The Breakers Resort Host of GCBAA South Florida Regional Meeting As staff sits on the aircraft at Chicago-Midway watching crewmembers de-ice the plane that’ll take us back to Nebraska, we can’t help but second guess our decision not to extend our stay through the weekend. Situated directly off the Atlantic coast, the well-known Breakers Resort was a most scenic destination for the GCBAA South Florida Regional Meeting this December. And while we’d like to think the education content drives attendees to each meeting, we’re beginning to think the Breakers had a little something to do with it. Regardless and undoubtedly, it was the most highly attended and interactive Regional Meeting your Association has hosted to date. More than 110 GCBAA members, superintendents, architects and industry leaders met the week of December 12th in South Florida. In that time, we paid tribute to longtime GCBAA member Mike Roach at our Opening Reception, hosted a morning and afternoon of education, and took a group out on the water for a morning fishing charter. It was great to see so many new faces, which is one of the many reasons we continue to integrate these regional events throughout the year. We are so proud to showcase the Association to prospective members, a few of which even signed up for membership that week. Please help us welcome The Pignato Group and Sullivan Electric & Pump, Inc. You’ll see their contact information listed on page 31. We truly feel our current membership is our biggest asset and recruiting tool and urge you to keep up the good work! We have a laundry list of individuals and companies to thank for this event. Butch Soto of NMP Golf Construction and Paul Cope with QGS Development spent countless hours working on the education and site preparations for the event. Thank you, gentlemen! Speaking of education, a big thanks to those who served on speaker panels that day including
Superintendents, Mark Reid (The Breakers), Deron Zendt (Banyon Golf Club), Bob Randquist (Boca Rio Golf Club), and Steve Wright (Pine Tree Golf Club). We brought back Irrigation Consultants and appreciate Bob Byant (Bryant Taylor Gordon Golf), Mike Pignato (The Pignato Group), Sean Hyduk (Aqua Turf International Design) and Dave Ragan (Ragan Technical Solutions) for participating and sharing their insight with attendees. And finally, a dynamic lineup of architects and designers rounded out the day. Moderated by ASGCA’s Marc Whitney, the group didn’t hold back on ways builders can be a resource in the bidding process and ways to better advocate for the industry. Thank you to ASGCA President, John Sanford (Sanford Golf Design), Jan Bel Jan (Jan Bel Jan Golf Course Design), Bobby Weed (Bobby Weed Golf Design), Forrest Richardson (Forrest Richardson & Associates), Jeff Danner (Greg Norman Golf Course Design), and Kipp Schulties (Kipp Schulties Golf Design, Inc.), for spending part of your day with us. While our panel discussions got the bulk of stage time, we were treated to an eye-opening session from Greg Nathan of the National Golf Foundation (NGF). Greg spoke about the state of the golf industry and the significant investment being made in renovations and new development. If you’d like to become a member of NGF (should you be interested in having access to the kind of information he presented), please contact Greg at gnathan@ngf.org. And lastly, Gabby Kaminski of Alpha EMC spent time discussing golf course development and storm water regulation. This is a very real issue for our members and one that shouldn’t be ignored. The collaboration between the Builders (GCBAA), Superintendents (GCSAA) and Architects (ASGCA) is something we hope continues to grow. On behalf of the GCBAA, we thank you for your partnership and look forward to future projects together. Check out the meeting sponsors on the next page!
Special thanks to The Bridge Lady, Regina from Links Bridges for capturing all the lovely faces at the South Florida Meeting.
14