ACTSTMA

Ihope everyone around the trade had a great Christmas and New Year break. Unfortunately for me personally that wasn’t the case as here at Gold Creek Country Club we hosted the Jack Newton Week of Golf from 2-6 January. This event saw 112 of the country’s best up and coming junior male and female golfers taking part across the week (read more about the event in our tournament wrap earlier this edition - Ed) while Royal Perth, Hamersley and Margaret River all welcomed new superintendents (see the ‘On the move’ breakout opposite – Ed). Speaking of Margaret River, plans are well underway for this year’s GCSAWA conference in August. There will be about 15 presentations and as always plenty of socialising, education, food and drink. Please reach out if you are interested in coming over and attending. We will release all the info in the next month or so.

On behalf of the ACTSTMA I would like to congratulate Lachlan Deep (Garangula Polo Fields) and Riley Willcox (Gold Creek CC) as winners of this year’s Living Turf Graduate of the Year Awards. The boys interviewed exceptionally well and are a credit to their workplace and will now represent the association at this year’s Australian Sports Turf Management Conference in Adelaide. A big thank you to Living Turf for again sponsoring the award.

In other event news, the TAFE Awards Night is booked in for 28 March at the Swan Yacht Club, followed closely by the WA Golf Industry Awards Night a few days later on 31 March at the Crown Ballroom. The Trade Challenge, which is the most attended GCSAWA event each year, is booked in for 17 May at Secret Harbour.

Since TMSA was formally incorporated and operational in October 2022, the committee has had a very busy time. Before turning to membership and sponsorship, the association’s administrative structure needed to be established to ensure proper governance practices.

A number of new members have recently joined and all current members will join the newly created TMSA in the upcoming fiscal year. The great amount of interest already is exciting to see. The sponsorship programme has exploded and we have welcomed back past sponsors from the STA SA and the SAGCSA, as well as a number of new ones who have jumped on board. The committee is eager to collaborate with our partners in order to suit their sponsorship needs.

The ACTSTMA Golf Day will be held at Royal Canberra Golf Club on 1 May with further details to be sent out shortly. We thank superintendent Ryan Stores and the club for allowing us to use their course. Hopefully we can get as many entries as possible and have a great day of networking.

The Canberra Racing Club will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its greatest race, the Group 3 John McGrath Auto Group Black Opal Stakes, this Canberra Day long weekend (1213 March). The 2023 Canberra Racing Carnival is made up of the Black Opal Stakes Race Day on the Sunday and the family-focused TAB Canberra Cup Race Day on the Monday, featuring the Hartley Hall Markets. The ACTSTMA wishes Adam Ayre and his staff at Thoroughbred Park all the best for this event.

SIMON SNEDDEN COMMITTEE, ACTSTMA

Kooyonga Golf Club will host our first event – the official launch of the new association –on 23 February. We are excited to welcome Wayne Phillips, a former Australian Test cricketer, as a guest speaker. The committee are eager to welcome members, sponsors and industry colleagues to what should be a fantastic networking event. The regular program offered previously by the former STA SA will continue with the annual Drop-in Pitch event held by Adelaide Oval head curator Damian Hough taking place on 27 February

The new association website and TMSA social media platforms have been created. The website is www.turfmanagementsa.au and we encourage all in the industry to follow us on Facebook (@TurfManagementSA) and Instagram (@turfmanagementsa).

The committee would like to express its gratitude to Marie Cunningham, our recently appointed executive officer, for the tremendous amount of work she has contributed; without her expertise and assistance the amalgamation would not be where it is today.

NATHAN BENNETT ACTING CHAIR, TMSA

Trio Receive John Hood Agfr Memorial Scholarships

Three young Australian greenkeepers were named recipients of the John Hood Memorial Scholarship by the Australian Golfing Fellowship of Rotarians (AGFR).

Each year the AGFR awards a greenkeeping scholarship to the value of $5000, but with COVID wreaking havoc in recent years it decided to name three recipients in 2023. In early January, Sam McGaffin (Sorrento GC, Vic), Will Stratford (Kooyonga GC, SA) and Jonty Mullins (Barnbougle Dunes, Tas) were all confirmed as scholarship recipients and will now undertake an internship in the US through The Ohio Program (TOP).

Stratford has been placed at Muirfield Village GC, the home course of Jack Nicklaus, in Columbus Ohio, while Mullins will be down the road at the Donald Rossdesigned Scioto Country Club. McGaffin has been placed at Chevy Chase GC in

Washington DC which is home to ex-pat Australian Stephen Britton who is the club’s director of agronomy and a past TOP intern.

Originally from Tumby Bay north of Port Lincoln, Stratford moved to Adelaide in December 2018 to take on apprenticeship at Kooyonga Golf Club under superintendent Richard James. Mullins has been employed at Barnbougle for the past seven years and has risen to be one of superintendent Phil Hill’s leading spray technicians. McGaffin started his apprenticeship at Sorrento in March 2015 and has become a key part of superintendent Shane Greenhill’s crew.