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Member Spotlight
Joshua Smith - Sales Representative @ Advanced Turf Solutions Where did you grow up? I grew up in Angleton, TX about halfway between Houston and Surfside on the coast. How did you get into the green industry?
To start, I had my own lawn care business in High School. After that I worked for a Landscape Maintenance company, and ultimately at The Wilderness Golf Course in Lake Jackson. My time at The Wilderness made me decide that the green industry is right for me. I had been going to Brazosport College to get my transfer credits for a BBA at UH, but I instead transferred over to Texas State Technical College-Waco and did their AAS Golf Course and Landscape Management program. Tell us about your job. I am the sole Sales Representative for Advanced Turf Solutions for the state of Texas. It is a great company, with a bunch of really great people to work with and based in the Indianapolis area. I've been with them in this capacity for about four months now. Things are going well, and starting to pick up for myself/us. Name an interesting fact about yourself. Really not much to say here other than I was born having checked out before checking in (my umbilical cord choked me out on the way into the world). The docs and nurses got me going though and I've been here for 37 years. It's good to know that I was meant to be here; now I'm just experiencing life and figuring out the reason why. What sports teams do you root for? Baseball - Astros, Red Sox. Football - Texans, AZ Cardinals, Saints. Basketball - not really a fan. College - TTU, A&M, UH.
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Member Spotlight
Will Hoppe - Superintendent @ Golf Club of Houston Where did you grow up? I grew up in Central Wisconsin, not too far from where the Sand Valley Golf Resort was built. I really enjoyed growing up in Wisconsin. We golfed pretty much every day there wasn't snow on the ground (and even sometimes when there was). How did you get into the green industry? I've had pretty much every job at a golf course you can imagine and the one I loved the most was working outside on the maintenance crew. I attended the 2-year program at Rutgers University starting in the Fall of 2014 and I've been working in the turf industry ever since. Tell us about your job. I still struggle to explain to people what I do for a living so I like to keep it simple. I think Chris Zugel who is the Director of Golf Course Maintenance at Whistling Straits summed it up best in an interview he gave once when he said "I just tell people I mow grass". Name an interesting fact about yourself. My wife, Andrea, has always had the travel bug and we've been to some truly amazing places together around the world. My top 3 spots I've visited are Petra in Jordan, Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, and Borneo in Indonesia. What sports teams do you root for? I love my Packers, Bucks, Brewers, and Badgers. Been pretty spoiled in my lifetime for having some championships and deep runs in the playoffs for each of these teams.
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Current Standings Superintendents Justin Lonon - 88 Jason Barrington - 82 AJ Pursley - 82 Wade Warms - 81 Richard Kane - 75
Affiliates Chris Mrosko - 82 Dale Bowman - 80 Jack Hargrove - 80 Scott Dotson - 79 Brandon Cole - 77 Rick Partain - 77
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GCM'S MOST VALUABLE TECHNICIAN AWARD Choose the 2022 MVT Read the nominations submitted by golf course superintendents to learn about these EM members' valuable contributions to their golf facilities, and then vote for the technician most deserving of this year's award. Online voting closes July 15, and the winner will be profiled in an upcoming issue of the magazine. James Blackwelder The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas A veteran of the Marine Corps during Vietnam, Blackwelder is an industry veteran who manages two equipment shops at Carlton Woods, located three miles apart. Timothy Huber, CGCS, the club’s director of agronomy who nominated Blackwelder for the Most Valuable Technician Award, describes him as a “hands-on and high-energy” equipment manager who places special emphasis on shop organization, cleanliness and safety. Blackwelder is as skilled with a wrench in his hand as he is in managing shop operations at Carlton Woods, with industry certifications from a host of manufacturers, including Jacobsen, John Deere and Foley Co. “He deserves this recognition because he is a grinder (no pun intended) every day and truly holds our operation together,” Huber says.
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TODAY
Title Sponsor:
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Pat Johnston 281-236-3695
Nick Inberg 979-309-9411
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Enter your golf canine companion in LebanonTurf’s 2023 Dog Days of Golf Calendar and Dog of the Year contest. If selected for the calendar, your dog will also have a chance to be crowned 2023 Dog of the Year, garnering a $3,000 prize for your affiliated chapter and a $500 prize for you. A $2,000 charitable donation will also be made to K9’s for Warriors by GCSAA and LebanonTurf in honor of the winner. Entries are being accepted now through Aug. 1, 2022. Be creative, have some fun, and by all means, show off your dog! For more information and to submit your entry, please visit: www.gcsaa.org/dog-calendar.
The 2023 Dog Days of Calendar is sponsored by LebanonTurf in cooperation with GCSAA.
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2022 Dog of the Year Ruby, a 3-year old Labrador Retriever Owner: Gabe Gallo Golf Course: Fiddlesticks CC in Fort Myers, FL. Photographer: Gabe Gallo
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THANK YOU TO OUR 2022 silver SPONSOR!!
THANK YOU TO OUR 2022 bronze SPONSORS!!
Thank you to our 2022 hole sponsor!
Thank you to our 2022 DRINK sponsor!