FORE YOUR INFORMATION N ove m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 7
Turf Tech Workshop January 9, 2018 The Ridge Golf Course Hosted by Scott McCullough
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P R E S I D E N T ’ S M E S S AG E
Bill Hamilton, CGCS
I hope that the holidays bring good health, happiness, and tranquility to all of our SNGCSA members and their families. Even during the "most wonderful time of the year," there are unique challenges in our global world and the world of golf that we work in. It seems as though the only thing constant is change. The game of golf is still going through some serious transitioning. The work of golf maintenance is
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dynamic as well. Most of us continue to do more with less. Some of us can remember a time when 100 degree afternoons seemed like an anomaly. Back in the day, able bodies would show up at the door asking for work. Now we have to really compete for laborers. Welcome to the "new normal" folks. There's no more of "that's the way we always do it". The new way of doing business is to work smarter, not harder. We have to work stronger from the neck up. We have to be on the leading edge of our business. Ahead of the curve. With that in mind, your 2018 Board of Directors has heard you and wants to help everyone stay on top of their game. The theme for this coming year is "Education". Our goal is to provide the membership with opportunities for quality education and information on a local, chapter-wide basis. Everyone of us needs recordable hours with GCSAA and the Cali-
fornia Department of Pesticide Regulation to stay current. With that in mind, the chapter meetings this year will focus on providing you with that added value of membership. Attending our meetings can be a critical ingredient to your success in this profession, but you have to show up. You should never underestimate the power of networking. Meet new people, and stay connected to all of your existing contacts. Keeping in touch with your contemporaries and keeping up with your education should be everyone's goal this year. Enjoy the holidays, but get back to work by attending the Turf Tech Workshop on January 9 at The Ridge GC in Auburn. Begin your educational new year by learning something and getting a few of those hours that you need. See you there.
2018 SNGCSA BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT William Hamilton CGCS Lake Wildwood Association VICE PRESIDENT
SECRETARY/TREASURER Scott McCullough The Ridge Golf Course
PAST PRESIDENT Scott Dickson Brightview
DIRECTORS Dave Bermudez Del Rio Golf & Country Club
Stacy Baker Haggin Oaks Golf Course
John Farley Teal Bend G.C.
Affiliate Representatives Matt Graves Belkorp Akoni Ganir, Simplot Partners
Keith Hill, CGCS Hidden Valley C.C.
Mark Callahan Plumas Pines G.C.
M E E T I N G DA T E S
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January 9, 2018
March 21, 2018
TURF TECH WORKSHOP The Ridge Golf Course Hosted by Scott McCullough
Annual GrassRoots Tournament William Land Park Hosted by Bob Cline
February 3-8, 2018
Education Meeting & Tour of Pacific Coast Seed Co. Woodland Facility Speakers include Maggie Reiter, UC Extension, Research Updates Golf Opportunity to be determined
2018 GCSAA Golf Industry Show San Antonio, TX
April 23, 2018
May 2018 Meeting Location To Be determined
June/July Scholarship & Research Tournament Location to be determined
February 7, 2018 California Room San Antonio, Texas The Buckhorn Texas Ranger Museum & Bar
August 21, 2018 Tri Chapter Meeting
Cinnabar Hills G.C. Hosted by Nor Cal Association
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F ROM T HE F IELD BY
JEFF JENSEN GCSAA FIELD STAFF
I hope this finds all of you enjoying the holiday season and getting ready for a great 2018. As we embark on a new year, I wanted to go over a few housekeeping items: Jeff Jensen As a reminder, early registration for the Golf Industry Show closes on Jan. 12. Registration is $450 thru the 12th and $550 from Jan. 13 – Feb. 2. Online registration is available at http:// www.golfindustryshow.com/ registration/registration-fees for both the show and all seminars. GCSAA Golf Championship registration closes Jan. 3. Five great San Antonio area courses are hosting this year’s event including Cordillera Ranch, La Cantera, The Quarry and TPC San Antonio (Oaks and Canyons). Competitions include the National Championship, Golf Classic, Four-Ball and Shamble. Registration is available at http://www.golfindustryshow.com/
gcsaa-golf-championships/competitions. From the regulatory front, Indemnify in now registered for use on turf in California. Indemnify delivers preventative and curative nematode control without costly course closures or undesirable application methods. Indemnify can be used on both warm and cool season turf, on all areas of the golf course as well as non-golf turf areas such as sports fields and residential turf. Indemnify has shown to be a game-changing product for the golf industry, particularly with the Oct. 6 expiration of Nemacur. It works on numerous species of nematodes (Sting, Root Knot, Spiral) and has been very effective on the Anguina pacificae species that wreaks havoc on Poa annua putting surfaces in the Northern portion of the state. For more information on Indemnify, contact your Bayer representative. The California golf industry has been working with GCSAA and the EPA on Proxy. The EPA had requested a reduction of Proxy annual use from 30 fl oz./1,000 sq. ft. (20.4 lb. a.i./A) to 20 fl oz./1,000 sq. ft. (13.6 lb. a.i./A) per
year. While the lower use/application rates work for many parts of the country, superintendents in Arizona and California have clearly identified the need for the annual use to remain as is. With assistance from Mark Mahady, Dr. Dave Kopec and various superintendents from around Arizona and California, we have been working with the EPA on the annual use/application rate and hope to hear back from them with a final decision shortly after the first of the year. As we close out 2017, I would like to thank you for a great year and I look forward to continued successes for the golf industry in 2018. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to contact me at jjensen@gcsaa.org and Happy New Year to all!
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T E AL B E N D HO ST S D E CE MBER MEETING AND CHRISTMAS PA RT Y
Teal Bend Hosted December Event By John Farley
This year the association held its December meeting and Christmas party at Teal Bend Golf Club where I was honored to serve as host. While the turn out could have been better, the event itself was a great success. Things got going early with a 7:00 am board meeting. Then at noon we played golf followed by cocktails and a wonderful prime rib dinner at 5:30 pm. An enjoyable time was had by all. Our newly elected President Bill Hamilton took the reins while presiding over a full agenda for the SNGCSA board of director’s last meeting of the year. We heard a financial report from Treasurer Scott McCullough. Scott indicated that the financial health of the association is good and we’ll be in a good position next year to contribute to worthy causes like scholarships and seminars. We then discussed member outreach and ways to increase our current membership levels. As chairman of the membership committee I have some good ideas that I will be sharing in an article I plan on writing for the next newsletter. Next we discussed our meetings schedule for 2018 which includes a mechanics /irrigation seminar at the Ridge on January 9th and our Grass Roots event at William Land Park in
March. Upon wrapping up the board’s agenda Bill gave the floor to our GCSAA representative Jeff Jensen who proceeded to put on a very interactive meeting. With help from the group he listed the chapters Strengths, Challenges, Opportunities and our Risks. We then as individuals were asked to prioritize the things we had listed under each category. Then we went on to discuss our chapter’s mission statement and our vision statement. Jeff then compiled all the data collected in the meeting and produced a very concise and informative report made available to all board members. A great job was done by our new leader Bill Hamilton and our GCSAA rep. Jeff Jensen. At noon we golfed. A field of 24 players headed out onto the course to enjoy a round of golf in beautiful 64 degree weather. It was a warm sunny fall day and we couldn’t have asked for better weather this time of year. The players all enjoyed a nice box lunch loaded up with a slow smoked pulled pork sandwich with a nice side of coleslaw. If you were smart you just dumped the coleslaw on the sandwich and enjoyed them both together. The course was in fine shape and the greens were rolling smooth. Everyone raved about the sandwich and the greens. Both were quite tasty if I do say so myself. Steve Byrne from TMT Enterprises won the low gross by shooting a cool one over par 73. He said the greens were “beautiful out there”. I’m always nervous to have other superintendents out on my course. Happily everyone seemed to be pleased with the conditions.
After golf wrapped up we all gathered at The Grill at Teal Bend where we turned in our score cards and enjoyed a few cocktails. Everyone was in a good mood and ready for a fine meal. At this time some of the wives who didn’t come out for golf began to arrive and join their respective spouses. It’s always nice to see wives come out and enjoy themselves because that’s what the holidays are really about. Laughing and conversing with friends and family while enjoying a drink and a good meal. It’s a time to slow down and take stock of the things that really matter in our lives which are our relationships with each other. After a few drinks dinner was served. The group was treated to a fine spread of salad, garlic potatoes, green beans and bacon, and last but not least, prime rib cooked to perfection. It was the perfect end to a long yet productive day. As I mentioned in my opening, this event could have had better attendance. But what the meeting lacked in attendance it made up for in good times had. Everyone who DID attend has promised to come back next year as I have offered to be host to this event for as long as I’m at Teal Bend. Hope to see you all there next year. Merry Christmas and a Happy and safe New Year to you all! The SNGCSA is now on Facebook and Twitter. Check it out! Check out the website: Sierranevadagcsa.com
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CHAPTER NEWS
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A K O N I G A N I R & M A T T G R AV E S
This has been one of the craziest few months in a long time. Moves around our association have been a plenty. John Jorgensen has left The Reserve at Spanos Park and is now at Monarch Bay Golf. We unfortunately loose John to the Nor Cal Chapter but we are very happy for him and wish him the best in this new endeavor. Steven McVey, CGCS has accepted the position at El Macero Country Club. This leaves a vacancy at Dark Horse which at the time of this writing is still unfilled. We have not heard who may be filling this position. Steve Showers, President of the Central California Chapter has
accepted a position with Brookside C.C. as their superintendent. This vacancy was left with the passing of Danny Holmes. This leaves Rio Vista looking for a superintendent now. Thomas Slevan who was the assistant at Diamond Oaks has accepted the superintendent position at Napa Golf Course. Congratulations to Tom on this move. Congratulations to Keith Hill, CGCS, superintendent and board of director for the SNGCSA. He was selected as the 2018 PGA Northern California Superintendent of the year. Keith is pictured at
Dan Hill, Keith Hill, CGCS, and Ben Hill
right along with his sons, Dan and Ben. If you have news you would like to share give us a call. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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2018 TURF TECH WORKSHOP THE RIDGE GOLF COURSE JANUARY 9, 2018 Scott McCullough has done it again. He has a tremendous educational line up for the 2018 Turf Tech Workshop. After surveying the attendees over the past couple of years it was decided that we would combine the Mechanic & Irrigation Technicians into a one day seminar. We wanted to “Brand” the event and so we came up with “Turf Tech Workshop” We will have two classes that will run simultaneous in some cases. You will have the opportunity to choose which class you would like to attend. The day will start with everyone in the main ballroom with a talk presented by Kevin Hicks of Earthworks "How to read a soil test" .
From there you will have the opportunity to hear from Turf Star- on "Trouble shooting hybrids" or hear from Ryan Nichols from NuFarm on "Hard to Control Weeds" . During the third class you can choose between John Deere talking about “Spray Rigs” or Simplot Partners, Akoni Ganir giving a talk on “Spray Solution Conditioning” We will then break for lunch and have a key note speaker. Craig Zellers from Golf Irrigation Consultants and lots of opportunities with the Mini Trade Show that features some new & existing products. After lunch classes resume with Normac, Sierra Pacific Turf and
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Commercial Pump talking on Irrigation Circuits or if you choose you can hear Joe Ballmer, Syngenta, speaking on Insect Pests and Growth Regulators,. The final classes of the day will be Shiela Finney talking in the Main Ballroom about Mechanics Certification Programs through the GCSAA. or Ted Nakata from Sierra Pacific Turf talking on “Calibrations:. It will be a jam packed educational day with PDI and DPR CEUs for those that attend the approved classes. Don’t miss this fantastic line up presented to you by the Sierra Nevada GCSA and hosted by Scott McCullough at The Ridge G.C.
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2018 B OA R D O F D I R E C T O R S I E R R A N E VA DA GCSA
2018 Board of Directors from the left back is President, Bill Hamilton, CGCS, Akoni Ganir, Affiliate Representative Simplot Partners, John Farley, Teal Bend G.C., Matt Graves, Affiliate Representative Belkorp., Scott McCullough, The Ridge G.C. Kurtis Wolford, Cherry Island G.C. Dave Bermudez, Del Rio C.C Front left is Stacy Baker, Haggin Oaks Golf Course, and Jeff Jensen, GCSAA Field Representative. Not pictured her is Keith Hill, CGCS Hidden Valley C.C. in Reno, Mark Callahan, Plumas Pines G.C.,
On December 7, 2017 the newly elected board held their first board meeting. This event included a strategic planning session to help all existing and new board members to have a clear picture of what they want to accomplish this year and the direction they will focus on. Attendees at the meeting included Bill Hamilton, CGCS, SNGCSA President, Akoni Ganir, the 2018 Affiliate Representative to the board. John Farley, Matt Graves, 2018 Affiliate Representative. Scott McCullough 2018 SNGCSA Secretary Treasurer, Kurtis Wolford, Dave Bermudez, New Board Members Stacy Baker and Keith Hill, CGCS. After introductions and a brief overview of the forthcoming session, the group was asked what their expectations for the meeting were and they responded with the following comments:
Develop a common mission Develop a theme for the year Improve the products and value of
the association Make the association more enjoy-
able for members Better serve chapter members
Jeff Jensen then went into the SCOR analysis to determine the strengths, challenges, opportunities and risks of the chapter. The two top items were selected from a lengthy list:: Strengths: Strong superintendent members Scholarship & Research Event Challenges: Meeting attendance Labor Opportunities: Improved Education:CEU’s & PDI Rounds 4 Research Risks: Accounts Receivable Declining Membership
Mission Statement Following the SCOR analysis, we moved into a discussion on the mission statement. The mission statement was updated in January of 2016 and the board still believes it fits with the current objectives of the chapter. The current mission statement is: “The Sierra Nevada Golf Course Superintendents Association is established to enhance the profession and promote the growth of golf through quality education, regulatory oversight and networking opportunities for members. “
Vision Statement Following the mission statement discussion we moved into the vision statement for the chapter. The vision was also updated in January of 2016 (Continued on page 9)
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2018 B OA R D O F D I R E C T O R S I E R R A N E VA DA GCSA C O N T I N U E D F R O M and it was the consensus that the current vision statement stills reflects the bigger picture goals of the chapter. The current vision statement is: The Sierra Nevada GCSA will be a professional organization that: Will serve as a unified voice on issues impacting the golf industry Promote and encourage environmental stewardship Promote members as vital to the economic success of the facility Provide quality, affordable education and professional resources Develop and promote strong relationships with allied golf organizations Is noted as a leader of regulatory issues affecting the industry Following the Vision Statement, we transitioned into the goal setting and action item phase. The goals and action items represent both the immediate needs/desires of the chapter as well as some longer term objectives. Goals and Actions: Improve Education at Chapter Meetings Develop educational opportunities based around the establishment of a 12-month calendar. Develop host sites as well as educational topics for the 2018 calendar year. Make the association experience indispensable thru improved education opportunities. Create a survey and make phone calls to collect data on the mem-
bers educational needs. Improve the quality of speakers and topics. Consider bringing in speakers from outside the state. All educational meetings will feature pesticide CEU’s and GCSAA points. Develop a Rounds 4 Research Program Funds to be used for research, education and advocacy Formation of 3-4 member R4R Committee Correspondence to Members via letter asking for foursome donation Distribution of marketing materials for donors via digital media (newsletter, e-blasts) Social Media Outreach (Twitter & Facebook) Develop Program to grow membership Identify 18-hole courses in the Sacramento and Reno metropolitan areas whose superintendents are not members of the association. Site visits to non-member facilities by board members Review sponsorship packages to make sure they meet the needs of our current vendors with the long-term goal of attracting new vendor members to the association. Member Roundtable at the last 2018 meeting (Annual Meeting in November) to discuss what worked in 2018 and what members would like to see for 2019.
The board felt this process set a roadmap for 2018 and they are determined to meet the goals established during this session. Everyone
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acknowledged that this is a plan that should be reviewed on a regular basis and that is will assist them in identifying how they are progressing both in the short term and long term. GCSAA Southwest Field Staff Representative Jeff Jensen will be available to help the chapter with this process and will work with the board of directors and executive director to help them meet their timelines.
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS Jeff Fagerhaug Woodcreek G.C./ Diamond Oaks G.C Class A Levi Elsberry The Ridge G.C. Class C Warren Zehen The Ridge G.C. Class GMS (Mechanic) Steve Naillon Auburn Lakes Trails Class A
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N OV E M B E R E L E C T I O N M E E T I N G THE RIDGE GOLF COURSE
At left Scott Dickson is presented with a plaque in appreciation of his service as president of our association and at right Tim McCoy is also presented with a plaque in appreciation for the two years of service as the board affiliate representative. It was a beautiful day for golf after the election with members having the opportunity to network with one another. Thank you to Scott McCullough for hosting the event.
FORE YOUR INFORMATION Published by the Sierra Nevada Golf Course Superintendents Association EDITOR Bill Hamilton, CGCS OFFICE SNGCSA 5322 N. Leonard, Clovis, CA 93619 559-298-6262 Fax# 559-298-6957 sngcsaa@aol.com
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HIGHLIGHTS TEAL BEND DECEMBER
The weather was a perfect day for us. The course was in wonderful shape and the group had lots of fun sharing in the holiday spirit.
Thank you to John Farley and the Staff of Teal Bend for hosting this event.
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