MarApr2016

Tee Off News March April 2016

Spring Association Meeting Hunter Ranch Golf Course Hosted by Jason Pautsch April 27, 2016

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TEE-OFF News

President’s Message By Steven Showers Spring has arrived and most of us have finished up aerating our greens this past March or early April, at Airways we got it done this past week and it was fairly painless. Hope everyone else has the same success we had!

My wife, Carol and I have been watching the Downtown Abbey series on DVD recently; we are almost done with Steven Showers season 5 now, I know that most Airways Golf Course 2016 GCSACC President people “stream” these things, but I’m not sure how to. For those of you not familiar with the story line, it revolves around Lord Grantham and his family at the turn of the 20th century and the changes that they go through. The family needed to adapt to the use of electricity, radios, cars, the telephone, and other major changes to the class system in England during the early 1900’s. Anyway, I find it interesting that we have undergone some very different changes in our lifetimes, (at least those of us over 50 years old) changing from landline and payphones to car phones, then flip phone and now smart phones…. I remember saving up enough money to buy a calculator from my paper route earnings during the early 70’s and now we all have computers in our hands. I will admit that I have not stayed abreast of many of the recent changes in communication. I have never had a facebook account or tweeted anything and I’ve heard words like periscope, facetime, snapchat and others, but really don’t have any idea what many of these things are or how to begin to use them. I think Lowell Stone and Mike Scott could probably teach me some things about using these tools for communication, that’s how far behind the times I feel I am.

With all of that said, however, I have taken the plunge and posted on the Yelp app twice in the past three months. It really wasn’t as hard as I thought; maybe there is something to these new ways of communication.

So as we advance through our careers I think we should try these new tools to communicate, with our members, customers and friends. I suppose it can only help. But I do feel just like that actor in the rental car company commercial that says he only has to talk to humans if he feels like it and he doesn’t, most of the time I don’t either.

I look forward to seeing many of you at our next meeting, to be held April 27 at Hunter Ranch or at the Al Glaze Scholarship tourney coming up on June 20th.

Please remember that along with turf student scholarships we have the legacy category available to any children of members, so get those applications in as soon as you can!

Thank you for being a member of the GCSACC and I look forward to speaking with you soon, even though you are human.

S*E*E*D

C*O*M*P*A*N*Y

Jim Culley REGIONAL SALES MANAGER 9180 San Fernando Rd. P. O. Box 1579 Sun Valley, California 91353 Cell (213) 268-3193 Office (800) 621-0315

TEE-OFF News

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Save The Dates Spring Symposium April 27, 2016 Hunter Ranch Golf Course Hosted by Jason Pautsch

Annual Election Meeting & Tournament September 2016 Ridge Creek Golf Course Hosted by Rob Lomeli

Al Glaze Memorial Scholarship & Research Tournament

Annual Holiday Party

June 20, 2016 Visalia Country Club Hosted by Glenn Matthews, CGCS

December 3, 2016 Windows on the Water Morro Bay

Annual Tri Chapter Event Sponsored by the Central California Chapter TBD

2017 Winter Symposium January 2017 Be the First to Step Up and lets get our calendar full

Turf Pro 2016 Professional Update Series Morro Bay Golf Course June 15, 2016 September 7, 2016 November 9, 2016 Copper River Country Club June 16, 2016 September 8, 2016 November 10, 2016 For Information Call 559-269-7342

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TEE-OFF News

Around the Green by Irene Cline Jon Christensen, Sierra Golf Management, reported that effective April 2016 SGM took over the management of Ridgemark Golf Course in Hollister.

This gives Sierra Golf Management 11 courses in California. In addition to course operations SGM will be operating the Pro shop, Clubhouse, and Vacation cabins at the course.

Joe Tompkins is coming out of retirement, at least part time, and will be consulting at Sea Pines Golf Resort, Los Osos and will also be lending a hand at the Links in Paso Robles.

We are looking forward to the upcoming Scholarship & Research Tournament that will be

held at Visalia C.C. on June 20, 2016. Glenn Matthews, CGCS, superintendent at Visalia C.C. has been working hard on the preparation for the tournament, and will be contacting our vendors to help support the auction that will be held at the event. Look for information coming your way soon on this.

We just received word that Cole Thompson, PhD and head of the Cal Poly Turf Program is leaving his position at the school as of this summer and will be heading to the University of Nebraska. We had hopes that Cole would revive the turf program and we would be turning out some excellent candidates with turf degrees. We are sorry to see him go and will keep

you abreast of any additional information about the program.

We have reached the end of our dues collections efforts. If you have not paid you will be dropped as of May 1st. If you are a superintendent this means that GCSAA will be notified of your termination and this will jeopard-

ize your GCSAA Membership.

If you have any questions regarding this please don’t hesitate in calling Irene or Kim at the Association office.

TEE-OFF News

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Spring Symposium Hunter Ranch Golf Course Jason Pautsch, Superitendent at Hunter Ranch Golf Course will be hosting the Spring Symposium or Spring Meeting as some like to call it.

Chava McKeel, GCSAA Director of Government Affairs will be speaking at our event and we will be updated on six priority issues that will include the GCSAA Government Affairs Stra-

tegic Plan including the Grassroots Ambassador Program, National Golf Day updates, and our full-time Capitol Hill presence with Robert Helland, GCSAA Director of Congressional & Federal Affairs.

Chava will also talk about our relationships with groups outside of the golf industry (RISE, Agriculture groups, etc.). She will discuss the upcoming National Elections and their potential effect on the golf industry (House, Senate, Presidential). Chava will be giving OSHA updates/concerns as well as an EPA updates. This should prove to be a very interactive meeting and one you won’t want to miss. So get your reservation in now, it’s not too late.

Jason Pautsch, Superintendent

Jason has the course looking fantastic and is ready to show off his hard work for all attendees.

Golf Course Materials Topdressing Sand - Bunker Sand Decomposed Granite - Drain Rock 1/8” Minus Turf & Tee Bulk Humus Brush Removal Call for competitive rates

David Knott, Inc. (559) 449-8935 or (559) 760-5387

TEE-OFF News

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Newsletter Title

From the Field Jeff Jensen, GCSAA Field Staff, Southwest Region The California Department of Water Independent Technical Panel (ITP) on Demand Management Measures met in San Diego on March 4 to disJeff Jensen cuss recommendations on landscape water use reduction and efficiency.

Craig Kessler, governmental affairs director for the SCGA and I represented the golf industry at the meeting and we both spoke to the panel providing recommendations and comments on areas of concern.

Following the meeting, we submitted written comments on behalf of the California GCSA and the California Alliance of Golf. In particular, we focused our comments in opposition to the lowering of the ETAF from 1.0 to .8 and the limiting

of turf on slopes from the current 25 percent to 10 percent.

While many of our facilities in the state already irrigate at .8 or lower in some areas, keeping the ETAF at 1.0 gives our industry flexibility in dealing with budgets and potential water restrictions based on the Maximum Applied Water Allowance (MAWA).

Additionally, slopes of 25 percent on a golf course are very functional and serve as an integral part of the game of golf. With the advances in irrigation technology (particularly controllers) and the use of wetting agents, superintendents have the ability to effectively irrigate these slopes while eliminating runoff.

Other comments included increasing a potential tax credit cap (currently proposed at $10,000) on turf replacement and eliminating any potential landscape certification and continuing education requirements that could be placed on golf course superintendents by the DWR.

The ITP will now take the comments from the various stakeholder groups and create a final report that will be submitted to Legislature.

In other news, the California Alliance for Golf (CAG) will be holding legislative visits with our elected officials at the California State Capitol on April 27. While further details were unavailable at the time of this article, rest assured that GCSAA and our California affiliated chapters will be well represented by Jim Ferrin, Steve Plummer, Bruce Williams, I and others in Sacramento.

Thank you again for your support and if you have any questions concerning our government relations activities in the state, please don’t hesitate to contact me at jjensen@gcsaa.org and make sure to follow me on Twitter @GCSAA_SW for daily industry updates.

2016 GCSACC BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT STEVEN SHOWERS AIRWAYS G. C. VICE PRESIDENT ANDY CORDOVA CYPRESS RIDGE G.C.

.JOSE ALVAREZ FORT WASHINGTON C.C. PETE BOWMAN HELENA CHEMICAL

PAST PRESIDENT TENNESSEE MCBROOM SANDPIPER GOLF CLUB /RANCHO SAN MARCOS GOLF CLUB CRAIG JOHNSON BELMONT C.C.

PAUL BARR SAN LUIS OBISPO C.C..

SECRETARY/TREASURER GLENN MATTHEWS, CGCS VISALIA COUNTRY CLUB

ALBERT NUNES MORRO BAY GOLF COURSE ZACK MORAN WATER QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Official Publication of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Central California. The purpose of this publication is information and education for the membership.

Published bi-monthly by GCSACC, 5322 N. Leonard Clovis, CA 93619 Phone (559) 298-4853 Fax (559) 298-6957 Email gcsacc@aol.com Newsletter Chairman & Newsletter Editor Zachary Moran Executive Directors Irene Cline & Kimberly Milne

Volume 1, TEE-OFF N ews

Issue 1

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Welcome New Members Rafael Martinez

Morgan Brockman

Hacienda C.C.

Morro Bay G.C.

Class A

Class C

Junior Valdavia

Steven A. Spatafore

Las Serranos

Cla Poly SLO

Class A

Class Student Member

Kevin Qualey Dairy Creek G.C. Class C