Analyzing golf course pesticide risk across the US and Europe-The importance of regulatory environment.

This study quantifies golf course pesticide risk in five regions across the US (Florida, East Texas, Northwest, Midwest, and Northeast) and three countries in Europe (UK, Denmark, and Norway) with the objective of determining how pesticide risk on golf courses varied as a function of climate, regulatory environment, and facility-level economic factors. The hazard quotient model was used to estimate acute pesticide risk to mammals specifically. Data from 68 golf courses are included in the study, with a minimum of at least five golf courses in each region. Though the dataset is small, it is representative of the population at confidence level of 75 % with a 15 % margin of error. Pesticide risk appeared to be similar across US regions with varied climates, and significantly lower in the UK, and lowest in Norway and Denmark. In the Southern US (East Texas and Florida), greens contribute most to total pesticide risk while in nearly all other regions fairways make the greatest contribution to overall pesticide risk. The relationship between facility-level economic factors such as maintenance budget was limited in most regions of the study, except in the Northern US (Midwest, Northwest, and Northeast) where maintenance and pesticide budget correlated to pesticide risk and use intensity. However, there was a strong relationship between regulatory environment and pesticide risk across all regions. Pesticide risk was significantly lower in Norway, Denmark, and the UK, where twenty or fewer active ingredients were available to golf course superintendents, than it was in US where depending on the state between 200 and 250 pesticide active ingredients were registered for use on golf courses.

A novel framework for estimating and analyzing pesticide risk on golf courses.

This study develops a framework that quantifies golf course pesticide risk, explores environmental and economic factors that may be responsible for the observed risk, develops a method to compare golf course pesticide risk to other agricultural crops and investigates how pesticide risk on golf courses can be most effectively reduced. To quantify pesticide risk, we adapt the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ) and hazard quotient models for use on golf courses. The EIQ model provides an estimate of overall environmental risk, while the hazard quotient model, as applied here, provides an estimate of pesticide risk to mammals. This novel framework was applied to twenty-two courses in Wisconsin and New York, USA. Using both pesticide risk models, all twenty-two golf courses showed a high coefficient of variation of pesticide risk (<0.76). Within a golf course, mean absolute pesticide risk was at least two times higher on fairways than on greens, tees, or roughs. Mean area normalized risk was at least three times higher on greens than the other three golf course components. Pesticide risk of a component-weighted average of greens, tees, fairways and roughs on each course were within the range of pesticide risk calculated for five other agricultural crops. Our data suggest that variation in pesticide risk on golf courses is related to economic factors, such as maintenance budget, and can be effectively lowered by reducing pesticide use on fairways and selecting products of lower risk. To assist golf course superintendents in developing programs that lower pesticide risk, a new metric was developed: the Risk to Intensity Quotient (RIQ). The RIQ is the ratio of pesticide risk to use intensity and quantifies the average risk of product selection by a golf course superintendent.