ACRONYMS 101 By Austin Bendheim, Executive Director TTC, TTA, TGCSA, ETGCSA, MTGCSA, MAGCSA
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acronym: (n) a word formed from the first (or first few) letters of several words ebster didn’t
know the half of it when he included this one in the dictionary. Come to think of it, I didn’t know the half of it when I began working for you in November, 2000. Sure, it was explained to me. I thought I understood, but really all I ended up with was a bowl of alphabet soup. I had to swim in this concoction before I really understood it, and now it occurs to me that you, the membership, could possibly be drowning in it. I am here to provide you with the water wings necessary for survival and understanding. Please be sure to refer to the charts provided. They will help as we begin this journey of acronym understanding. Note the complete names of the Associations as illustrated in the accompanying graph. This will help guide you, as after the initial definition, I will use only the acronyms while giving this lesson. Think of it as being in Spanish class and your teacher won’t let you speak English. You learn so much faster, don’t you?! Exactly. For those of you who do not know, I am the Executive Director for the Tennessee Turfgrass Council (TTC), Tennessee Turfgrass Association (TTA), Tennessee Golf Course Superintendents Association (TGCSA), East Tennessee Golf Course Superintendents Association (ETGCSA), Middle Tennessee Golf Course Superintendents Association (MTGCSA), and Memphis Area Golf Course Superintendents Association (MAGCSA). The tasks necessary to accomplish this job are done from a cubicle about the size of an extended cab in an F350. Each Association has its own bank account, its own meeting announcements, sponsorships, and operates independently of the others. That being said, lets evaluate the relationships between them. At the very top of the graph, you see the Golf House Tennessee/Tennessee Golf Association oval, which is where my office is. Because the Turfgrass industry is so very important to the golf profession, the TTA is housed under the same roof as the TGA, and the Tennessee Golf Foundation(TGF). Actually, I am “employed” by the TGA, since my paychecks are written from their account. This brings us to the TTC. The TTC is basically a holding zone for funds paid to facilitate my position. My position is funded by contributions
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from the TTA, ETGCSA, MTGCSA, and MAGCSA (the regional associations do this directly, not through the TGCSA). Funds are deposited into the TTC account, and then paid out of that account as I receive a monthly invoice from TGA. This invoice includes my wages, insurance, and a breakdown of the costs of any mailings I have sent out from the different Associations. If you look below the TTC on the graph, you will see two ovals side by side. The TTA and the TGCSA are peers. Being a member of one does not mean that you are a member of the other. You know that Conference and Trade Show you attend in January? Well, that is for the TTA. When you pay your dues for that show, it does not mean that you have renewed your dues for your local golf course superintendent association. More importantly, it does not mean that you have fulfilled your obligation to the GCSAA to belong to an affiliated chapter. What it does mean is that you are a proud member of the TTA, and are now eligible to receive this beautiful and informative 4-Color Magazine. The TGCSA is the only affiliated chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) in Tennessee. You must belong to this Association, or one of another state to comply with the requirements of the GCSAA. In Tennessee, we are fortunate to have broken into three regional associations: ETGCSA, MTGCSA, and MAGCSA. The only way to become a member of the TGCSA is to become a member of one of these regional associations. By filling out the application, and making payment to the APPROPRIATE REGIONAL ASSOCIATION, you are automatically a member of the TGCSA, thus being a member of an affiliated chapter of the GCSAA, and complying with the National requirements. The individual regional chapters are not themselves affiliated associations of the GCSAA. They are only facilitators to the TGCSA. As a unit, the TGCSA acts more as a conduit between the Regional Associations and the GCSAA than as an active association. There is only one meeting a year, lasting approximately 15-20 minutes during the TTA Conference and Trade Show. For each of the Regional Associations, however, there are approximately six meetings a year, including a Scholarship and Research Tournament. As I tend to the needs of each of the Regional Associations, I have become increasingly aware that
(as defined in Webster’s New World Dictionary)
T E N N E S S E E T U R F G RA S S A P R I L / M A Y 2 0 0 3
Email TTA at: tnturfgrassassn@aol.com