November/December 2013

N ove m b e r/ De c e m b e r 2 0 13

FORE YOUR INFORMATION INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Mechanics Seminar

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10 Ways to Reduce Risks

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Meeting Schedule

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Lance

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From the Field

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Holiday Event Highlights

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Election Event Highlights

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PRESIDENTS MESSAGE JESSE SEGUIN Happy Holidays Everyone! I hope all of you have the opportunity to spend quality time with your families as we transition into the new year.

First off, I’d like to thank the 2013 Board of Directors; especially Jeremy Payne for his outstanding leadership and guidance throughout the year. Also, a big thanks to all of our Association Members, their families, sponsors and hosts who graciously supplied great golf venues during the 2013 season.

SELECTED Dates to Remember

February 11, 2104 Mechanic’s Seminar The Ridge G.C.

Sierra Nevada GCSA An Affiliate Chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America

With the 2014 elections now finalized, I wanted to introduce the new board who are excited to serve such an outstanding Association. Bob Franco from Micke Grove Golf Links is now Vice President; Rob Williams from Stockton Golf & Country Club is Secretary/Treasurer; Kurtis Wolford from Cherry Island, David Bermudez at Del Rio Golf & Country Club, Michael Scully from Modesto/Valleycrest and William Hamilton at Lake

Wildwood will serve as Directors. The Affiliates this year include Pete Bowman and Jim Barbuto. I also wanted to recognize our Executive Secretary, Irene Cline who’s been the foundation and backbone of the Association for several years.

I also wanted to comment on the fantastic Christmas Party that was enjoyed by all who participated. A big thanks to Bob Franco’s wife Jami, Michael Scully’s wife (Continued on page 2)

ROB WILLIAMS

FOR

Congratulations to Rob Williams, who was selected as one of 22 golf course superintendents to participate in the Syngenta Business Institute, a unique, educational program.

The Syngenta Business Institute is sponsored

by Syngenta in conjunction with Wake Forest University’s graduate school of business and was held Dec. 9 to Dec. 12 in WinstonSalem, N.C. While agro-

SYNGENTA BUSINESS INSTITUTE nomic expertise is critical to superintendent success, Syngenta also recognized the need to provide superintendents with business management tools.

Syngenta worked with Wake Forest to develop a program that focused on financial and human resources management, delegation and negotiation skills, effective communications techniques, managing genera-

tional differences and more.

Rob was selected from a talented pool of superintendents based on an application process that reviewed their educational background, industry achievements and an industry-related essay.

Rob is the golf course superintendent at Stockton Golf & Country Club and VP of the SNGCSA

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Fore Your Information EDITOR Jeremy Payne Winchester C.C.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

OFFICE SNGCSA 5322 N. Leonard Clovis, CA 93619 559-298-6262 Fax# 559-298-6957 sngcsaa@aol.com PRESIDENT Jesse Seguin Lincoln Hills Golf Course 916-434-7200

VICE PRESIDENT Bob Franco Micke Grove Golf Links 209-598-0564

SECRETARY/TREASURER Rob Williams Stockton Golf & C.C. 209-462-6734

PAST PRESIDENT Jeremy Payne Winchester C.C. 530-878-9099

DIRECTORS Dave Bermudez Del Rio Golf & Country Club 209-341-2413 Mike Scully Valley Crest/Modesto 209-578-9678 Kurtis Wolford Cherry Island Golf Course 916-991-7659 William Hamilton Lake Wildwood Association 530-432-2187

Affiliate Representatives Jim Barbuto Ewing Irrigation 916-502-3287 Pete Bowman Jacobsen West 916-396-9394

FORE YOUR INFORMATION Published by the Sierra Nevada Golf Course Superintendents Association

Jesse Seguin Billy Casper Golf/Lincoln Hills

Tally and Jeremy Payne’s wife Molly for putting on a fabulous event which was enjoyed by all. The Sacramento train experience was something new and different from what we’ve done in the past. Overall, the organization and effort in planning this paid off and it truly was an enjoyable experience. The white elephant gift exchange lasted a bit longer than

expected, however it was a comedy and hopefully everyone was happy with the gifts they ended up with.

As we enter the 2014 season, we’ll be executing our Strategic Planning Meeting in January which outlines the goals and initiatives for the year. This serves as a gateway not only for the board, but the entire association as we all understand that we’re in this together. So if you’re interested in providing feedback or suggestions, please let me know. We’ll also be continuing our committees, which include Fundraising & Awards, Government State & National Relations, Memberships and Meetings to name a few.

We are always looking for volunteers so if any of you

BY

JESSE SEGUIN

are interested, please contact the board. There will be more to come after the strategic planning meeting and I’ll update the association on the specifics when we conclude the meeting.

In conclusion, we’re all very excited for this upcoming year. Hopefully things warm up a bit or it appears we’re in for a cold winter season. We’re in the process of lining up some great meetings for the upcoming year and look forward to the continued success of our Association. Be safe this holiday season and I wish you and your families the best.

Thank you,

Jesse

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2014 M E C H A N I C S S E M I N A R On February 11th 2014 the Sierra Nevada GCSA will be holding their first ever Mechanics Seminar. Scott McCullough, Superintendent at the Ridge Golf Course in Auburn, will host the event. This has been a long time dream of Scott’s, and now it is on the books.

The event will start at 7:30 with check in and continental breakfast.

Vendor presentations will begin at 8:00 and run through 12:00. Lunch will be provided and several other surprises will be in store for those that plan on attending. We have received confirmations from Turf Star, JacobsenWest, Parris Turf Equipment, and John Deere, who will be helping make this dream a possibility for our Mechanics.

So look for more information to come in the very near future and be sure to put this on your calendar.

THANK YOU TO OUR HOLIDAY SPONSORS

ARROW Golf Construction

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T E N W AY S T O R E D U C E E N V I R O N M E N T A L R I S K & L I A B I L I T Y AT T H E G O L F C O U R S E AN D C LU B H O US E

BY KEVIN A. FLETCHER, PH.D., PRESIDENT & CEO, Golf and country clubs across the country are facing the ―new normal‖ of reduced budgets, strained resources, and the need to operate leaner and smarter. It’s no wonder that the concept of sustainability has held fast.

After all, sustainability, in part, is about doing more with less. Yet, there are a few key elements of operating more sustainably that, if not addressed, can crumble the very foundation of any club’s sustainability efforts, including: addressing regulatory responsibilities, managing environmental risks, containing potential environmental liabilities, and minimizing the odds of an environmental incident or accident.

An Environmental Management System (EMS) can help club staff bettermanage these areas of concern-leading to an overall better-managed operation. An EMS relies on a comprehensive 'plan, do, check, act' approach. As an added bonus, federal and state environmental agencies generally support EMS adoption by organizations. However, if you don’t have an EMS in place yet, at the very least consider the following questions to get you moving in the right direction:

1. Do We Really Know What’s Going On? The very first step to reducing overall environmental risk and liability is to conduct a basic self-assessment of the facility and your operations. Do you know how your chemicals are being stored and used on the course and in the clubhouse? Are your clubhouse and pro shop operations asking the right questions to gain a handle on potential hazards?

2. Do We have Full Management Buy-In? The best environmental management approaches are completed on the ground, but supported from the top.

Are your club Board, President, or key leadership aware of the environmental stewardship responsibilities of the golf course operations? Are environmentally-related risk issues discussed a senior management team meetings?

Has leadership signed off on various environmental policies and plans at the highest level?

3. Have We Established a FacilityWide Environmental Policy?

Writing and making public the organization’s commitment to protecting the environment is an important early step

E-PAR

USA, INC.

to take. It is a pledge to protect the natural elements of the game, acknowledgement of the importance of pollution prevention, and your commitment to continuous improvement.

4. Have We Ever Conducted a Risk Assessment?

Have you conducted a risk assessment to identify where your improvement areas and weak spots are in your operations? This includes a hard look at all of your relevant activities, an assessment of how frequent those activities take place, and the potential environment impacts of those activities.

5. Do We Have a Sense of Our Risk Profile?

Once the risk assessment is completed you’ll have a better sense of where potentially severe or catastrophic risks are in your golf facility operations— your risk profile. Knowledge is power. Knowing your risk profile will allow you to prioritize corrective actions and be better prepared for when the worst might happen. Have you’re a prioritized set of improvements in mind?

6. Have We Developed Written Environmental Action Plans?

(Continued on page 6)

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MEETING SCHEDULE January 2014

April 2014

No Meeting Currently Scheduled

Spanos Park G.C.

February 3-6, 2014

Date to be confirmed

May 21, 2014 Sequoia Woods C.C. Hosted by Paul Watts

February 5, 2014

June 2014

California Room at the Rosen Hotel 6:00—9:00

Bradshaw Ranch G.C.

February 11, 2014

July 2014

Mechanic Seminar The Ridge Golf Course

Annual Scholarship & Research Tournament Peach Tree Golf & C.C.

Hosted by Scott McCullough

Date to be confirmed

March 2014

August 11, 2014

Annual Grass Roots Tournament

Tri Chapter Meeting Del Rio C.C.

Location to be confirmed

Date to be confirmed

Hosted by Dave Bermudez

If you are interested in hosting a meeting email Irene at sngcsaa@aol.com

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10 W A Y S CONTINUED

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Have you taken the time to develop and write down Environmental Action Plans with input from relevant staff?

These plans can both address what your need to do, as identified in the risk assessment, as well as the environmental improvement and enhancements you want to make at the facility (i.e., nest box projects or energy efficiency upgrades for clubhouse lighting).

7. Do We Have A Person Assigned to Each Action?

Who’s going to get that done? For each action item or improvement project, be sure to assign an individual as ―responsible party‖ for completion of the task. A great idea without someone responsible to complete it will likely remain, simply a great idea.

Also remember to include project completion deadlines.

8. Do We Understand the Value of Written Standard Operating Procedures?

Along with written Action Plans, it pays to have sets of written Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for each risk area identified. Let’s assume that ―Delivery of Chemicals‖ is an activity identified as potentially risky (i.e., due to a spill event). A simple SOP outlin-

4 ing to process to allow vendors to deliver, unload, and store chemicals is a terrific way to document that your club facility has its act together. With training it can help avoid an incident, and if something should go wrong, you have documentation to show due diligence.

9. Do We Provide Initial and Ongoing Environmental Training?

You want to have your policy in place, clear procedures, and practices identified to be address. That’s good. Yet, it’s the people that make things go right—or wrong. Do you have an environmental training schedule in place? Are golf course staff getting the education and on-site, on-theground training necessary to be ready for spill events, emergencies, and environmental incidents?

10. Finally… Do We Foster a Staff “Culture” of Ongoing Environmental Stewardship?

Do you support a culture of sustainability and environmental stewardship? Is good environmental management simply ―the way we do things around here‖? In the end, an environmental policy, environmental risk and opportunity assessments, resulting action plans, operating procedures,

training, personal accountability, and top management team commitment is only useful if reviewed on a periodic basis. A bi-annual review of your processes and annual review and revision of your environmental management system, risk assessment, and associated action plans is ideal for keeping environmental protection, risk management, and sustainable club operations a top-line item throughout the organization. While the best option may be developing a comprehensive EMS, at the very least, assess where you are now against these ten elements and sleep a little easier at night by filling in the holes.

Bios: Kevin A. Fletcher, Ph.D., is President & CEO of e-par USA, Inc., an environmental business strategy advisory firm helping golf facilities & clubs, sports facilities, and park and recreation facilities. He most-recently served as Executive Director for Audubon International, having worked for the organization for nearly ten years. In 2010, he was included among Golf Magazine’s ―Top 40 Most Influential People Under 40‖ for his work on sustainability in golf.

Paul K. Smith Sales Representative Pest Control Advisor Western Specialty Division

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HELENA CHEMICAL COMPANY 3155 Southgate Lane Chico, Ca 95928 Bus: (530) 342-4786 (800) 554-5703 Fax: (530) 343-9047

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LANCE

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DAVID BERMUDEZ

Dave Bermudez Del Rio Country Club

Lebanon Turf and GCSAA ―Dog Days of Golf Calendar‖ has selected Lance for the 2014 calendar. Lance is a 6-year-old border collie. Del Rio Golf and Country Club purchased this trained bird dog to remove the Canada geese. When Lance arrived, there were several hundred geese on the property, but within two weeks none remained. He was an instant success to the membership. Now that there are no more geese Lance spends his days running around looking for other water fowl, squirrels, skunks, coyotes and other

assorted critters. Unfortunately Lance has been sprayed twice by skunks in his career. One would think that he would learn the first time.

All dogs that are selected for the calendar are in the running for the ―Dog of the Year‖. Voting is conducted at the Golf Industry Show in February. The winning dog earns $3,000 for the local golf course superintendent association, along with $500 for the dog and his or her family and $500 for the local humane society.

Lance on duty at Del Rio C.C.

Good Luck Lance!

BESURE TO CAST YOUR VOTE FOR LANCE!!!!

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FROM THE FIELD

JEFF JENSEN, GCSAA FIELD STAFF, SOUTHWEST REGION

By the time you are reading this column, early registraJeff Jensen tion for the 2014 Golf Industry Show, Education Conference and GCSAA Golf Championships will be moving full speed ahead. The events are scheduled for Feb. 1-6 in Orlando, Fla. While the event is being held across the country, GCSAA is expecting a great turnout from all of our Sierra Nevada members.

The Education Conference, with a new Monday – Thursday format, will feature over 75 seminars (including 16 new seminars), 40 sessions and over 450 hours of education. Two new networking events have been added to the mix, including an Opening Night celebration that will be held on Feb. 4 and a Closing Ceremony that will be held on the evening of Feb. 6.

The Golf Industry Show will feature over 175,000 square feet of exhibit space and 500 exhibitors highlighting the most inno-

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vative products and services in the golf maintenance industry. Numerous exhibitors will be offering show discounts and the floor is a great place to network with fellow superintendents and other GCSAA members.

Conference and show registration for GCSAA members begins Nov. 5 and can be completed online at www2.gcsaa.org/conference/registr ation. Both events will be held at the Orange County Convention Center.

The GCSAA Golf Championships, presented in partnership with Toro, will take place Feb. 1-3 (Continued on page 9)

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FIELD PAGE 8

at six Orlando area courses. The Grand Floridian Hotel, on the grounds of the Walt Disney World Resort, will serve as the host hotel. The featured courses include Disney’s Lake, Palm and Magnolia layouts, Hawk’s Landing Golf Club, Marriott’s Grande Pines Golf Club and Celebration Golf Club.

The four ball event will be contested on Feb. 1 with the National Championship and Golf Classic taking place Feb. 2-3 and a fun-filled shamble for nontournament participants on Feb. 2.

The National Championship is a 36-hole stroke-play event open to qualifying members (Class A, Superintendent Member,

Class C, A-Ret., SuperintendentRet., Class C-Ret., and AA-Life) within a handicap index range not exceeding 5.0.

The Golf Classic offers a more relaxed competition and is open to all GCSAA members with a verifiable handicap. The 36hole event uses a point quota scoring system and is flighted by handicap with both a gross and a net competition available in each flight.

Registration for all the golf events is currently open on a first come, first serve basis. Register at http://www2.gcsaa.org/conference /tournament/.

WANTED : Toro 660 sprinklers/parts.

Please contact Jim at jsweegs122@yahoo.com or (916) 716-3140.

The SNGCSA is now on Facebook and Twitter.

Check it out!

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM H O L I DA Y P A R T Y At left Molly Payne & Tally Scully organized the event for the association.

THANK YOU!

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At left are Robin & Bill Hamilton.

At right Michael and Tally Scully.

Below are Jessie & Elizabeth Creencia

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Jesse & Lindsey Sequin

Jeremy & Molly Payne

Happy Holidays

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Linda Haldane & Sean O’Brien

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Pete & Nina Bowman

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Happy Holidays

Jim & L

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Joe & Delores Goldbronn

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Coy & Chuck

Tally

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM ELECTION MEETING Thank you to hosts Rob Williams and Pete Fredeen pictured at left.

Above is Corey Eastwood and Jim Duhig Above Jeremy Payne turns the reins over to Jesse Sequin as president of the association. Jeremy accepts his plaque in appreciation for his service to the association. THANK YOU JEREMY!

Above is Mike Olson, and at right is Dave Bermudez with Gary Otto.

Above special guest Jim Alwine

Pete Bowman and Scott McCullough

5322 N. Leonard Ave. Clovis, CA 93619