billion in economic benefit to North Carolina and South Carolina each year. That's a lot of jobs and a lot of great PR through golf-related tourism and promotion.

None of which we should take for granted, according to Paul Jett, certified golf course superintendent at Pinehurst No. 2 and president of the 1,800-member Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association, which created Rounds4Research.com.

"In the Carolinas, without a doubt, we have the two best turfgrass programs in the country, and having access to the researchers like we do is invaluable," Jett said.

"We have had them right here for so long that I'm concerned that some folks overlook just how special that is. Those people may not realize what we've got until it's gone.

"When you can get expert advice at a moment's notice like we can, that's of enormous value to us as superintendents, to our facilities, to our golfers, and really, to the economies in both states."

In recent years, N.C. State researchers helped golf course superintendents identify and overcome a disease affecting bentgrass on putting greens, which is found on most Sandhills courses.

Without that timely expertise, Moore County's glowing golf reputation would be in jeopardy as would all the ancillary economic benefits that flow on to restaurants, hotels, retailers and so on.

"It's not a question of whether or not we should be working to support turfgrass research," Jett said.

"We've got to do it. Anyone who doesn't think that funding for turfgrass research is becoming a dire situation, is just plain wrong.

"With state budgets taking a pounding it seems like every year, there is less and less money for the universities and therefore less trickling down to the different departments."

Ron Kelly, certified golf course superintendent at the Country Club of North Carolina, and president of the Sandhills GCSA, said he was proud of the number of courses from the Sandhills participating in the auction.

"Some of our bigger, better known courses were very quick in stepping forward but so were a lot of the smaller clubs and courses," Kelly said.

"The fact is that all of golf and every golfer in our area benefits from the work of the turfgrass researchers. That's the beauty of this online auction concept, the golfers and the courses all have the chance to put back into something they benefit from."

Trent Bouts is a freelance writer and editor of Carolina's Green magazine for the Carolina's Golf Course Superintendents Association.