When you step onto the greens at Stoughton Acres Golf Course in Butler, Pennsylvania, you’re not just seeing healthy turf - you’re seeing a family legacy.
Stoughton Acres' signature hole #13
“Stoughton Acres Golf Course has been in business for 61 years,” says owner Sally Hangliter. “My parents were driving by my great grandfather's farm, and my dad said that property would make a great golf course. And so my dad turned the cattle farm into a golf course. That's where my sister and I grew up. I worked in the pro shop and then later when I was in College, I also did some mowing.”
After her father passed away five years ago, Sally returned to mowing—and quickly got more involved with course maintenance.
“I wanted to learn how to use all the equipment that we have. I worked an entire summer with that, and I got really interested in the course maintenance itself,” she says.
Sally’s mother was the driving force behind moving the course toward a turf management approach that incorporated biological products.
“My mom was very interested in health, and she had always been trying to get my father to use fewer pesticides. Anytime she came across alternatives to chemicals that he could be using on his greens, tees or fairways, she would share it with him.”
“I think he was very careful with what he used and he just used pretty much the conventional chemicals, because that's what his training had been. When my father died, my mother saw the opportunity to bring in products like yours. The two of us investigated our options and she kind of put me in charge… and that’s how we ended up finding your company.”
The first season with Soil Tech products wasn’t without resistance.
“The gentleman who was spraying for us, I think he was reluctant to change anything. I wonder if he sometimes chose to use products he was more familiar with because he trusted them. They had always done what my dad did—every two weeks, you put the pesticides down, the herbicides, the insecticides, and that's all they knew to do,” Sally said.
“From that first year we used Bio-Mega and Bac-Pack from Soil Tech, we have not had any major issues with our greens.”
From Skepticism to Confidence
Sally with sister & co-owner Debbie Loughry (left)
In 2023, Sally and her sister Debbie—who co-owns the course—hired Dan Blair as superintendent. He worked as an assistant superintendent at a nearby course, and upon arriving at Stoughton Acres, was more than a little doubtful about their approach.
“My old boss was completely against the use of biologicals, and so when I started here, I was going to make it my mission to get rid of your products and get them back on track. Since then, it's completely turned around: I'm trying to convince my old boss to use them.” Dan says.
It was after two extreme seasons that his perspective changed.
“Last year, we had record heat. We had no rain last year. Our greens did very, very well. And there were many local places that had issues,” Sally says.
“By the end of the year, Dan, our superintendent, was like, ‘Oh my gosh! I've never seen this!’ It weathered way better than where he had come from.”
The next year brought the opposite: the wettest season Dan could remember.
“I believe we're up over 20 inches above the average for this year, possibly more,” he says. “My old course was getting hammered… and they lost about 80% of #3 green, lost a number of collars. Over here? I was stressed for a week or two, and now I’m not even stressed anymore. It’s not even on my mind that we're going to get disease. We got Waitea patch early on, and Sally said that Bac-Pack is good for that. We sprayed it and it seemed like it took it right out. Other than that, we haven't had any disease all year on the greens.”
Superintendent Dan Blair
The turning point came during a stretch of 90-degree days and sopping wet conditions.
“I called you a few weeks ago… I was geared up to spray chemicals the next day,” Dan said. “I had everyone knocking on my door, salesmen, my old boss, not even people who sell to me advising me, I better get out there and spray preventatively, you know, expensive fungicides. Talking with you and Sally, we doubled up on your products, we jumped it ahead of the chemical spray, and then we sprayed the chemicals on Monday instead of that week. We cruised right through with no troubles.”
Results They Can See
Today, both Sally and Dan credit their Soil Tech program with keeping their push-up greens strong through the most extreme Pennsylvania weather.
“We might have minor flare ups of some diseases, but we have not had any major issues at all with our greens in five years,” Sally said.
“Our greens… they look beautiful. We are known for our greens. I just had someone the other night say, ‘Your greens are better than any course around.’”
For Dan, the change has been eye-opening:
“There's got to be something to it. There's no way that we have the magic conditions time and time and time again to come out unscathed year after year after year. We just don't struggle with anything. These greens are like carefree pretty much, as long as you stay on the spray schedules.”
From drought to flood, Stoughton Acres hasn’t just survived—it’s thrived. And now, both Sally and Dan are committed to continuing the program that’s kept their greens healthy and resilient, and their stress levels low.
“Sally is Soil Tech’s number one fan,” Dan says. “There's not an ounce of doubt in her heart that it doesn’t work and that it's the right thing to do.”
The Stoughton Acres team
Their experience shows that thoughtful incorporation of a biological program can help protect greens through even the most extreme conditions.