. Course conditions | Winter 2015/16 Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association | WWW.MiGCSA.ORG
FROM NATIONAL
Course Conditions BY SHANE CONROY
SHANE CONROY
As the winter season begins to wind-down I hope you all had a chance to enjoy the winter months and set up plans for the upcoming golf season. To all of those who attended the GIS, I hope you had a great time networking with peers and friends, and were able to bring ideas back to your facility. If you have not done so, please complete the after conference survey as this helps us plan future GIS events.
As we start the new season, I want to ask you: is your equipment technician a member of GCSAA? Like the superintendent profession, the role of the equipment manager has evolved over recent years. Equipment managers play a crucial role in the golf course management operation team, and are vital to the success of a facility. With equipment technology changing and greater demand than ever from golfers for tournament quality conditions, it’s important for equipment managers to be up-todate with the latest trends, techniques and education. GCSAA is helping to do just that by not only offering an Equipment Manager classification within GCSAA, but offering equipment managers all the value and benefits that come with GCSAA membership. Creating a GCSAA Equipment Manager Classification helps give the profession an identity within the association, and it gives the equipment manager the resources available to perform their job at the highest level. The MiGCSA clearly knows the advantages of proper networking, as they have had an EM classification within the association for some time now. Communicating with other industry professionals gives us access to information and insight from some of the best in the business. EM’s have numerous responsibilities at their facilities: training employees on equipment use and care, creating equipment budgets and schedules, communicating with vendors and forecasting future equipment needs are only a few of these tasks. Taking the networking and idea sharing to a national level will only increase the EM’s knowledge and efficiency. There are multiple education programs available for equipment managers through GCSAA. Webcasts, video links, GIS sessions and seminars are all available to all equipment managers who become GCSAA members. There are also certificate programs available to equipment managers which gives them access to the latest education. These certificate programs cover six different areas: hydraulics, electrical, internal combustion, drivelines, chemical sprayers and cutting units. EM’s can earn their certificates by completing the courses and successfully passing the exam. Equipment managers also have access to all the soft skill education programs GCSAA offers as well. Many EM’s are responsible for creating budgets and training employees, it’s important they have the proper training in business development, HR, and people management, all of which is offered through GCSAA. I also want to give you a quick update on WOTUS at the time of writing. As of right now, the WOTUS/Clean Water Rule has been put on hold nationwide by the 6th Circuit Court out of Cincinnati. The rule will most likely be determined in the courts moving forward, and the nationwide hold could end at any moment, but for now the rule is currently not in effect. Once I hear new information on WOTUS/Clean Water Rule I will communicate that to the association. Best of luck for the upcoming season, I look forward to meeting many more of you as the year moves on. Respectfully, Shane Conroy
17