FOREWORD THINKING FOREWORD THINKING
PETER LONERGAN, AGCSA DIRECTOR
Focus turns to inaugural 2018 Australasian Turfgrass Conference
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t is with great pleasure that I pen this Foreword Thinking piece for this edition of the AGCSA’s flagship publication. ATM has for many years been a standard-bearer for our industry and on a recent trip overseas it was great to see that it has an international presence. I spent some time in Florida touring a number of golf clubs eager to pick up some tips on the TifEagle variety that has been recently planted at my club. It was heartening to see the latest copy of ATM on two of my host superintendents’ desks; okay, so they were ex-pat Aussies, but it shows that the reach of the journal spreads to all parts of the globe and is a great advertisement for what the turf industry, and the golf course segment in particular, achieves in the land ‘Down Under’. My journey to the US unfortunately meant I missed the recent 33rd Australian Turfgrass Conference and Trade Exhibition on its return to Twin Waters, but from all reports I certainly wasn’t needed to make the conference the outstanding success that it was. From Troy Muir and his crew’s presentation of Pelican Waters Golf Club for the Toro AGCSA Golf Championship all the way to the excellent range of local and international speakers, not to mention the weather, the conference once again ticked all the boxes. Such success isn’t possible without the amazing backing of our trade partners with their unwavering support of the trade exhibition, AGCSA Awards, social functions and presenters adding to the week. Such support isn’t taken lightly and their commitment to the industry is indeed most appreciated. Particular thanks goes to conference major sponsors Amgrow, Jacobsen, John Deere, Nuturf, Toro and Syngenta along with principal partner Golf Australia.
AGCSA
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AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 19.4
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ATM editor Brett Robinson covers the conference in more detail later in this edition, but congratulations goes to Armidale Golf Club superintendent Brett Woodward on his maiden Toro Red Jacket (relegating AGCSA president Brett Balloch to second place yet again) and AGCSA Award winners Phil Soegaard (Excellence in Golf Course Management Award, sponsored by Rain Bird), Peter Watts (Claude Crockford Environmental Award, sponsored by Syngenta) and Joel Manson (Graduate of the Year, sponsored by Toro).
BURGESS ON BOARD The 2017 AGCSA Annual General Meeting was held during the conference and the AGCSA Board is pleased to welcome Chris Burgess who has been elected as AGCSA director for a two-year term. Chris, who hails from Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort up on the Murray River, replaces Wembley Golf Complex’s Darren Wilson. It is great to see one of our younger superintendents put their hand up to join the board and I am sure that Chris will find his feet in no time and be a great asset to the AGCSA. Chris has had a diverse turf management career which started when he walked into the exclusive Capital Golf Club in Melbourne as a 16-year-old during its construction. He was duly put on by superintendent Graeme Rogers and went on to spend a total of 13 years there, rising to the role of foreman. During that time Chris, with the blessing of the club, spent an invaluable 15 months working on the construction of Kingsbarns Links in Scotland! After his time at Capital had come to an end, Chris took on his first superintendent role at Lang Lang Golf Club east of Melbourne, before the lure of construction took him up to the Murray in 2008