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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  January 17, 2006

Officers Begin Terms With Pa Turfgrass Research

Jerred D. Golden, CGCS, was re-elected chair of the Board of Trustees of the Pennsylvania Turfgrass Research, Inc., for a one year term beginning January 1. Golden is Director of Grounds of Hershey’s Mill Golf Club and Landscape Company, West Chester, PA, and serves as co-chair of the “Growing the Game” Campaign designed to raise funds for Penn State’s ongoing turfgrass research and education. He is also Past President of the Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council.

Other officers elected by the organization’s Board of Trustees include:  Vice-Chair - Ronald Moehler, a Partner in Vance Wright Adams and Associates, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA and specialist in corporate accounts; and Secretary-Treasurer – Mark D. Kuhns, CGCS, Director of Grounds at Baltusrol Golf Club, Springfield, NJ, and in his third term as a director of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA).

New trustees, elected for three-year terms, include: Daniel B. Burton, President of the Golf Association of Philadelphia, Member and former President of Bent Creek Country Club, Lititz, PA, and Managing Director for RBC Dain Rauscher, one of the nation's leading investment firms; Greg Nye, Head Golf Coach at Penn State University in State College, PA, who in 2004 led the team to finish second of 27 teams in the NCAA East Regional and to complete the season 15th of 30 teams in the NCAA Finals; and, Steve Smith, Finance Chairman for the Board of Directors at Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, PA.,  Vice-Chairman  of the 2005 U.S. Amateur held at Merion, now retired from Accenture/Andersen Consulting/Arthur Andersen, where he worked from 1975 – 2002.

Continuing to serve as trustees are: Darrin Batisky , Chartiers Country Club, Pittsburgh, PA; Thomas R. Bettle, Birdsfoot Golf Club, Leechburg, PA; John A. Chassard, Lehigh Country Club, Allentown, PA; Daniel A. Douglas, Reading Phillies Baseball, Reading, PA; Jeffrey L. Fry, CGCS Lebanon Country Club, Lebanon, PA; James Loke, CGCS, Bent Creek Country Club, Lititz, PA; Richard Pagett. Centre Hills Country Club, State College, PA; Scott A. Schukraft, Huntsville Golf Club, Shavertown, PA; and, Matt Shaffer, Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, PA.

The “Growing the Game” campaign’s goal is to raise $1,000,000 over the next five years in new support for turfgrass research, scholarship support and an eventual endowment. The campaign will solicit both gifts and pledges. To accomplish this, volunteers are seeking annual support from country clubs and their members, businesses and individuals associated with the turfgrass industry, Penn State alumni, from golfers, and from other people who enjoy lawns, athletic fields and environmentally friendly landscapes.

The campaign is being conducted by the Pennsylvania Turfgrass Research, Inc., (PTRI) in support of the Penn State Center for Turfgrass Science, a nationally recognized leader in the field and a vital resource.  PTRI is associated with the Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council (PTC), which has contributed more than $2,000,000 to support Penn State’s research since 1955.

For more information about the Growing the Game fundraising campaign, visit the Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council website at www.paturf.org.

Media Contact:  Georgene Thompson, 717-243-1349/ georgenethompson@comcast.net