JOHN COLLIER 2019

ANNUAL SURVEY ON

South African Golf Courses ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND SURVEYS SUPPORTING EDUCATION AND TRAINING The recent seminars presented at the Western Province Turfgrass Association Turf Industry Show on 15 and 16 August in Cape Town emphasised one of the mandates of the Turf Grass Associations in South Africa in providing education and training. The Chairman of the Western Province Turfgrass Association, Andrew Small and Christopher Steyn Chair of the Turf Industry Show Organising Committee both stressed the importance of education and training. The speakers included Sue de Swart of Talking Turf who spoke about sustainable practices in preparing for tournaments. Kelly Sauerman of Turfgrass Academy of South Africa dealt with sustainably cultivating healthy turf, whilst Derek Daly of African Turf Academy spoke on sports turf rootzones. From an equipment perspective both Des Buckingham of Jacobsen and Reg Varney of Otterbine emphasised the importance of using appropriate technology and equipment. Paul Jacobs, a United States Golf Association agronomist went to the heart of sustainable golf by talking about using science and technology to manage turf and irrigation issues. Bruce Williams, past president of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, spoke about negotiation strategies and lessons learnt in the golf industry. The Turf Industry representative bodies are doing their bit for education and training, yet the provision of relevant data and support for research is always important. Currently the John Collier team are running the South African Bunker Survey. The results should throw up some interesting insights into bunker management in South Africa. Furthermore, reminders have been sent out to Clubs to update their John Collier annual questionnaire. The results of this survey will be published in the 13th edition of the John Collier Annual Survey. Photograph left to right: Paul Jacobs, Andrew Small, Bruce Williams