AGCSA Action - June 2013

June 2013

AGCSA Member Newsletter

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ith the 29th Australian Turfgrass Conference and Trade Exhibition now just days away, the premise of a week of learning, networking and hopefully warm weather has got those heading to Twin Waters looking forward to an enjoyable time. With a different format initiated this year, it will be interesting to hear delegates’ feedback, so when the opportunity arises don’t be backward in coming forward with your thoughts which will enable us to accommodate changes at future conferences.

It is pleasing to see such a great response from the trade this year and this can be attributed to the efforts of our general manager Peter Frewin who has been working on forging closer ties between the AGCSA and our trade partners.

As well as the lectures providing a great opportunity to gain knowledge (if you can take home three things your time has been well spent), the value of networking can never be underestimated. I’m sure one topic that will be generating conversation is the state of not just our part of the industry, but the golf industry as a whole.

With the economy just ticking along, the average person’s disposable income seems to be shrinking and one of the

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AGCSA Publications Survey p2-3 Staff changes impact AGCSA

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AGCSA Membership Survey p4-5 Doodson new director

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From the

Board Brett Balloch

Director, AGCSA Superintendent, Anglesea Golf Club

first things often given up is leisure items which, unfortunately, can include golf.

Coupled with some of the weather events the country has experienced over the last few years (especially in Queensland) and many clubs are doing it hard.

Another area that is affecting traditional membership is some of the newer social club memberships available such as those offered by Crown and RACV found in Victoria that allows players to get an official handicap without joining a golf club. I’m sure every state has something happening along these lines also. All of this is forcing clubs to be a bit more creative keeping revenue coming in.

On a positive note, Golf Australia’s recent research has found the number of rounds being played is on the rise. We can only hope that Adam Scott’s great win at Augusta in April may give the game the further kick-start it needs.

We have heard of some clubs in Queensland being under administration and now in Victoria the St Andrews Private Golf Club development is shutting its doors before it has really got started. One

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cannot help but feel for superintendent John Geary who must be questioning the ‘lightning never strikes twice’ theory.

You have to sometimes wonder if the developers of these projects have a full understanding of just what they are getting into at times. The Board and staff of the AGCSA wish John every success in the future and to John’s credit he will still be putting together the ‘Keeping it Green’ newsletter for us.

The AGCSA is far from immune in these times and just as many clubs are finding, we are being forced to produce the same services with stagnant or reduced budgets. The 2012/2013 AGCSA Annual Report which was released in late May (it is available for download through the members’ area of the website) and clearly shows examples of these hard economic times. Both the Board and staff are working hard to ensure our association remains in a strong position in the future. There are many great services provided by the AGCSA such as AGCSATech, our water and environment initiatives and the HR and Best Practice Service. So if you have any soil or disease samples for diagnosis, or just need some advice, the Board strongly encourages members to please use these services.

Down at club level, it is becoming more important that we as superintendents need to be proactive in providing information to our respective boards/committees and members of the outcomes that reduced budgets will have on course presentation.

From the small country clubs through to the larger metropolitan clubs, it is all relevant; the pressure is just the same. It can be very frustrating at times trying to Continued on page 5

JOURNAL

Strong response rate to 2012 AGCSA Publications Survey

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n late November/early December 2012, the AGCSA conducted the 2012 AGCSA Publications Survey.

This survey has been conducted annually since 2008 and provides important feedback from ATM readers regarding its content and performance.

The survey was hosted online through Survey Monkey and completed by 597 Australian turf industry practitioners, the strongest response rate the AGCSA has had since the surveys first began.

What follows is a summary of the key statistics to emerge from the 2012 survey.

The figures in bold brackets represent averaged results across the last three surveys (2009, 2010 and 2011):

597 people took part in the 2012 survey with those in the golf course management sector the predominant respondents (61.3%) (64.6%). This represents a response rate of nearly 22 per cent (as a comparison, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America has a 14 per cent response rate to its annual Golf Readership Survey); l As an overall publication, 98.8 per cent of respondents rated ATM as either ‘Excellent’ (59.1%) or ‘Good’ (39.7%).

In conjunction with this question we also asked respondents to indicate what sections within each edition they read (see Table 1 for full results) and also the quality of the content within each section (see Table 2). l ATM continues to be a leading source of turf industry research and technical content for practitioners, with 79.1 per cent (83.5%) using it as their primary source for turf research and technical information; l 95.6 per cent of respondents either ‘Always’ (57.5%) or ‘Sometimes’ (38.1%) read research content presented in ATM; l When asked to comment about the quality of the research content provided in ATM, 94.8 per cent (91.4%) of respondents said it was either ‘Excellent’ (38.2%) or ‘Good’ (56.6%); l 55.4 per cent (63%) of those respondents who used ATM as a source of turf research and technical content indicated they used between 20-50 per cent of that information and applied it to their every-day turf management practices; l 66.8 per cent (64%) of respondents thought there was enough turf research and technical content being published in ATM. l Nearly 94.4 per cent of all respondents said The Cut email newsletter was either ‘Excellent’ (41.9%) or ‘Good’ (52.5%) l

professional use just 14 per cent.

Nearly 74 per cent said that Zoysiagrasses the use of social networking tools to assist their every-day Remnant Jack The Australian ’s back refuges redevelopment turf management operations was eras of ‘minor importance’ or ‘not The end of two AFL ground redevelopments Tournamenst Blundstone Arena AFL arms race 2013 Women’s important’. Just over 18 per cent reviewters Arden Street Australian Open 2012 Talisker MasOpen Royal Canberra said it was important and eight Australian rates Emi feels the heat 2 201 29th Australi an per cent said very important. en Tu Op rfg ’s rass Conferen omenshine for centenaryBirth of a golf course 2013 W ce ra set to Table 3 below provides usage Royal Canber St Andrews Private comes to life statistics for the varying social media platforms. l Nearly 15 per cent of respondents said Social media tools An additional section to the 2012 survey they had a course maintenance blog/ looked at the use of social media tools by Facebook page/Twitter feed with 10 per industry members. Here is some of the cent indicating they are considering feedback generated from the survey in starting one. See the breakout bottom relation to this growing medium: of opposite page for links to course maintenance blogs, Facebook pages l When asked to describe the usage and Twitter feeds set up by AGCSA members. of social networking tools, 51 per l Three quarters of all respondents cent indicated they did so for a mix of personal and professional use. owned a smartphone and 42 per cent Personal use only was 34 per cent and a tablet device. niCators

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AGCSA

volume 15.1

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ISSN 1442-2697 www.agcsa.com.au

volume 15.3

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may-JuN 2013

JaN-Feb 2013

ental turfgrass

AGCSA

AGCSA

volume 15.2 mar-apr 2013

Topp of the class

The environm

Twin Waters Golf

Club

Biodiversity project update

Profile: Phil

Phil The nomad returnsKnight home

salutes O’Shannessy after 52 years arch Redlands Reseits doors Station closes

Essendon and GWS training facilities Centimetre perfe ct - Punt Rd Oval

construction construction

29th Australian Turfgrass Conference and Trade Exhibition Sunshine Coast June 23-28

2013

AGCSA

Conference Guide

Your one-stop

guide to the Sun shine Coast

Table 1. Readership trends ATM Content Editorial Foreword Thinking Features AGCSATech Update John Neylan Column The Pulse Research Regional Profile News Around the Trade Turf Producers State Reports

Always Sometimes Rarely Never 50% 41 8 1 44 48 7 1 76 22 1 1 53 40 6 1 43 47 8 2 52 42 5 1 58 38 3 1 52 41 6 1 66 30 3 1 61 32 6 1 31 51 16 2 48 40 11 1

Table 2. Quality of content ATM Content Editorial Foreword Thinking Features AGCSATech Update John Neylan Column The Pulse Research Regional Profile News Around the Trade Turf Producers State Reports

Excellent Good Average Poor 38% 56 6 26 68 6 51 46 3 36 60 4 33 61 6 32 62 6 38 57 5 34 60 6 34 63 3 28 66 6 17 72 11 23 67 9 1

Table 3. Social media usage Social Media Personal Professional Personal + Don’t Use Platform Use Only Use Only Professional

Use Facebook 33% 2 24 41 Twitter 7 4 7 82 Blogs 3 8 8 81 Linked-In 2 18 9 71 YouTube 16 6 46 32 Google+ 10 7 62 21 Flickr 2 5 6 87 Other popular platforms used: Skype

Staff changes impact AGCSA head office

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ll AGCSA members would be aware from a recent report in our weekly email newsletter The Cut that Lyndel Conway (pictured) is no longer employed in the position of membership manager and office administrator at the AGCSA. Following a great deal of investigation and deliberation over the past few months by general manager Peter Frewin, the AGCSA Board at its last meeting agreed to his recommendation to make the position of membership manager and office administrator redundant. While it was a very difficult decision to make, it was agreed that this was in the best interests of the AGCSA. At the same meeting the AGCSA Board confirmed that it was essential for the AGCSA to invest heavily in a new website to allow greater use of social media and open up advertising opportunities to the turf industry. As a consequence of this upgrade and the technological advances associated with it, many of the core duties associated with the role of membership manager and office administrator will be automated or significantly changed.

Lyndel did a great job with her core duties (membership, bookshop and apparel) but with advances in technology and reduced book sales which have affected the entire publishing industry not just the AGCSA, the tough decision had to be made.

Lyndel has been a great contributor to the success of the AGCSA during her employment tenure and we wish her well for the future.

Lyndel started with the AGCSA shortly after the 2009 Australian Turfgrass Conference in Hobart, arriving after admin and membership roles with the Swimming Pool and Spas Association and Access Guard Franchising. Lyndel finished up with the AGCSA on 31 May 2013 and wished to relay the following message to all members: “I have thoroughly enjoyed working for all AGCSA members who are the most passionate, down to earth and genuine group of people I have worked for. And, of course, I am very sad to leave such a dedicated and fun bunch of people as the AGCSA staff. I would also like to thank (former general manager) John Neylan for initially giving me the opportunity to work with you all.”

At the recent meeting, the Board took the opportunity to speak to the staff present as a group and also ‘one on one’. These discussions were both forthright and positive. During the meeting AGCSA president Peter Lonergan stated: “The AGCSA was at a crossroad and some tough decisions will need to be made going forward”.

Like many, the AGCSA is seeing reduced income entering the organisation and some rationalisation of staff and activities

Like these!

Check out some of these course maintenance blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds that AGCSA members and their facilities have started up (click on the names to access): Blogs Wollongong Golf Club, NSW Coolangatta & Tweed Heads Golf Club, QLD Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club, QLD Killara Golf Club, NSW Northbridge Golf Club, NSW Blackwood Golf Club, SA Twitter Killara Golf Club – Ryan Fury Colin Campbell (Chemicals) Sanctuary Cove GCG – Robin Doodson Brisbane Golf Club – Brett Morris Ashgrove Sports Grounds – David Phillips ServeAg Golf Australia

will need to take place. While unfortunate, it is essential to place the association in a good position for the medium and longterm. The AGCSA is fortunate to have excellent cash reserves, but the current Board and executive staff are adamant that these funds should not be used for the day-to-day operation of the AGCSA. As detailed in The Cut, in the short-term all membership enquiries should be directed as follows: l General

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enquiries: Peter Frewin (general manager) 03 9548 8600 or peter@agcsa.com.au Invoicing and payments: Philip Horsburgh (finance manager) 03 9548 8600 or philip@agcsa.com.au

Membership cards and certificates for renewing members will be sent out in July following the upcoming Australian Turfgrass Conference and the AGCSA trusts this delay in receiving your membership information will not cause any inconvenience.

The AGCSA also wishes to advise that the member gift this year differs from that given in previous years. This year’s gift is a complimentary AGCSATech disease diagnosis voucher valued at $90. There are certain conditions relating to the voucher including: l l

One voucher per golf club/turf facility; The time of year which golf clubs/turf facilities in each state can redeem the voucher: Vic, SA and Tas (1 Sep-30 Nov 2013); NSW, Qld, WA and NT (1 Nov-31 Jan 2013 - excludes 21 Dec-12 Jan 2013).

Facebook Mandurah CC, WA Yarra Bend Golf, VIC Creative Golf Management Premier Greenkeeping Aquatek Crafter + Mogford Golf Strategies Jacobsen Turf Equipment Cairns Golf Club, QLD Sanctuary Cove G&CC, QLD Living Turf Gisborne Golf Club, VIC Vivesco Bundaberg Golf Club, QLD Bernhard & Co Busselton Golf Club, WA Australian Sports Turf Consultants If you have a course blog, Facebook page, or Twitter feed then send the address/handle to AGCSA editor Brett Robinson and we will add it to the AGCSA website.

2012 AgcSA Members Survey – What You Said as their preferred method of training their work force, 14 per cent private RTOs and 23 per cent a mix of the two. l Nearly 80 per cent of respondents supported the AGCSA becoming a registered training provider, thereby ensuring a uniform standard of education industry-wide. In addition, more than 80 per cent of respondents said they would like to see the AGCSA offer training/workshops that count towards a management qualification (e.g.: Cert IV or Diploma of Sports Turf Management). l 65 per cent said all AGCSA members, irrespective of their membership category, should be eligible to join the AGCSA Accreditation Programme, accrue points and achieve accreditation status.

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s well as the 2012 AGCSA Publications Survey, the AGCSA Members Survey was also conducted in late 2012. The biennial survey was completed by 293 members with 70 per cent of respondents aged between 31-50. Superintendent members of the association accounted for more than 57 per cent of respondents.

Here is a summary of some of the key statistics generated from the survey which will be of interest to AGCSA members:

member of their staff) spent on WHS management and environmental management, more than 70 per cent indicated they spent between 1-2 hours on each. l When asked what professional development areas members would like to see covered through workshops ‘Agronomy’ was the most popular (97%) followed by ‘Financial management’ (84%), IT/Computer skills’ (79%), ‘Negotiation skills’ (76%), ‘Conflict resolution’ (75%) and ‘Time management’ (74%). l 73 per cent of respondents said they had a document signed employment contract or agreement, 27 per cent didn’t have one. Of those who did, nearly 60 per cent had a performance review annually. 62 per cent said their staff received a performance review annually.

Membership l When asked what they valued most from their AGCSA membership, members rated ‘Access to media resources (e.g. ATM Journal) (97.3%) and ‘Networking opportunities’ (96%) as the most important followed by ‘Attending the conference and educational workshops’ (89.5%), ‘Access to water and environment initiatives’ (78.4%),’Opportunity to have a voice within our industry’ (75.3%), ‘Access to HR and Best Practice Service (72.9%) and ‘Accreditation’ (49.6%) l More than a third of AGCSA members who responded had been members of the association for between 2-5 years.

Six-10 year members constituted 21 per cent, 11-15 year members 16 per cent, 16-20 year members 10 per cent and 21-plus year members 12 per cent. l General satisfaction levels with the AGCSA were high. On a scale of 1-5 (with 1 being poor and 5 being excellent) nearly 73 per cent rated the AGCSA as either a 4 or 5.

AGCSATech l Only 23 per cent of respondents used AGCSATech analytical services. The main reasons given for not using AGCSATech services were ‘Currently utilising trade/chemical suppliers services’ (51%) or ‘Currently utilising services of other consultant’s services’ (34%). l When asked what workshops you would like AGCSATech to undertake, the most popular topic was ‘Water management’ (58%), followed by ‘Environmental management’ (54%), ‘Poa annua control/management’ (49%) and ‘Construction’ and ‘Warmseason grass management (both 42%).

HR and Best Practice l When asked how many hours per week (on average) members (or a

Turf management training/AGCSA Accreditation Programme l 63 per cent of respondents used TAFE

Media l 37 per cent of respondents said they had accessed the Michigan State University’s Turfgrass Information File (TGIF) through the members area of the AGCSA website. Of those who had accessed it, 93.5 per cent said they found it to be a useful resource.

(At the upcoming 29th Australian Turfgrass Conference John Neylan will be presenting on the use of online research tools, including how to best utilise the respective TGIF search functions – the webcast of this presentation will be uploaded to the members area shortly after the conference). l Nearly two thirds of respondents were aware of the AGCSA Forum in the members area of the website, but less than 10 per cent of those had made a post. When asked why they didn’t post, more than 70 per cent said they preferred to just observe or didn’t due to time constraints.

Perhaps the most constructive aspect of the survey was the open ended questions which sought members’ comments, feedback and ideas. The sheer amount of comment, both positive and negative, was very encouraging and has provided the AGCSA with plenty of food for thought as it looks to improve upon its core services now and into the future.

One of the most notable things, however, was the comment by many of services they wished the AGCSA provided but which are already available to members through the member’s area: Some examples were: l All editions of Australian Turfgrass Management Journal are now produced in a digital format (e-book/ flipbook) which are contained within the ATM Archive section. Each edition

is also available for download in a PDF format again through the ATM Archive Section. l AGCSA members are entitled to 30 minutes of free legal advice through the AGCSA’s lawyers Madgwicks Solutions. l The HR and Best Practice Service contains a range of course management templates, sample employment contracts, position descriptions, wages and salaries information, Course Operations Induction Manual for new staff, club board members and general managers. l The majority of presentations made at the annual Australian Turfgrass Conference are now videoed.

Delegates receive immediate access to current year webcasts (i.e.: if you attended the 2012 conference you will be sent links to all those webcasts once they have been processed) and past year’s webcasts are located on the AGCSA website – www.agcsa.com.au/ video 12 months after the conference.

Currently the website has a full suite of webcasts from the 2010 and 2011 conferences with last year’s webcasts to be uploaded shortly. l Apprentice membership of the AGCSA is FREE (however, all apprentices must be undertaking a recognised turf management training course) Other clarifications: l User names and passwords to the members’ area of the AGCSA website: A perennial favourite, your user name is your name (as you would type/write it ‘Joe Bloggs’) and your password is your AGCSA membership number. l To post a job on the AGCSA website costs members $220. Compare this to the base rate of $225 for an online

website such as Seek which then charges additional loadings depending on word count, salary etc. The Jobs page is the most visited section on the AGCSA website with more than 1000 individual hits per week. Jobs posted are also included in the AGCSA’s weekly email newsletter The Cut for two weeks (The Cut goes out to more than 3300 individual emails each week).

To readvertise a previously advertised position costs $110.

Once again, the AGCSA thanks all those members who took the time to fill out the recent survey and we look forward to improving the association to meet your needs. For more information about the AGCSA Member Survey contact general manager Peter Frewin on (03) 9548 8600 or email peter@agcsa.com.au

AGCSA

from the board Continued from page 1 get our message across, but we must continue to keep pressing our case.

I’m sure everyone has been aware of and following the situation in NSW, and if there is one thing to be taken out of the situation it is that we need to be doing the right thing by ourselves, our clubs and the environment. It may all be best encapsulated under ‘good governance’ which has been in the news lately.

To the staff at the AGCSA who do a lot of work ‘behind the scenes’, a big thank you from all involved in the association. To all those that have been nominated for awards at this year’s conference, congratulations.

See you at Twin Waters.

Brett Balloch Director, AGCSA Superintendent, Anglesea GC

AGCSA Board set to welcome Doodson as new director

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obin Doodson (pictured) will be officially confirmed as an AGCSA Board Director at the upcoming Annual General Meeting to be held during the 29th Australian Turfgrass Conference. The Sanctuary Cove G&CC superintendent and GCSAQ committee member will replace former Club Catalina Country Club course superintendent Tony Fogarty who stepped down from the Board at the start of this year following his decision to take up a trade posting with Living Turf.

Initially the AGCSA had received three nominations for the two vacant Board of Director positions, however, following the last minute withdrawal of nominee Allan Devlin (Secret Harbour, WA), an election was no longer required. Along

with Doodson, incumbent board member and AGCSA treasurer Darren Wilson (Wembley Golf Complex, WA) will also be confirmed for a further two-year stint on the Board after successfully renominating.

A full profile on Robin will appear in the next AGCSA Action newsletter.

Just to remind all AGCSA members, the details for the upcoming 2013 AGCSA Annual General Meeting are as follows: l Where: Mudjimba Rooms, Novotel Twin Waters Resort l When: Wednesday 26 June (3.15pm – please note earlier time) The 2012-2013 AGCSA Annual Report has also been posted in the members area of the AGCSA website under the AGM menu tab.

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