v ie wp oi n t ◗ ken cousineau
“In Canada and throughout the world, national organizations have promoted the role and the importance of the superintendent.” Ken Cousineau, CGSA Executive Director ken cousineau, CAE executive director
Value is a Must Une offre avantageuse ◗ There are many pressures on the golf industry and the management team at golf facilities to make sure they are spending efficiently, effectively and receiving value for each expenditure, be it a multi-thousand dollar piece of equipment or the several hundred dollars that it requires to be a CGSA member. My objective in this article is to illustrate the value behind the CGSA and the value proposition that goes along with your CGSA membership. Value has a number of different components or levels to it. Some of these apply generally to all members and others may be somewhat difficult to quantify and difficult for some members to relate to the value proposition. On one level, value can be equated to, “what do I receive in return for my $471?” What would the equivalent cost of goods and services be if they were purchased separately? On another level, value can be defined as, “how would my job be different if the association was not functioning and making programs and services available to me?” On still another level, value could be, “what has the association done to improve the overall profession and the profile of the superintendent within the industry and how have I benefitted from those activities?” The primary goal of the CGSA, since its inception, has been to enhance the profile of the golf course superintendent and to increase golfer and industry awareness and understanding of the contributions made by the golf course manager. It would be an overstatement to suggest that the CGSA has accomplished this 10 greenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
on its own over the past 47 years, but it would not be going too far to suggest that the CGSA has been the leader in this regard over that period of time in Canada. In Canada and throughout the world, national organizations have promoted the role and the importance of the superintendent. The increased prominence of the superintendent at award presentations, on media reports of major events and with respect to budget allocations is confirmation that the industry believes what may seem obvious to some, but which for many years wasn’t the case – that is, in most markets a successful golf facility needs a professional superintendent to have a chance at success. This has led to better wages and benefits, better working conditions and certainly a better profile and a greater level of respect for the superintendent in most facilities across Canada. The CGSA has, and continues to, promote and support these values on behalf of Canadian superintendents and their staff. Another area where the CGSA has been able to add value is in the area of representation. This benefit probably accrues as much to the facility as it does to the individual member and therefore it provides a rationale for the facility to invest in your membership. The value in this case comes from the quality of educational activities available through the association, the opportunity for the profession to have a voice at the table when it comes to everything from environmental regulation to turfgrass research to product development and the value of having an organization that
is always there to promote the ways in which your work improves the facility and the success of the business. Although difficult to put a monetary value on these attributes of the CGSA, it is undeniable that there is real value to every superintendent as a result of the CGSA being in place and participating in these activities and many others that would fall into the same category. Real, easily quantifiable value is another component part of why many associations originally were formed. The CGSA has some of that as well. From the $36.00 GreenMaster subscription, to the $99 (US!) Turfgrass Information File (TGIF) subscription, to the $450 of legal counsel time provided through Law Protector, the real value of the CGSA services to the member is also there. Reduced fees to participate in association activities, free access to many golf events including the Canadian Open and the Canadian Ladies Open as well as the US Open Championship, hotel discounts and AD & D insurance coverage are just a few of the tangible benefits that provide value for the money invested by either the club or the individual. In the end, the CGSA is not the Price Club and that is not why, 47 years ago, Tom Johnston, Gordon Witteveen, David Gourlay, George Kendall, Keith Nisbet, Harold Gard, William Woolley and Marcel Notz met at the Inn on the Park in Toronto for the founding meeting of the CGSA. Their purpose, to a man, was to establish an organization from coast to coast that would support and represent the interests of golf course superintendents for now