Fairy ring,a fungal turf disease caused by many basidiomycete species,affects golf courses worldwide.In the United Kingdom (UK),however,fairy ring has not been extensively studied.An invitation to complete an online questionnaire,which sought to determine the distribution,incidence and severity of fairy ring,was emailed to 3,475 golf clubs in the UK.A total of 169 questionnaires were completed,which confirmed that fairy ring occurred throughout the UK,with 68% of respondents having recently been affected.Sixty-two per cent of affected respondents considered fairy ring to be a problem on their course.Type-2 fairy ring was the most common,with 90% of fairy ringaffected courses reporting it present,and the negative impact was predominantly aesthetic.Type-1 fairy ring had the greatest effect on playability.Both fairy ring types were considered most severe when occurring on golf putting greens.Links courses had the highest incidence of problematic fairy ring when compared to parkland and heathland courses.The higher proportion of courses suffering from problematic fairy ring were located in the generally hotter and drier south and east of the UK compared to the colder and wetter north and west UK suggesting a potential association between climate and fairy ring incidence.
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