September October 2015

FORE YOUR INFORMATION September/October 2015

2015 Annual Election Meeting Teal Bend Golf Course Hosted by John Farley

Sierra Nevada GCSA An Affiliate Chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America

F o r e Y o ur I nf o r m a ti o n

P age 2

P R E S I D E N T S M E S S AG E I have come to the end of my time as the President of the Sierra Nevada Superintendent AssoRob Williams ciation, and I wanted to say a collectively “Thank You” to all of those who have been involved with the running of the association, and to all those that attended the meetings.

We have board members and association managers that are dedicated and conscientious volunteers, which donate time and energy to the well being and advancement of our association. It is a pleasure to serve with friends that are my indus-

BY

ROB WILLIAMS

try colleagues, and I will raise my hand to sustain current and future board efforts.

During our strategic planning meeting at the start of the year the board set some goals that we wished to achieve for the year.

Maintaining or raising the number of members, beginning regional meetings for members, building on the success of the Scholarship and Research Tournament, supporting industry research, and supporting drought conservation efforts. These were just a few areas the board concentrated their energies on.

A regional meeting for our members on the eastern side of the Sierra mountains was held in June at the Grizzly Ranch in Portola. The meeting was well attended and nine new members were welcomed into the chapter.

Jeff Jensen, GCSAA Field Staff- Southwest region gave a great presentation on the GCSAA and what it has to offer its members.

A healthy Q and A session followed Jeff’s presentation with a wide variety of topics being shared and discussed, including the drought and conservation efforts.

Thank you to Bob Cline and William Land Golf Course for again hosting a great Grassroots Tournament, and to Brian Whitlark

USGA Agronomist for being our guest speaker.

The Scholarship and Research Tournament held at Valley Hi Country Club was, again, a great event. We are grateful for everyone that attended and those who bid on items in the live and silent auctions.

To the many people and companies that donated auction items, we say thank you and look forward to your participation next year.

It has been a summer for drought conditions and restrictions, with each of our courses working with local agencies to join in our industry efforts to conserve water and protect our environment, while reducing our carbon footprint. El Nino is a phrase we keep hearing in the media, and this winter I hope we see a healthy snow pack on the mountains with lakes and reservoirs filling to capacity again.

It is always a good time at our chapter meetings to meet up with old and new friends and colleagues, be educated, share and discuss problems to find solutions, and a chance to recharge the batteries a little. We would like to thank the members that kindly hosted meetings this year, and hopefully it inspired other members to volunteer their facilities in the coming year.

I hope you can make time in your schedules to join us at the election meeting at Teal Bend Golf Course. I would like to challenge our members to circle a date or two on next years calendars to attend a chapter meeting, and maybe car pool with a superintendent from your local area.

Thank you again to all that have offered support to myself and to our association this year. I hope you will join with me in support of next year’s Board and its efforts.

Cheers.

F o r e Y o u r I n f o r m a ti o n

P age 3

November 10, 2015 Annual Association Meeting & Election Teal Bend G.C. Hosted by John Farley

M E E T I N G DA T E S

December 12, 2015 Annual Holiday Event The Delta King Golf Tournament William Land Park

2016 California Room USS MIDWAY February 10, 2016

March 2016 January 26, 2016

Annual GrassRoots Tournament Location and Date to be confirmed

The Ridge Golf Course Annual Mechanic Seminar Hosted by Scott McCullough

January 27, 2016 The Ridge Golf Course Irrigation Seminar Hosted by Scott McCullough

The SNGCSA is now on Facebook and Twitter. Check it out!

Check out the website: Sierranevadagcsa.com

2015 BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT Rob Williams Stockton Golf & C.C. 209-462-6734

DIRECTORS Dave Bermudez Del Rio Golf & Country Club 209-341-2413

VICE PRESIDENT Kurtis Wolford Cherry Island Golf Course 916-991-7659

William Hamilton Lake Wildwood Association 530-432-2187

SECRETARY/TREASURER Mike Scully Valley Crest/Modesto 209-578-9678 PAST PRESIDENT Jesse Seguin

Scott Dickson Micke Grove Golf Links 209-369-7037 Hulises Avila, Greenhorn Creek Resort 209-736-8164 Affiliate Representatives Jim Barbuto Ewing Irrigation 916-502-3287

Joe Kurung West Coast Sand & Gravel 916-386-8177

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

F o r e Y o ur I nf o r m a ti o n

P age 4

2 0 1 5 E L E C T I O N M E E T I N G : M E E T T H E C A N D I DAT E S

BY IRENE CLINE The 2015 Annual Association Meeting and Election will be held at Teal Bend Golf Course on November 10, 2015. Once again we have a full slate of candidates that have stepped up to represent you, the members of the Sierra Nevada GCSA. First we have Kurtis Wolford, Cherry Island Golf Course that will be taking the reins as your President. Kurtis was elected to the board in 2012. Since that time he has served as director, Secretary Treasurer, and Vice President of the association.

He has represented our chapter not only locally but on a state and national level. He has been one of the key players in our efforts with the California Water initiatives and was instrumental in getting us a seat at the table with the California Water Board. We

are proud that Kurtis will continue to serve our membership as President.

The Vice President slot will be taken on by Scott Dickson, Micke Grove Golf Links. This is Scott’s 2nd round on the board. He previously served as our president in 2009. We are grateful to have Scott back in the action.

The Secretary Treasurer position will be taken on by Bill Hamilton, CGCS, Lake Wildwood Golf Course. Bill is relatively new to our board but not to serving the members of the GCSA. He was first elected as director of the SNGCSA in 2013.

Dave Bermudez, Del Rio C.C. will run for another term as a director. Dave has been our main player for the Scholarship & Research Tournament every year and has moved this event into a extremely successful event that continues to improve every year.

Also stepping up to serve this year are Wes Hull, Nakoma Golf Resort, Wes has been a member of the SNGCSA

since 2013 and understands the need to give back to the industry and the members. He will be instrumental in representing our eastern region of the chapter.

John Jorgensen, The Reserve at Spanos Park is also seeking a director position. John has been a member of the SNGCSA since 2001.

Kyle Jones, Yocha-De-He Golf Club. Kyle has been a member of the association since 2008.

Tim McCoy, CGCS, Turf Star, has agreed to step into the Affiliate Representative position. Tim first became a member of our association in 2002 when he was superintendent at Turkey Creek G.C. With this immensely diversified and extremely talented group of professionals, we feel that this is going to be one of the best years in association history. We have continued to be one of the leaders in the industry in innovative ideas and membership participation. You as members have a chance to be part of this. Be sure to attend our November meeting and THANK, all of the board members, past and present for all they do for you.

(Continued on page 5)

F o r e Y o u r I n f o r m a ti o n

P age 5

F ROM T HE F IELD

BY

JEFF JENSEN GCSAA FIELD STAFF

Welcome New Members I hope everyone is having a great fall and enjoying some Jeff Jensen cooler weather. It was a long summer! Early registration for the 2016 Golf Industry Show Feb. 6-11 in San Diego opens Nov. 3.

“Everything Under the Sun” promises to be our best show yet.

The San Diego Convention Center and the Gaslamp District provides an unbelievable setting for our annual showcase.

Early full pack registration cost (before Jan. 19, 2016) for the Golf Industry Show is $420 for GCSAA members. Seminars are $180 for a full-day, $160 for sixhours, $120 for a half-day and $80 for two-hours. Registration is available online at http:// www.golfindustryshow.com/ registration.

In addition to the Golf Industry Show, The GCSAA Golf Championship is scheduled for Feb. 6-8. The event features the National Championship, Golf Classic, Four-Ball and Shamble. This year’s championship is being played over some of San Diego’s finest courses including Aviara, La Costa Resort & Spa, Maderas, The Crossings at Carlsbad and Torrey Pines, up-

coming host of the 2021 US Open.

The National Championship (open to the first 100 superintendents with a handicap index of 5.0 and below) and the Golf Classic (flighted by handicap, using a point quota scoring system) are $475 per player before Dec. 21 ($575 for affiliates participating in the Golf Classic). Entry fee for the Four-Ball and Shamble are $175 per player before Dec. 21 ($275 for affiliates). The 2012 GCSAA Golf Championship in San Diego had a record turnout, so make sure to register early at http:// www.golfindustryshow.com/gcsaagolf-championships/registrationinformation.

And don’t forget about the annual California GCSA “California Room” reception that will once again be held on the USS Midway in San Diego Harbor on Feb. 10. Registration is required and the cost of the event is $35 thru Dec. 31, $50 Jan. 1 - Jan. 31 and $100 thereafter. It’s the only place to be in San Diego on Wednesday night! Register now at http://www.californiagcsa.org.

Patrick Grimes Golf Club at Rio Vista Class SM Willis Self VGM Club Class Affiliate

If you have any questions concerning the Golf Industry Show, the GCSAA Golf Championships or need any information about the area, please don’t hesitate to call me at 785-840-7879, email me at jjensen@gcsaa.org or visit the website at www.golfindustryshow.com. I look forward to seeing all of you in San Diego.

Look who is famous!

Our very own Jim Alwine, Congratulations Jim on the Renovation Report and the excellent work you have been doing at Bernardo Heights C.C.

F o r e Y o ur I nf o r m a ti o n

P age 6

TEAL BEND, JOHN FARLEY SUPERITENDENT

BY IRENE CLINE

John Farley

John Farley will host the 2015 Annual Association Meeting at Teal Bend Golf Course on November 10, 2015. This is John’s first time hosting a meeting and the first time our association has held an event at Teal Bend.

John has been at Teal Bend for the last 13 yrs. Prior to his arrival at Teal Bend he worked in the Philippines, 5 yrs at a Graham Marsh G.C. and at a Desmond Muirhead designed golf course at Subic Bay. He also spent time in Taiwan as grow in superintendent for a 36 hole Jack Nicklaus course. His first job in the golf industry was at Bidwell Park G.C. where he spent 5 years. This is the position that gave John a real perspective on what it meant to be a golf course superintendent and a life he knew he wanted.

John attended Butte Community College as a Horticulture and Landscape Design Major. At that time he applied for and was awarded the Northern California GCSA Scholarship .

One of the things that John considers a career highlight so far was when he had the opportunity to host the Johnnie Walker Super Tour Tournament in 1997. Players that participated included Nick Faldo, Jesper Parnivic.

Ernie Els, and Ian Woosnam.

When I asked John what led him to become a superintendent he surprised me and said “I fell off a building”. What really happened was that while working in steel construction he was hurt when he “fell off a building”.

He decided that this job was way too dangerous and he liked golf and had done some landscape work so he applied at Bidwell Park golf course as an entry level worker and was hired.

Within 5 years he had worked his way (Continued on page 7)

F o r e Y o ur I nf o r m a ti o n

P age 7

T E A L B E N D C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 6 up to the Superintendent position.

From there he started his overseas work that took him to Asia and eventually back here to northern California.

The things that John likes most about being a superintendent is the satisfaction he gets with the presentation of the golf course to the public. “You can make a difference in someone’s day. You can make people happy. “ He likes mingling with people, making them happy makes John appreciate his job. An element of the job that he doesn’t much like is the problems with some employees. He says “ Give me a dollar spot fungus and I can fix that.

I can’t always fix people and their issues”.

John not only loves golf course work but he loves the game itself and is pretty good at it. He sports a 12 handicap and tries to play as often as he can.

When John talks about his family you can tell by his voice how proud he is of them. John shared with me that he met his beautiful wife Gloria while working in the Philippines. They have one son, John, 13, who is an all star baseball player. He has become quite passionate about the game and John shares his son’s passion. As John puts it. “His passion is my passion”.

John’s other hobbies include trout fishing and he loves cooking. Preserving food is his favorite.

He built a smoker that he loves to do

brisket and ribs in. We will be getting a little taste of his talents while at Teal Bend. John is planning on doing the barbecue himself. What more can we ask for!

Teal Bend opened in 1997.

It is a Brad Bell design 18 hole facility with 7,059 course yardage. The 17th hole is considered the signature hole. It’s a par 5 that plays around along side a beautiful lake.

The maintenance challenges particular to Teal Bend is the fact that they are low in elevation and surrounded by rice fields. John calls it a petri dish. It is humid and fungus is one of the major challenges in summer months.

As far as construction projects on the course, John has recently been leveling some tees and resodding and rebuilding some bunkers.

An interesting fact about the course is that there is a family of bobcats that inhabit the 6th tee.

Every year they have kittens that can be seen running around.

We get to see some of John’s handiwork as a landscape design artist while we are there.

Every October John cuts a deal with a local farmer where he trades pumpkins for golf . He goes and gets truck loads at a time and gives them to his workers and the club staff and takes all the remaining and covers the course landscape with pumpkins to create a beautiful fall theme. This will be a sight to behold.

John recently rescued a female pitbull mix dog who is now the golf course dog. Michelle, as she is affectionatley called. She is beautiful and the sweetest dog ever. She keeps her job by chasing geese and keeping the coots away.

We look forward to visiting with John and appreciate the opportunity to hold our Annual Meeting at Teal Bend. Be sure to get your registrations in and don’t miss this event.

F o r e Y o ur I nf o r m a ti o n

P age 8

THE IMPORTANCE The Sierra Nevada chapter is fortunate in that we are able to donate money towards research projects in a wide variety of topics or fields. Results from the research may guide us in a beneficial direction with our decision making. For the most part the research is governed by what we as Superintendents need to know for the success of not only our facilities, but also our industry.

We can help to make these research efforts more accurate by sharing a little of what we do at our facilities. A few surveys are sent our way from time to time, and I would encourage you to take the five minutes they usually take to share some of your efforts and supporting information. It definitely is helpful for our industry, but can also lead to important and possibly critical information

OF

S U RV E Y S

BY

ROB WILILAMS

to help maintain our courses and careers alike.

EIFG (The Environmental Institute for Golf) has a survey right now on the www.gcsaa.org web site .

I ’m asking for your help by filling out the Pest Management Practices Survey.

The information that is asked for is fairly generic and not extremely detailed. Five minutes should be all it takes.

In addition we have attached the summary of the results of the recently completed water survey, which was distributed to the six California GCSA chapters. (If you don’t receive a digital copy of this newsletter call the association office to receive your hard copy) It contains the following information.  The raw data from all 86 respon-





dents statewide; A summary sheet aggregating the results received from all six chapters for use on a statewide basis; The separately summarized results for each of the six chapters for use by each of the local chapters.

This was an example of the importance of participation and the information goes a long way in helping our committees and organizations in their efforts to support our industry.

So the next time you see a request please don’t delete or ignore it. Take the 5 minutes to help our industry.

I want to say thank you in advance for your participation.

F o r e Y o ur I nf o r m a ti o n

P age 9

AROUND THE GREEN Well fall is finally here and we got a little rain. El Nino where are you?? I don’t want to jinx this but I do hope we get more and often.

Stockton Golf and Country Club had a few changes recently.

Bob Franco returned from the southern part of the state and was hired as Assistant Superintendent for Rob Williams. Welcome back Bob, glad to have you back in our association.

Brookside C.C. in Stockton has hired a new superintendent Danny Holmes. Again we are happy to welcome back a member to our association.

Patrick Grimes was hired as the new superintendent at the Golf Club at Rio Vista. Patrick joined

BY

IRENE CLINE

the association this month and we look forward to meeting him at future meetings.

Long time member Gary Williams has announced his retirement from Cordova Golf Course.

Congratulations on your retirement Gary!

Mike Scully, Valley Crest in Modesto has taken a new position within the Valley Crest family as superintendent at The Villages Golf & Country Club in San Jose.

Congratulations Mike. Remember that you are a Sierra Nevada Member though!

Del Rio Golf and Country Club is in their third year of replacing collars and approaches. Each year the club replaces nine holes of the twenty hole facility. Kaminski

Golf Construction is removing the soil six inches deep in the approaches, installing drainage and replacing the soil with sand. Delta Blue Grass will remove the sod in the collars and re-turf the collars and approaches with bent grass sod.

Let us know your news.

We want to share your news with the chapter . See you all soon!!

Happy Halloween!!!

2016 CALIFORNIA ROOM F E B R UA RY 1 0 , 20 1 6 Member Entry

$35 for early registration from Oct. 1st to Dec. 31st. If registering after Dec 31st. The cost will be $50 per person. After Feb. 1st it will be full price of the event of $100.

Member Guest Entry $35 for early registration from Oct. 1st to Dec. 31st. If registering after Dec 31st. The cost will be $50 Per person. After Feb. 1st it will be full price of the event of $100. ( Limit One Guest per member) Registration is Mandatory, no walk-ins will be allowed. On Line Registration: Californiagcsa.org For questions or additional information please contact the association office at 559-2984853 or email californiagcsa@aol.com

P age 1 0

F o r e Y o ur I nf o r m a ti o n

2015 PRESIDENTS CUP HIGHLIGHTS Winners of the President’s Trophy again this year is Wes Leith. Steve Byrne takes the Affiliate Trophy home again as well. Thank You to Mark Callahan for hosting such a wonderful event

Pictured at far left is the team of Matt Dillon, Greg Bliek, Scott Canfield, and Rodney Muller.

At left is Mark Stutsman, Mike Baty, and Jason Roberts.

At top right is the team of Bobby Jaeger, Michael Orr, Stan Adam, and Taylor Hubbard.

At right are John Jorgensen and Steve Byrne

Thank you to Mark Callahan who talks to the group after the tournament

F o r e Y o u r I n f o r m a ti o n

P age 1 1

YOLO FLIERS CLUB HIGHLIGHTS

It was a great day for friends to get together and hold a casual round table discussion of issues that we face in our industry. Thank you to Mike Azevedo for hosting this special day. Photos courtesy of Emmy Moore Minister

Above Joe Kurung, Scott Dickson, and Hulises Avila. Below the group hold their round table discussion.

800 MOSSDALE RD, LATHROP, CA. 209 234-1500 www.brownsandinc.com PRODUCTSSERVICES AVAILABLEUSGA Top Dressing Sand Deliveries by MAGNUM TRUCKING INC. Greens Top Dressing Sand Blend Materials to Customers Specifications Bunker Sand Profile / Sand Blends 0-0-50 / Kiln Dried Sand blends Kiln Dried USGA Sand - 3000lbs Super Sacks Dakota Peat Sand Blends Peat Inc Sand Blends Pea Gravel Top Soil

FOR ALL YOUR MATERIAL NEEDS PLEASE CALL OUR OFFICE OR

REGGIE POMICPIC – Director of Sales and Market Cell# 209 993-5211 E-mail: reggie@brownsandinc.com

P age 1 2

F o r e Y o ur I nf o r m a ti o n