The golf project also includes an enhanced practice range and an 18-hole contoured putting course, a first in Indiana. As part of the golf complex, the Turfgrass Research and Diagnostic Center will be the first comprehensive turfgrass research facility in the country. It will function as a living laboratory for teaching and research activities in a variety of academic disciplines, including agronomy, entomology and forestry. The new facility will allow more students to enroll in turf science, a major in the School of Agriculture. At present, about 65 undergraduate students are in the program.
Most graduates go to work as golf course superintendents.
Work on the turfgrass center began this summer and should be done by the time the new golf course opens in 1998. Clark Throssell, professor of agronomy, and Zac Reicher, turf specialist with Purdue's Cooperative Extension Service, are co-directors of the center.