Remembering MAAGCS Past President Bill Emerson Bill Emerson, MAAGCS President in 1977-78, died earlier this year in Phoenix, AZ. Bill was one of many great superintendents from western Massachusetts and the Stockbridge School of Agriculture to move south to the Mid-Atlantic. He worked at Crofton, Green Spring Valley, and Towson CC before moving to Chevy Chase Club in 1977. In 1983 Bill moved west to Paradise Valley CC in Phoenix which started a trend of sorts when neighbors Tom Reagan at Bethesda CC and Virgil Robinson from Burning Tree took jobs in Arizona soon afterwards. Younger MAAGCS members might know Bill’s son Shaun the Director of Agronomy at Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, AZ. Bill was elected to the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame in 2012 and later joined by his son Shaun in 2017. He is credited with revolutionizing maintenance standards and organizing turf research in Arizona. He was an outspoken proponent of golf course superintendents. Bill had an “in your face” communication style and always encouraged superintendents to be professional and to “toot your own horn.”
Best Management Practices Adopting a Facility BMP is Easier than You Might Think Recently, MAAGCS hosted a facility BMP workshop at the University of Maryland. GCSAA Environmental Programs Director, Mark Johnson, along with Dr. Joseph Roberts of UMD facilitated a hands-on session showing superintendents how to get started on developing their facility BMPs. They also discussed the importance of developing and adopting the facility BMP and how it can be a great asset to our industry. Facility BMP’s and statewide adoption will show our legislatures that we have a strong commitment to environmental sustainability and maintain our golf
courses in a responsible manner. This is an important initiative and MAAGCS encourages every golf course to develop their own facility BMP. For more information and to get started on your facility BMP you can visit https://www.gcsaa.org/environment/bmp-planning-guide
Rounds 4 Research Rapidly Approaching It’s golf season! And if you love golf (and nice weather), it’s a lovely time of year. In fact, it excites a lot of people. Like the 25 million golfers around the U.S. that we hope to target in this year’s Rounds 4 Research auction. Rounds 4 Research is an innovative program supported through the Environmental Institute for Golf, the philanthropic arm of GCSAA. The purpose of R4R is to generate resources to fund research, advocacy, scholarships, and education to help ensure golf’s sustainability. Essentially, R4R works by collecting donated foursomes from golf courses across the country, and then those rounds will go to a
public auction for golfers everywhere. We NEED YOUR PARTICIPATION by asking that your club or course donate a round of golf today. Anybody can contribute! And any stipulation can be placed on the round when you donate, so please do not shy away. For example, if the winning bidder can only bring their foursome on a Monday or Tuesday, just mention that with your donation. Again, any stipulation is fine! All courses donating rounds will be marketing their course by including a short description, photo and web link. Furthermore, GCSAA provides resources for fundraising partners at
http://www.rounds4research.com/participating-organizations/. The auction will also be promoted by our partners, including The Golf Channel, USGA, PGA of America, and state and local golf associations. This year’s auction runs from April 29 – May 5. To donate, visit www.rounds4research. com and click on the ‘Donate Now’ button. The entire process takes less than 10 minutes. By doing so, you are helping steward our great game moving forward.
Turfgrass Matters | Spring 2019 13