Iowa Turfgrass Institute A Message from Randy Robinson

Randy Robinson | GCSAA

A New Chapter

Back when I agreed to write for this issue, I was still the Executive Director of the Iowa Turfgrass Institute and the Iowa Golf Course Superintendents Association (Iowa GCSA). A position that I was honored to hold for nearly six years. The interactions with the membership, I will miss the most. We are blessed in Iowa with some of the best Superintendent’s in the business. Now, I’ve moved on to the position of Field Staff Representative for the national Golf Course Superintendent’s Association (GCSAA). This position will allow me to impact the game of golf, not just in Iowa, but in a total of seven states regionally. It’s an exciting opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.

There have been many moments in my previous position that have really made me proud. None more than our work on the Iowa Golf Council. The Iowa Golf Council, as many of you know, is made up of the Iowa Golf Association (IGA), Iowa Section PGA, the Iowa GCSA, and the Iowa Club Managers Association. Putting these influential golf organizations together was as impactful as anything I had done in my career. It doesn’t end there, the Iowa Golf Council has some big plans coming up, so stay tuned! A huge thank you to Greg Mason, Chad Pitts, and Shane Hart. These guys are true leaders and I’ve learned so much from each one of them. Make sure you support them and the rest of the council in the future.

Message From the Iowa Turfgrass Institute

The GCSAA is a massive association compared to what I’m used to. They have been shoulder to shoulder with the other national golf associations in the fight for the future of the game. Whether it be through legislative interactions, labor changes, environmental concerns, and how to handle a thousand-year pandemic. Their part in the We Are Golf group is huge. Here are just some of the initiatives that will, hopefully, be coming to a course near you:

• The First Green – through the utilization of our beautiful golf courses in the state, we hope to educate students, elementary and up and the wonderful affects a golf course has on the community and the environment. It’s easy to show students the core values of a S.T.E.M. program on the golf course. Those areas are used daily.

• Facility BMP’s – every state in the US now has a Best Management Practices (BMP) guide for its members to reference. The next step is having that guide edited to fit your own facility. Why? To protect you and your course from those that wish to spread fear and falsehoods about you effect on the environment and the community. When the day come, we want you to be able to pull out a personalized comprehensive guide to what your Superintendent does daily. Show the processes from start to finish and explain the benefits of what you are doing and why you are doing it.

These are just two of the many programs and services that we have going at GCSAA. Talk to your Superintendent about them and make sure that they are members of the Iowa GCSA and the GCSAA.

In closing, this will be the last time I will write in this magazine, I imagine. So, thank you to the staff that puts it all together and thank you to the reader that made it all the way to the end of this article. My hope is that any article I’ve written has been beneficial or impactful in some way to you or your facility. A new leader will rise for the Iowa GCSA and I can’t wait to work with him/her when that day comes.