Putting greens and tee areas are of primary concern because of their high replacement cost. Where snow mold is a problem, nearly all golf course superintendents spray greens with fungicides to inhibit the fungi. This control method is expensive, and budgets on many golf courses allow fungicide applications on putting greens only. Thus, many fairways are left untreated during winter. Fungicides also have limited effectiveness, perhaps not lasting throughout a long winter.
Some fungal pathogens develop resistance to fungicides after years of repeated applications.
Fungicides may also adversely affect the environment, potentially contaminating ground and surface water. The first step was to determine the extent of snow mold tolerance in several cultivars. Other steps entail collection of plants from golf courses where snow mold is a serious problem, screening these collections, making crosses and selecting progeny. All plots were managed as golf course fairways with mowing heights of 0.5 inch at Verona and Stevens Point and 0.75 inch at Land O' Lakes. Plots were inoculated in October of the establishment year and visually rated for snow mold damage the following spring.