TEE-OFF News
March/April 2012
San Joaquin Country Club Hosted the 30th Annual
Al Glaze Memorial Scholarship & Research Tournament By Brian Daum
Inside this issue:
President’s Message
2
From the Field
3
Meeting Schedules
5
What does GCSAA Mean to You?
6
Highlights from RiverLakes
9
Highlights from The 2012 Al Glaze
11
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 Bob Schneiderhan, Newsletter Chairman Mike Scott, CGCS, Editor
The 30th Annual Al Glaze Scholarship and Research Tournament was held on June 12th at the San Joaquin Country Club. Kevin Wiles, Golf Course Superintendent, had been cracking the whip and working his crew many, many long days and nights to prep the beautiful venue for us. The group this year was smaller than usual but those that attended showed great spirit and appreciated the hard work that Kevin put into hosting this very special event.
With temperatures in the high 90’s, everyone was warmed up early. The teams from the valley had a distinct advantage over our coastal groups when it came to the weather. Coming in strong this year was the team from Riverbend G.C.. Led by Mike Stieler, CGCS, they took First Place (GROSS) for the tournament. The team included Bill Galli, Danny Panicia, and Ron Toomijian. Mike was just off his wins at the National GCSA Golf Championship and evidently was still on a
roll. Taking First Place (NET) was the team from Riverside Golf Course. They were lead by their new superintendent Matt Conrad. Other team members included Carlos Grier, Adam Pohll, and Lance Rohrmann. Taking 2nd Place (NET) was the Belmont Country Club Team lead by Superintendent Craig Johnson and included Raenne Scheidt, Sal Gonzales, and Todd Hansen. The closest to the Pin sponsored by Mike Far(Continued on page 4)
2012 Scholarship Recipients We had the highest number of scholarship applications submitted this year than we have ever had. As always it is a tremendous job to make the decision as to who will receive the funds. This year the GCSA of Central California was able to provide four turf students
with scholarships and one legacy scholarship. The 2012 winners in the turf field of study were Cody Stewart; Cody is a Student at Cal Poly SLO majoring in Environmental Hort Science with a concentration in Turf grass Mgmt. He is a 3.4 GPA and is expected to graduate
in June 2013. Second winner is Tyler Clark: Tyler is a Agricultural & Environmental Plant Science Major with a concentration in Turf grass Mgmt. He is a 3.0 GPA and is expected to graduate in December 2012. Third recipient is Michael Magnani. Mike is a Agricul(Continued on page 8)
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President’s Message by Michael Swing, CGCS For starters the BOD and I would like to welcome Scott Walwyn, Golf Course SuMichael Swing, CGCS
perintendent at the Village Golf Course in Lompoc for accepting a vacant position on the Board. Scott comes with great enthusiasm to the BOD and he is a welcome addition. The May meeting was held at River Lakes Golf Course. If you know Harry Dawson, he goes the ex-
tra mile in making his course shine for us and he didn’t disappoint anyone that attended. The “Al Glaze Scholarship and Research Tournament” AKA “The Glaze” was held at San Joaquin Country Club on June 12th. Kevin Wiles was very busy preparing for this event. I would like to point out that since Kevin’s arrival at San Joaquin CC he has accomplished a lot, so we all had a wonderful experience. We are very appreciative that Bayer, Turf Star, and Syngenta supported us as major sponsors for this event and because of this sponsorship we were able to hand out a great tee prize for each entrant. This tournament is all
about our goal to provide scholarships for our legacy program and for the turf students as well as support California research, so we greatly appreciated all those commercial members who sponsored our tees and other special events. July is a time we normally do not schedule any event due to weather and staying close to home. However, this year we have scheduled a retreat to discuss our Chapter’s Strategic Planning. During this brainstorming and self discovery session we hope to improve our roll in serving the membership better. To assist us we have (Continued on page 4)
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From the Field Jeff Jensen, GCSAA Field Staff, Southwest Region How time flies! Summer is here. I hope all of our members are enjoying the good weather, spending time with friends and family and even getting out to play the occasional round of golf. I’d like to give a shout out to CGCS Pat Finlen and his entire staff at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Pat just hosted the highly successful 2012 U.S. Open Championship. If you missed one of his “Behind the Scenes” presentations earlier this year, you missed out on a fabulous look at the infrastructure and preparation required to host a major championship. Congratulations on a job well done and thank you for showing the world a glimpse of the quality of golf on the West Coast.
I recently had the opportunity to attend a Southern California GCSA Assistants Meeting at Whittier Narrows Golf Course in Rosemead. I came away impressed with the knowledge and dedication to the golf business that these young assistants possess. They are the future of our business. With that in mind, I urge all of our superintendents to make sure that your assistants are involved with your local GCSAA Chapter. If they are not current members, take them to an education/golf event and get them signed up. It’s a great reward for all of their hard work and it will provide them with additional leadership, communication and networking skills. I realize that it is often difficult to do this
Three locations to serve you Lancaster
Bakersfield
Fresno
with shrinking crew sizes, but finding a way to make it a priority will pay dividends for you and your facility in the future. Lastly, I have been fielding some questions on why GCSAA changed the dates of the National Championship and Golf Classic so that they coincide with the GCSAA Education Conference and Golf Industry Show in San Diego Feb. 48, 2013. The move comes as a result of surveys and feedback from members, chapters and industry participants. Respondents indicated that the length of the tournament and conference was a deterrent in attending all or parts of the activities. (Continued on page 8)
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President’s Message
Scholarship Tournament
Continued from page 2
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invited Jeff Jensen and Steve Randall of GCSAA to share what other chapters are doing in these difficult times and help in defining what works best for us. This is where you come into play. We need your impute as to what you want in making your participation a meaningful and rewarding experience. Please share your ideas with any of the Mathew Conrad Board Members Class A or pass them Riverside G.C. along to Irene Cline, our ExecuPete Bowman Class E, tive Secretary. Target Specialty Products
Welcome
New Member
men and Farmload Distributers, was won by Marvin Burns of Visalia. In addition to the tournament winners we were able to introduce several guests that attended the 30th Anniversary event. Rafael Barajas, CGCS, GCSAA Board of Director and Jeff Jensen, GCSAA Field Staff joined in. It was an honor to have representatives from our National organization realize the importance of our efforts. In addition a plaque was given to Kevin Friesen, CGCS to acknowledge his dedication and hard work for our chapter. Kevin served as a board member for many years and worked very hard to bring the Central California to the forefront. We congratulate Kevin on his hard work. We want to thank Kevin Wiles and his crew for providing such an excellent venue. The food was excellent and plentiful. The service was superb. With the funds raised this year we hope to provide several scholarships for deserving students next year, as well as provide funds for our legacy scholarship fund. In addition. this year we hope to provide very needed research dollars for research in California.
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Meeting Schedule July 17, 2012
October 2012
Strategic Planning Session GCSACC Board of Directors No Monthly Association Meeting
Annual Charities Event Madera Country Club Date to be confirmed
August 13, 2012
November 2012
Tri Chapter Meeting Stone Brae C.C. Hosted by Northern California GCSA
September 17, 2012 Annual Election Meeting Village Country Club Host Superintendent Scott Walwyn
Date and Location to Be determined
December 8, 2012 Annual Holiday Event Window On The Water Morro Bay
TURF PRO 2012 Dairy Creek Golf Course 2990 Dairy Creek Road San Luis Obispo, CA 93405 September 12, 2012 November 14, 2012
Copper River Country Club 11500 N. Friant Road Fresno, CA 93730 September 13, 2012 November 15, 2012
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What does GCSAA mean to you? by Josh Heptig
This is the question, and I am curious to hear the answer from all of our members. Perhaps more specifically, the question is “What benefit do you derive as a member of the GCSAA?” I am hopeful that everyone could rattle off 2-3 items rather quickly. Items like career resources, continued education, governmental compliance, peer contacts, member discounts, the Golf Industry and Show, etc. My list of benefits is quite long, as are the lists of our other board members. In March, I had the opportunity to attend a GCSAA leadership conference in Lawrence, Kansas. I am originally from the state of Kansas and have been to headquarters a number of times through class field trips during my studies in Golf Course Management at Kansas State University just west of Lawrence on I-70. I have always been a proud supporter of the GCSAA, that being said, I was a bit skeptical about what I was going to see and hear when I was asked to attend this training session (and not just because it was being held in the town of my alma mater’s rival just after Final Four weekend), but because I was afraid it would be a sales pitch about the greatness of GCSAA. The training was kicked off by Rhett Evans, the CEO of GCSAA. Rhett spoke about what we were to expect over the next couple of days as well as issues affecting our industry and how GCSAA is acting and partnering to lead the golf industry forward. He talked about the Golf Industry and Show and asked for each of the attendees input. I assure you the room did not give him a pass on that one.
He received some tough questions and comments regarding the education, golf tournament, and overall conference. At that time, GCSAA was considering some changes based upon feedback that had been received and many of those changes have been announced over that past few weeks. Some of the changes include: condensing the GIS, holding the golf event near the show location, and having some overlap between the events so that costs can be controlled by the GCSAA and its members. Just another way the GCSAA is adding value to our members.
participation to assist all of us in our own fight to increase meeting attendance and add value to our individual chapters. A multitude of ideas and knowledge existed within the room and there were great ideas that our Board will be considering for implementation within our Central California Chapter.
Representatives from all over the US were in attendance and I was able to make some great contacts that have already proven useful. Daily activities involved Financial Health, Professional Development, Certification, the Environmental Institute for Golf (EIFG), Field Staff, Government Relations, and of course Leadership. Many of these topics are selfexplanatory, but much of the discussion revolved around chapter participation and how can we continue to be viable.
We strive to add value to your membership and value your input greatly.
A lot of great ideas were tossed around in the different sessions that allowed for more small group discussion. There was one session that focused strictly on chapter attendance and
Our Board will be meeting in July for a strategic planning session that will involve our Field Rep, Jeff Jensen, and GCSAA Chapter Outreach Manager, Steve Randall. We will be meeting to plan for our future and how we can best serve each of you GCSAA members.
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What does GCSAA mean to you? Continued from Page 6
Chapter events give us all the ability to come together and share our successes and trials with one another as a group of individuals with similar lives. This is our association and without providing our direct input, we are not sure how best to serve you. All of the board members desire to provide the services and value that our members seek, so that we can build a strong Chapter that includes meetings and other offerings that our members cannot wait to take advantage of.
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Calling all dogs!
you and I can be reached at jheptig@co.slo.ca.us or (805) 781 -1318 to field any of your questions or comments. Many great events are on the horizon and summer is here. If we all work together we can strengthen our Chapter to make it successful for many more years just as we do our root systems to make it through the summer heat and stress. Best wishes for the summer season!
I would love to hear from
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From the Field Continued From Page 3
The move will help condense the events and those who choose to play in the National Championship and Golf Classic will still have numerous educational opportunities available Wednesday, Thursday and Friday including sessions that will be held on the tradeshow floor. Have a great summer and I look forward to seeing you at upcoming events. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me at jjensen@gcsaa.org.
Continued From Page 3 tural Environmental Plant Science Major with a concentration in Turf grass Mgmt also. He, too. is a 3.0 GPA with graduation in December in 2012. We are proud to honor these young gentlemen and hope that they will continue in their field of study and work towards positions as Golf Course Superintendents. In addition to our strong commitment to the greens industry and the turf students in our area. We also want to provide opportunities to the children of our members. That is why we established the Legacy program. This year’s recipient of the 2012 Legacy Award was Zach Elliott. Zach is the son of Tom Elliott, CGCS. Zach is entering college at Arizona State University studying biological sciences. His ultimate goal is medical school. None of this would be possible if not for the support of our members and, especially, our affiliate Tom Elliott, CGCS acmembers who continue year after year to provide cepts the check for his funding for our programs and events. Thank you to son Zech all.
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Highlights from River Lakes Pictured at left are Association President Mike Swing, CGCS with host superintendent Harry Dawson. Congratulations Harry on such a beautiful course. Below from left are Jeff Jensen, GCSAA Field Staff, Mike Swing, Troy Thompson, and Scott Furtak
From the left are Jeff Jensen, Kevin Eppich and Mike Farman
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TEE-OFF News Al Glaze Scholarship & Research Tournament Highlights At left Toro Trophy Winners for Best Net Score are the team from Riverside G.C. Matt Conrad, Carlos Grier, Adam Pohll, and Lance Rohrmann At Right is the team from Riverbend G.C. and the First Place Gross Score Winners, Mike Stieler, Bill Galli, Danny Panicia, and Ron Toomajian. Bottom left is Host Superintendent Kevin Wiles and Mike Swing, Below is the 2nd Place Net Team from Belmont, Craig Johnson, Raenne Scheidt, Sal Gonzales, and Todd Hansen. At right is Kevin Friesen, CGCS, and Mike Swing, CGCS
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Thank You to our Sponsors
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5322. N. Leonard Ave. Clovis, CA 93619
2011/2012 GCSACC BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT MICHAEL SWING, CGCS VISALIA COUNTRY CLUB SECRETARY/TREASURER JOSH HEPTIG SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY
VICE PRESIDENT BRIAN DAUM VALLEY CREST/PALO ALTO G.C.
BOARD MEMBERS
TROY THOMPSON RIVERSIDE G. C.
TRINI HERNANDEZ
KEVIN EPPICH TURF STAR
BOB SCHNEIDERHAN CAL POLY SLO
SCOTT WALWYN THE VILLAGE C.C.
ANDY FERNANDEZ AB TURF/HUSTLER TURF EQUIP.
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY IRENE CLINE PHONE (559) 298-4853 FAX (559) 298-6957 EMAIL gcsacc@aol.com