Available courses

Interested in using GreenKeeper App to improve the efficiency of your turf management operation? This short course will teach you how to effectively use all of the features within GreenKeeper App. Learn how to set up your course or turf facility, manage product inventory, plan applications, track performance data, and submit soil, tissue and water test for analysis. We'll also cover advanced features including PGR and DMI fungicide visualization, advanced pest and growth models, and ways to add sensors to your GreenKeeper account.

This course is designed to be interactive. We encourage all the participants to join our live Zoom sessions each week. Have your computer browser open during the session to follow along with Dr. Kreuser as he demonstrates the various GreenKeeper App features. GreenKeeper App has a free trial period, so there is no need to be an active subscriber to follow along with this course.

Can't make it live? We'll recorded the Zoom sessions and post them to this course regularly.

Real-world examples will be shown throughout the live sessions to illustrate how GreenKeeper App can save you time, money, and improve your confidence as a turfgrass manager.


This course focuses on measuring and managing soil chemical properties. Topics covered include: soil pH, cation exchange capacity, soil sampling techniques, and different soil test extraction and quantification methods. Dr. Soldat will then cover different ways to interpret soil test results including SLAN, BCSR, and MLSN.

This three-week course weaves through the history of golf and maintenance practices that have led to our modern day maintenance practices. It is filled with easy to interpret turfgrass research that supports, or leads to questioning numerous cultural and mechanical practices and their impact on turfgrass agronomics. Topics covered include but are not limited to mowing, irrigation, fertilization, topdressing and rolling, and proven methods that can lead to economic savings with increased customer satisfaction.

Plant growth regulators are widely used across the turfgrass industry. This course will focus on how to program PGR applications, either applied alone or in combination, on different turfgrass species and areas (greens, fairway & collars, sports turf, etc.). Both cool and warm-season turfgrasses will be covered. Students will learn how different products and application strategies impact turf health, color, and performance. It will also cover PGR-induced collar decline and how clipping volume measurements can help refine your PGR program.

This fast-paced course will use recorded lectures, live discussions, engagement with excel and web-based tools, and weekly quizzing to help students understand the subject matter. Finally, students will create a PGR program for their facility that will be reviewed by Dr. Kreuser.


Turfgrass plants need to adapt to changing weather conditions or they parish. This course will cover different forms of abiotic stress, how they impact plant health, and provide management strategies to over-come stress. Different topics include heat, cold, too little or too much light, drought, ice encasement, desiccation, and traffic damage. Multiple stresses, plant health, and plant health promoting products will also be discussed.

Dr. Paul Koch teaches this course which provides a comprehensive introduction to the primary diseases of cool-season turfgrass. Students will learn how to identify diseases, receive the most up-to-date research related to integrated disease control strategies, and work to develop comprehensive disease control programs specific to their location.

Dr. Jim Kerns leads this course which provides a comprehensive introduction to the primary diseases of warm-season turfgrass. Students will learn how to identify diseases, receive the most up-to-date research related to integrated disease control strategies, and work to develop comprehensive disease control programs specific to their location.

This course is taught by Dr. Ben McGraw. The class is designed to provide a fundamental understanding of the basics of entomology, an extensive overview of the major cool- and warm-season turfgrass insect pests, and integrated pest management strategies for their control. A major emphasis of this class will be on identification and behavior of key turfgrass pests. Chemical management will be covered in-depth and the latest findings from university led research will be covered.

Dr. Kerns leads this course which focuses on turfgrass integrated pest management, the diagnostic process in turfgrass systems, resistance management, disease epidemiology, principles of disease management and cultural control strategies.

This six-week course will address management and communication science as it applies to leadership roles in golf and sports turf.
  • The first two weeks will focus on the manager's role as communicator and the brand, or message, the manage conveys staff and stakeholders.
  • The second two weeks will focus on managing the message and making sure the right information has the intended effect.
  • The final two weeks will focus on using management and communication skills to achieve optimal outcomes - in other words, leadership skills.

The in-person, online discussions not only will cover the content of the course, but also will allow participants to discuss and explore management challenges specific to their roles and responsibilities in the industry.

Part II: Manager as Informer. Expository writing—informing the reader/listener—is focused on the message. Many operations and tasks in greenkeeping are foreign to staff and clientele. An important skill for any manager is to clearly communicate the operation’s mission and improve its workflow. Presenting clear and concise information is the goal here. Requires Mastering Mgmt & Communication I.

Manager as Influencer. Effective leadership is demonstrated in the ability to influence the culture and success of your operation. Effective leadership requires understanding how people behave and work as a group, and then moving the group toward the organization’s visionary goals. The required reading will address leadership skills that require empathy, negotiation, strategy, and decision-making. The outcome will be to produce a publishable article in a newsletter or on social media. Requires Mastering Mgmt & Communication II.

Precision turfgrass management uses observations, data, and models to improve management efficiency in turfgrass systems. This course will cover turfgrass growth potential, various turf and pest models, manipulation of growth with nitrogen and PGR programs, clipping volume, crop sensors, mapping date and construction of prescription maps for precision applications with variable rate sprayer systems.

Dr. Paul Koch leads this important course on responsible pesticide use in turfgrass systems. Topics will include pesticide toxicity, use BMPs, measuring pesticide risk, organic and pesticide alternatives. The course also focuses on disease models to time fungicide applications. Students will finish the course with awareness of IPM goals and ways to document progress achieving those goals.

It's been said that common sense and drainage are needed to grow turf. And, if short on the former, than add more of the latter. This course covers various aspects of turfgrass drainage including slope, soils, layers, root zone construction, drainage technologies and cultivation techniques to improve drainage.

This course will cover various aspects of turfgrass fertilization including a thorough examination of nitrogen fertilizer, other secondary and micronutrients, cost-benefit of different fertilizer sources, nutrient demand & clipping volume, and the impact of fertilizer in the environment. At the end of the course, students will build a nutrient management plan for their facility.

Dr. Doug Soldat will discuss turfgrass irrigation strategies, technologies to measure water status and water more efficiently, the factors driving evapotranspiration and teach students how to create a water budget.

Sound soil management is the building block of a healthy system. Dr. Doug Soldat leads this course focusing on the basics of soil science, management of soil physical properties including organic matter, different types of cultivation techniques, and the construction and management of different root zone systems.

The ever-changing weather is constantly impacting turfgrass managers. This course will cover the fundamental processes driving weather at global and local scales, weather vs. climate and climate change, accessing and interpreting different sources of weather data, and use of high-resolution weather models to plan turfgrass management practices.

This nine-week course will provide a fundamental understanding of weed ecology, an overview of major cool- and warm-season weeds, and integrated pest management strategies for their control. The course will focus mainly on cool-season systems (75%) with additional warm-season examples and discussion (25%). Chemical management with a heavy emphasis on pesticide resistance and rotation will be covered. The latest university research findings will be emphasized.  

This comprehensive introductory online school is taught by 11 experts in the field. The 12-week school covers the principles of turfgrass science with a golf-turf focus, ranging from turf selection to soil fertility and pest management. This school has educated over 400 practitioners since 2014 and we are excited to be offering it on the GreenKeeper University platform.

Much like the Great Lakes Golf Edition, the Lawns/Grounds/Sports Edition is an introductory school for lawn care operators, grounds and parks managers, sports field managers, and anyone interested in maintaining turf in a professional, non-golf setting. Students will learn the principles of turfgrass science in this 12-week school taught by experts in the field. Practitioners of all ages have found value in this school and we are pleased to be offering via GreenKeeper University.