Through our standard and our online certification and reporting platform, OnCourse®, GEO encourages all golf courses to employ a range of management practices that minimize the need for pesticide applications.  These management practices include practical actions such as frequently sharpening mowing blades, removing surface moisture, and occasionally rolling the grass instead of mowing.   GEO ensures that golf courses achieving certification have made a strong commitment to these preventative management practices. 

The next step of the GEO IPM strategy includes managing pests and diseases by employing pesticides as a last resort.  Golf course managers achieving certification need to scout for disease, complete multiple diagnoses for pest and disease identification, map and track disease hotspots, quantify pest pressure when possible, and establish pest thresholds.  Starting in 2017 and continuing in future years, GEO will begin to work the national golfing federations to develop customized IPM strategies.  These national IPM strategies will include guidance, best practices, and regulatory information, all of which will be delivered through OnCourse®.

Many golf courses who employ all best practices still occasionally need to apply a pesticide.  In such a case, all certified courses and those applying for certification are required to log all pesticide applications into the OnCourse® Pesticide Log. This log requires that the product, active ingredient, dose rate, and volume applied are recorded for every pesticide application.  This new system was warmly received by users in early 2017, who often need to record pesticide applications for national legislative purposes.  OnCourse® gives users an easy-to-use online tool that counts toward for legal compliance and GEO-Certification.

The OnCourse® Pesticide Log will also be gaining further features later this year.  The Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ) risk management system will be introduced to OnCourse®, allowing users to better understand the impact of each pesticide application to the environment, the applicator, and the golfer. In 2017, GEO also hopes to connect the OnCourse® Pesticide Log with the ISEAL IPM Coalition database.

GEO is undertaking a standard revision in 2017 and plans to align with the ISEAL IPM Coalition Common Ban.