Ian,
I hear what your saying and kind of agree and disagree if that is posible. First of all, in this day and age it is very difficult to put, blind trust in anyone. I think its a big part of the Superintendents role to educate who ever his authorities are with the final results of gaining the confidence, trust and respect and this should come about through results that coincide with words.
I personally don´t trust doctors (in our present society the most educated segment of the population) and I will surf all I can before and after an appointment. There seems to be much more controversy in that field via internet surfing than in turfgrass management. I in fact, if I detect any apprehension I ask them to do there own investigation via internet and 95% of the time they do, there more inclined to understand my recommendations because they find reinforcement of what I am recommending.
When I was in college in Massachusetts, almost forty years ago, I heard from our turf proffessor time and time again that 90 percent of the supers over wáter. I am sure that has dropped especially with the improvements with technology but there is still a lot of overwatering going on. If your a good golfer and play frequently you don´t need to be a rocket scientist to come to the conclusions the greens are being over watered.
Chile is heavily dependent on agricultural so the agronomic field is big here and as a results lots of committee members are agronomist but there specialty is grapes or alvocado or whatever. They seem to be the most dangerous but I have learned the ego takes over and they just want to show fellow members how much in the know they are (sometimes which happens on this site too) So, I let them go on and on and when there 100% wrong, the worst thing you can do is call them on it in front of there peers. You do that and you have an enemy for life! Instead, I do it on a one on one basis, better over lunch and explain where they are mistaking and invite them to surf afterwards the particular theme and once again and they find justification for what I am telling them. One or two episodes like this and they understand they are over there heads and in good hands with a qualified proffesional and back off and often become my biggest supporters.
Obviously this doesn´t always works and what your saying is valid in some instances, for example, I am currently involved directly or indirectly with clubs in Chile with dfferent grasses ranging from A1 and A4 mix which is my personal favorite, pennlinks, penncross, seaside II and one club that is 100% poa that choaked out and eliminated 95% of the orignal dwarf base over a fifteen year period. The club with the penncross greens has had the least disease pressure over the past two years in comparrison to the other grasses and also they do the least amount of cultural practices, I am impressed and surprized. The only downfall is there has been segregation and they can have a patchy appearance and more so in the winter but they putt beautifully year around! With all the money that is in play with new varieties development and the marketing that goes with them you won´t find on the internet anything even close to what my observation have been in the performance of Penncross compared to any of the new varieties that I have listed.