Farren wins USGA Green Section Award

The USGA is honoring three individuals for their significant contributions for the good of the game in turfgrass advancement, volunteerism, and golf literature — and a legendary turf pro is at the top of the list.

Bob Farren, director of golf course management at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, is the Green Section Award honoree for serving as a leader in sustainable golf course maintenance practices.

A highly regarded leader in golf course management, Farren began his storied career in golf course management in 1979. He joined Pinehurst three years later and advanced to his current role as director of golf course management in 2001. Since that time, Farren has been a principal force behind a dedicated effort to restore Pinehurst’s historic course architecture while advancing the environmental and economic sustainability of its now 11-course footprint. 

Those efforts have included reducing more than 40 acres of irrigated turf in favor of signature sandscapes that feature native wiregrass, converting greens and fairways to more drought-tolerant turfgrasses, eliminating resource-intensive overseeding throughout the property, and championing training for his team. He was also a principal founding partner of the Greenkeeper Apprenticeship Program, launched last year in the Pinehurst area with the USGA and Sandhills Community College to provide education and mentorship for golf course maintenance workers. Through Farren’s tenure, Pinehurst has become a beacon for innovation and a successful testing ground for advanced, data-driven maintenance practices and on-course learning for superintendents, agronomists and others.  

Among the 11 USGA championships Farren has worked at Pinehurst, one of his team’s more significant agronomic accomplishments was in delivering a consistent playing experience for the unprecedented back-to-back 2014 U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open in consecutive weeks on Pinehurst’s iconic Course No. 2.

Presented annually since 1961, the USGA Green Section Award honors distinguished service to golf through an individual’s work with turfgrass.

The USGA will also honor E. Lee Coble, of Richmond, Virginia, the recipient of this year’s Joe Dey Award for his decades-long service to golf and for fostering a more inclusive game, and Dr. Ashley Brown, Ph.D., the author of “Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson” and the winner of the Herbert Warren Wind Award.

Coble has served the game for decades, including with Hook A Kid on Golf, The First Tee of Richmond and Chesterfield County, and the VSGA Foundation’s Robins Junior Programs at Independence Golf Club.

Presented annually by the USGA since 1996, the Joe Dey Award is named for the USGA’s executive director from 1934 to 1968, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1975 and devoted his life in service to the game.

Brown, meanwhile, draws on her historical expertise and lifelong love for the sport to tell the story of Gibson’s wholehearted pursuit of excellence, first in tennis where she became a paid professional in 1959 and then in golf, becoming the LPGA Tour’s first Black player.

Brown is the Allan H. Selig chair in the history of sport and society and an assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

The Herbert Warren Wind Award recognizes and honors outstanding contributions to golf literature. Brown’s book will be on display at the USGA Golf Museum and Library, home to the world’s largest collection of golf books and periodicals, with more than 100,000 individual volumes.

“This year we celebrate barrier-breakers, innovators and individuals who have witnessed — and overcome — great challenges in their respective fields of the game,” USGA CEO Mike Whan said. “We recognize the incredible accomplishments of Lee, Bob and Ashley and are thrilled to have them as our Annual Award honorees this year.”

The USGA will recognize the recipients at its Annual Awards Dinner in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday, March 2, during the organization’s Annual Meeting.

In addition to Brown, Coble and Farren, the USGA will recognize 10 Ike Grainger Award recipients, presented to those who have reached a 25-year milestone in volunteerism with the USGA. This year’s recipients include Barbara Barrow of San Diego, California; Steve Block of Bethesda, Maryland; Scott Brooks of Wichita, Kansas; Sandy Dowling of Osterville, Massachusetts; Larry Knisely of Daphne, Alabama; Ellen O’Hara of Mesa, Arizona; Thomas Schmidt of Brookfield, Wisconsin; Leslie Schupak of Orlando, Florida; Leslie Sirbaugh of Jacksonville, Florida; and Thomas Snell of Diamondhead, Mississippi.

The USGA’s Bob Jones Award recipient will be announced at a later date and celebrated during U.S. Open week in Pinehurst this June.