Ma rc h / A p ri l 2 0 1 2
FORE YOUR INFORMATION 2 0 12 M E E T I N G S & E D U C A T I O N
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
President’s Message
2
Meeting Schedule
3
TechTips
5
GrassRoots Tournament
6
Government Relations Update
7
From the Field
8
Association Update
11
Meeting Highlights
12
Meeting Highlights
14
Dates to Remember May 21, 2012 Arbuckle Golf Course Hosted by Craig McDonald
Sierra Nevada GCSA An Affiliate Chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
BECOMING BETTER PARTNERS WITH OUR ALLIED ORGANIZATIONS BY JEREMY PAYNE
The 2012 year has already gotten off to a great start. For the first time in a long time, the Grassroots meeting, held at William Land Park by host superintendent Bob Cline, enjoyed nice, seasonable weather with no rain! The event was well attended with over half of the attendees being crew members and leaders instead of the usual flock of mostly superintendents. Awards were presented to Jim Alwine for Member of the Year, Matt Hoyt for Turfgrass Manager of
the Year, Kelly Kerr for Affiliate of the Year and Bob Cline for the President’s Grassroots Award. All were very deserving recipients. The event was capped off by an engaging presentation by Pat Finlen, superintendent of the Olympic Club, on their preparations for the soon-to-be hosted 2012 U.S. Open. Overall, a great start to another great year. If you haven’t checked out the meeting line-up here in the newsletter or online, please do
so soon, and mark your calendars, as nearly every meeting date has been set with the exception of October and the Christmas Party in December. Our next few events take us to a couple of courses that are a bit off the beaten path, but provide some excellent, quality local golf. Cypress Lakes, with host superintendent Joe Goldbronn, takes place in April, with education by Brian Whitlark of the USGA. (Continued on page 4)
2012 SCHOLARSHIP & RESEARCH TOURNAMENT BY DAVE BERMUDEZ
SNGCSA members, before we know, it will be time for the chapter’s Research and Scholarship Tournament. This year’s tournament is scheduled on July 23rd at North Ridge Country Club. We thank Larry Johnson CGCS, our host superintendent for offering
us his fine facility for this special event. We would like to take a moment to acknowledge everybody who made last year’s tournament a huge success. Our major sponsor was Syngenta and Joe Ballmer, who purchased the tee prizes. We would like to thank all the
golf industries suppliers that paid for equipment displays, donated items for the live auction, sponsored meals, tee signs and games on the course. Superintendents, we also want like to thank you for attending, bringing guest and some great prizes for (Continued on page 4)
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Fore Your Information EDITOR Jim Alwine Stockton Golf & Country Club
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
209-462-6734
OFFICE SNGCSA 5322 N. Leonard Clovis, CA 93619 559-298-6262 Fax# 559-298-6957 sngcsaa@aol.com Jeff Couwenhoven PRESIDENT Jeff Couwenhoven Woodcreek Golf Course 916-771-7370
VICE PRESIDENT Jeremy Payne Winchester C.C. 916-817-8106
SECRETARY/TREASURER Jesse Seguin Lincoln Hills Golf Course 916-434-7200
PAST PRESIDENT Jim Alwine Stockton Golf & Country Club 209-462-6734
DIRECTORS Dave Bermudez Del Rio Golf & Country Club 209-341-2413 Scott McCullough The Ridge Golf Course
The year is buzzing along nicely now and many of the facilities in the Sierra Nevada Superintendents region have gone through the spring enjoying a bit of rain, snow, and fun practices such as aeration and sorts. Being a new superintendent to the mountains, I am experiencing snow removal for the first time and learning that new trait. But, as we progress in the season of spring and transition into summer it is often easy to lose balance in our lives. The days get longer and the turf starts to grow faster and we tend to dive into our profession with both feet if we haven’t already done so. I would like to encourage
BY
JEFF
each and every one of us to take time during the season to enjoy themselves and their families. Hopefully everyone can get out to one of our events that are planned through the year. We have a meeting for everyone. Our focus this year is to get reconnected with our allied industry association partners and to connect with our research institutions. This will give us perspective of the industry and the role we play in the current environment of the golfing industry. I am proud to be a member of the SNGCSA. I am also proud to be able to say that this year is going to be a great year for our association. But to continue this success we need you, as a membership, to remain active, involved, and proud as well. Take a look at this issue of our newsletter and look over our meeting calendar. I look forward to seeing you at a meeting
530-888-7122 ext 2 Bob Franco Van Buskirk Golf Course 209-598-0564 Kurtis Wolford Cherry Island Golf Course 916-991-7659
Affiliate Representatives Dave Wilber Sierra Pacific Turf Supply
Floratine AquaVive Bio-Amp JRM Farmload Distributors
Phoenix AnaLync Gro-Power Aqua-Pucks (800) 322-8417
Your Exclusive Northern California Dealers
916-630-7600 Pete Bowman Target Specialty Products
Mike Farmen
Bob Francischine
559-709-6295
209-747-2206
FORE YOUR INFORMATION
Thor Larson
Published by the Sierra Nevada Golf Course Superintendents Association
831-277-4356
Guy Auxer 303-601-2361
916-396-9394
COUWENHOVEN
soon. Also feel free to contact me at any time with ideas, and items we should be looking into for our association to continue to provide you with information and professional support.
Jeff Don’t miss out on an issue, an announcement, or important information. Call the Association office today to verify your email address is correct.
559-298-6262 or email us at
sngcsaa@aol.com
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MEETING SCHEDULE April 24, 2012
August 13, 2012
William Land G.C. Field Day
May 21, 2012
Tri Chapter Event Hosted by Northern California GCSA TPC Stonebrae Host Superintendent Dave Davies, CGCS
Arbuckle Golf Course Host Superintendent Craig McDonald
September 17, 2012
June 11, 2012 Sierra View C.C. Host Superintendent Kyle Dykstra, CGCS
July 23, 2012 Annual Scholarship and Research Tournament North Ridge Country Club Host Superintendent Larry Johnson, CGCS
Grizzly Ranch Golf Course Host Superintendent Mike Baty
October 2012 Pending Confirmation of Date & Location
November 2012 Date to be confirmed Cameron Park C.C. Host Superintendent Jessie Creencia, CGCS Annual Election Meeting
If you are interested in hosting a meeting email Jeremy Payne at jspturf@hotmail.com or Dave Wilber at davewilber@yahoo.com
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SCHOLARSHIP& RESEARCH
2012 Meetings & Education CONTINUED
FROM PAGE
This education event kicks off our education focus this year of learning from and partnering with our local allied golf organizations such that we can all work as an industry group to pool knowledge, ideas and information about the entire industry. By gaining exposure to representatives from other organizations and them with us, we hope to be able to better work together to grow the game and combat any hurdles that may stand in the way of our mutual successes. Other education speakers we are working to include are golf architects, GM/owners, teaching professionals and hopefully a touring player. Our May event will be in Arbuckle, a beautiful old course with amazingly good and fun greens. Following, in June, will be a revisit to an association historical favorite at Sierra View Country Club. July brings our annual Scholarship & Research fundrais-
1
CONTINUED ing event, hosted this year at Northridge Country Club. The NorCal GCSA will be hosting the Tri-Chapter event in August, at TPC Stonebrae in the East Bay. In September we head into the hills to Grizzly Ranch, where mountain golf conditions should be peaking just in time for our Presidents’ Cup. October remains TBD, but in November we go back again to a tried-and-true favorite at Cameron Park Country Club for our annual elections. The Christmas Party will be a surprise for now, but our Board has come up with some great ideas that venture away from the traditional poor-weather golf meeting to try and do something new, unique and memorable. We’re all looking forward to visiting all these great facilities and hope everyone can attempt to attend as many of these great events as possible. Again, mark your calendars now and we’ll see you at the meetings!
FROM PAGE
the raffle. Over the next few months the SNGCSA Board of Directors will be contacting you to again asking you to support our tournament. As you know, the money raised from this tournament helps students with their college education along with research and development of golf course industry. Please invest in the future of golf. If you have questions or are prepared to donate toward our project you can contact either Irene Cline at the association off (559) 298-6262 or myself, David Bermudez (209)3412413, as well as Bob Franco, Tournament Chairman (209)5980564
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TECH TIPS
NEVER
Jeremy Payne
This next Tech Tip goes hand in hand with the LogMeIn by creating the ability to access files that you would normally have stored on just one computer, or have to carry around on some sort of storage device, from any computer with an Internet connection. Dropbox is a program that is free to sign-up for, download and use. It essentially is a “cloud”-like program where a file folder is created on your computer and any file you put in it is available through any Internet connection on other computers. You can access your files through an Internet browser or through a similar Dropbox file folder on another computer. The program works great for taking
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files on the road or home without needing a storage device, as well as being ideal for large files that may be too big for a flash drive or to send via e-mail. You can also make files on your Dropbox available to other people just by giving them access information. For example, I recently used Dropbox in creating my budget for 2012. The Excel workbook is so large that I couldn’t email it to myself such that I could download it at home and continue working on it over the weekend. I also didn’t have a storage device available to save it on to take home. So I went to www.dropbox.com and download the program. It installed a file folder in my “My Documents” folder. I saved my budget file to that Dropbox folder and went home. At home, I again downloaded the Dropbox program on my home computer using my new login information. As soon as the program was installed, my budget files were sitting there in the Dropbox folder ready to be opened, used, edited and resaved to be opened again back at work. On top of that, since the file was too big to e-mail, I could give my boss
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login information and he could access my files online and download them to his computer for review. The quick, easy, free registration with Dropbox gives you 5GB of free space to store files in your Dropbox folder. If you want more storage, you can buy it and it may be a cheap way to transfer a large multitude of files, especially pictures, and may be cheaper than buying most actual storage devices. To top it all off, Dropbox also has an app for most mobile devices, so you can access and view your files anywhere, anytime and, with the help of some other apps, you could even edit them right on your phone or iPad if need be. If you have any comments, suggestions or need additional info or help with these Tech Tips, please contact Jeremy at jpayne@valleycrest.com.
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A N N UA L G R A S S R O OT S T O U R N A M E N T BY BOB FRANCO March 19th marked the 9th annual Grassroots tournament at William Land Golf Course in Sacramento. One of my favorite parts of this meeting is seeing the new faces of the non-members that are allowed to attend this tournament, and meeting the crew members from other courses. Despite the wetness from the previous rain, host Superintendent Bob Cline had the course in great shape and it was a pleasure to play. Congratulations to Steve Byrne for winning this year’s tournament. The Grassroots Tournament is also where we recognize the outstanding members in our association. The Affiliate Member of the Year award went to Kelly Kerr with Sierra Pacific Turf Supply. His support for our association goes above and beyond and could not go unrecognized. The Turfgrass Manager of the Year Award went to Matthew Hoyt, Golf Course Superintendent at Sevillano Links. His outstanding turf grass management skills and ability to maintain a quality course has landed him this prestigious award. The Distinguished Member
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of the year award went to Jim Alwine, Golf Course Superintendent at Stockton Golf and Country Club. His desire to help others be successful in our business and his continued involvement and dedication to our association makes him a distinguished member. Congratulations to all our award winners, you guys deserve it. We had the privilege of hearing guest speaker Pat Finlen CGCS Golf Course Superintendent at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, where this year’s US Open will be held. He gave a very interesting presentation on the necessary course preparations needed to hold the US Open Tournament. He also touched on the history and dynamics of The Olympic Club. I was surprised to find out that the golf course and the Club are on opposite sides of town. Also, it’s a little known fact that the USGA started overseeing the course maintenance in preparation for a tournament because The Olympic Club set its course to be so grueling, with impossible 12 inch rough, that the USGA decided that the courses
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they played needed to follow a specific set of guide lines. He spoke about the process they were going through rebuilding the greens on the Ocean Course and other major projects that he has recently completed. We are very lucky to have had him as a guest speaker. As a special thanks to Bob Cline for hosting this event I would like to remind everyone of the Field Day at William Land Golf Course to be held on April 24th 2012. We greatly appreciate the time and support that will be volunteered to help keep William Land Golf Course looking and playing great. It is a testament to our association that there are so many members willing to help. I look forward to seeing you all there. Thank you to all that attended, your continued support keeps these events going.
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G OV E R N M E N TA L R E L A T I O N S C O M M I T T E E U P DA T E B Y J I M F E R R I N , C G C S I thought it might be a good time to summarize some of the federal legislation out there right now that is impacting or will impact the golf industry. These are bills in the Senate and House of Representatives. Besides these bills golf industry representatives must be mindful of other laws that are in place. 2010 ADA impacting Recreational Facilities. After March 15, 2012, all new golf facilities must be accessible in accordance with the golf course accessibility guidelines and existing courses must remove barriers when it is “readily achievable” over time (easy to accomplish without much difficulty or expense). The golf course accessibility standards cover: accessible routes and/or alternative golf car passages; teeing grounds; putting greens; weather shelters; and driving ranges. On July 26, 2010, DOJ issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) specific to accessible golf cars. DOJ is considering issuing regulations requiring golf courses that provide golf cars, when replacing or acquiring additional standard golf cars, to provide accessible golf cars for use by individuals with disabilities. One message to take home if you have barriers preventing a continuous path at your golf facility you might face litigation. 40% of the ADA lawsuits filed nationwide are from California. NPDES permitting- According to the Sixth Circuit Court, the application of pesticides at, near, or over waters of the United States that results in discharges of pollut-
ants requires coverage under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. In response to the Sixth Circuit Court’s decisions and previous decisions by other courts on pesticide regulation, the State Water Board has adopted four Pesticide Permits. Check with your local Water Control Board for clarification. EPA is pushing state and local governments to regulate fertilizers to control nutrient runoff as well as pushing states to adopt more stringent numeric nutrient water quality standards. Golf course fertilizer use remains a target due to public perception that the amounts used to manage courses are a source of the nutrient loads. Statemandated nutrient management plans can have a detrimental impact on golf courses if they are not developed with input from the golf course management industry and without consideration of existing environmental best management practices for golf courses. Specific fertilizer issues include: 1.Nutrient management and management plans 2.Best management practices (BMPs) 3.Total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) 4.Fertilizer bans/ restrictions Irrigation water diversion reporting for golf courses on use rates from those who use water from
Jim Ferrin, CGCS
streams, creeks or rivers Coming soon Tier IV equipment compliance for the Clean Air Act Triploid Grass Carp Permitting Additional activity from environmental activist groups in regards to using the “Endangered Species Act” and filing legislation against golf courses and their ability to manage their properties
To receive all the up to date government relations news go to Californiagcsa.org
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FROM THE FIELD
JEFF JENSEN, GCSAA FIELD STAFF, SOUTHWEST REGION I hope this finds all of our Sierra Nevada GCSA members doing well and getting ready for a great summer. As a GCSAA Field Staff Representative, one of my primary objectives is to assist with the continued development of the Environmental Institute for Golf (EIFG). For those of you that don’t know, EIFG is the philanthropic branch of GCSAA and its mission is to foster sustainability through research, awareness, education, programs and scholarships for the benefit of golf course management professionals, golf facilities and the game. Recently, the EIFG received a $1million donation from The Kendrick B. Melrose Family Foundation to support the professional development of golf course superintendents through participation in the annual
GCSAA Education Conference and Golf Industry Show. The Melrose Family Foundation is supported by Ken Melrose, the former CEO and chairman of the Toro Co. The gift is the largest in EIFG history. As a donating member, I am asking all GCSAA members to consider contributing to EIFG to fuel innovation through research, expand knowledge of golf course management professionals through education, tell golf’s story through advocacy and research and help bright minds pursue their dreams through scholarships. All donations, small or large, will help preserve the game, the profession and your way of life. Additionally, EIFG has a completely new look and website that provides up-to-date news, environmental and sustainable education and the ability to donate online. Visit the
new site at EIFG.org. On a lighter note, I would like to remind all superintendents and fellow dog lovers that photos for the always popular Dog Days of Golf calendar are due by Aug. 1. Sponsored by Lebanon Turf, the winning dog will be chosen at the Golf Industry Show next February in San Diego. If your dog is the winner, $3,000 will be donated to your home chapter along with a $500 donation to your local humane society. To submit your dog, email a high resolution photo to Lebturfdogcalendar@gcsaa.org. As always, I appreciate the opportunity to serve your chapters and if I can be of any assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact me at jjensen@gcsaa.org. I look forward to seeing you at upcoming events.
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MEMBERS HONORED 2 0 1 2 A WA R D WINNERS Kelly Kerr 2011 Affiliate Merit Award Winner
Mathew Hoyt 2011 Turf Grass Manager of the Year
Bob Cline 2011 President’s GrassRoots Award Winner
Jim Alwine 2011 Member of the Year
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A S S O C I A T I O N U P DA T E S F O R S C H O L A R S H I P , RESEARCH, & PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT BY
JESSE
With the year officially underway and the busy season soon approaching, I wanted to take a moment to update the membership on the 2012 Budget. Minor modifications have been made this year to add stability and accuracy. We’ve also made it a point to explore and distribute funds raised at the Scholarship and Research Event and are extremely happy with last year’s auction, which has given the Association the ability to allocate funds to scientific research, education, and personal & professional development going forward. Please review the exciting news and changes below. This places our Association in a prosperous position for its valued members and professional future. 2012 Budget Change – This year’s budget was constructed for a calendar year (January through December). In the past, it was built for a fiscal year ending in October. At times, membership renewals were carried over to the following year’s budget which made it difficult to forecast and finalize financials. With the budget now on a
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calendar year, it will improve accuracy and make it easier to solidify the year end financials. Scholarship & Research Event – With the success of last year’s auction, the board feels it’s extremely important for the membership to understand where funds raised are being allocated. The 2012 S&R Event will be very similar to last year’s event, as we are expecting another solid event with a top notch facility and auction planned. With that being said, the funds raised for the 2012 event will be dispersed as follows. Turfgrass Research – 50% of the net proceeds will be used for research and scientific endeavors. The board will determine the best way to utilize the funds which will directly benefit the members of the Sierra Nevada Association. Scholarships – 30% of the net proceeds will go toward academic scholarships to one or more students pursuing a higher education beyond the high school level, including both Turfgrass education and member legacy awards. The recipients will be Paul K. Smith determined by the Sales Representative board and its approPest Control Advisor Western Specialty Division priate committee, which will be awarded at the following year’s Scholarship and HELENA CHEMICAL COMPANY Research Event. 3155 Southgate Lane Chico, Ca 95928 Bus: (530) 342-4786 (800) 554-5703 Fax: (530) 343-9047
Personal & Professional Development Program – 15% of the net proceeds will be available to members of the Association, in good standing, who wish to advance their personal or professional interests and can demonstrate a need through an application to the Board. The purpose of the program is to assist in furthering the careers, and improving the mental and physical health and life satisfaction of our Association members. Benevolent Fund - 5% of the net proceeds will be set aside to benefit members in times of need. Past Fund Distribution – In 2011, we were able to donate $5,000 to the California Turf and Landscape Foundation and $1000 to Dr. Baird with the UC Regents. This was the highest donation delivered from our Association in the last 15 years and was directly related to the success of the 2011 Research & Scholarship Event. Funds allocated to scholarships in 2011 came in at $2,145. With the new fund allocation format for the S&R Event, we are excited to grow and distribute even more funds in the future. As you can see above, our Association’s status places us in an excellent position for advancement and value. This is directly related to the hard working and dedicated members of the Sierra Nevada Association. Our focus is on maintaining this status and promoting an Association/Industry in which its members are its core.
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GRASS ROOTS HIGHLIGHTS This is event is always a good way for old friends to get together, Glen Ward, Chuck Talley, Bob Cline and Sam Samuelson
Team Ewing provided the lunch for all the attendees. As always they did a fantastic job and their efforts are greatly appreciated. Thank you to Ewing and the cooks for the day, Manny Pina, Stacy Nord, Michael Haymore, and Jim Barbuto.
Everyone had the opportunity to enjoy a true grassroots day. Members were encouraged to bring their crews
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GRASS ROOTS HIGHLIGHTS
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM CYPRESS LAKES At Left are Greg Wahl with host Joe Goldbronn, at right is Ruperto Avalos and below are Brian Whitlark, USGA, our educational speaker for the day along with Jeremy Payne and Joe Goldbronn. Below Gary Williams and Mike Jones prepare for golf
Welcome New Members Marciano Garcia Class C Silver Oak G.C Steven Kimbrough Class A Woodcreek G.C. Caleb Swanson Class C Del Rio C.C.
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GCSAA CONFERENCE & CALIFORNIA ROOM
Jesse Seguin on the trade show floor
Don Nauman with the Lipari Family
Dana Medina, Southern Links
Speedy (Jim) Lipari
Andy Slack, pictured above Dave Bermudez enjoying the trade show
Below are Rich Scholes & Dave Macy
Kevin Breen catches up with friends
509 attended the California Room here are a few of our members enjoying the evening