september/october issue of fore your information
DESCRIPTION
Bi-Monthly PublicationTRANSCRIPT
SeptemberOctober 2012
Dates to
Remember
October 22 2012
Plumas Lake
Golf amp Country Club
Hosted by Mike Kaveney
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E
Presidentrsquos Message 2
Meeting Schedule 3
UCR Field Day 5
Recreation amp Family 7
From the Field 8
Delegates Meeting 11
Meeting Highlights 14
Meeting Highlights 15
FORE YOUR INFORMATION
Sierra Nevada GCSA
An Affiliate Chapter of
the Golf Course
Superintendents
Association of America
P R E S I D E N T rsquo S C U P A T G R I Z Z LY B Y J E S S E S E Q U I N
To summarize the
event at Grizzly Ranch a
couple weeks ago as good
would be an understate-
ment The service condi-
tions and experience pro-
vided was exceptional and
we cannot thank Mike and
the Grizzly Ranch team
enough The event was
enjoyed by all and was a
huge success What a day
From entering
the facility the majestic
views and peaceful sur-
roundings set the tone
for the day I always
look forward to Moun-
tain golf in the Sierrarsquos
and Grizzly Ranch did
not disappoint Mother
nature provided ideal
weather for the day
which made it comfort-
able and ideal for
golf Service at the bag
drop and pro shop was
great The practice areas
and driving range were in
superb condition and ac-
cessible to hone in on
your game before the
tournament started The
staff also did an excellent
job in communicating and
(Continued on page 4)
Mike Kavaney
superintendent at Plumas
Lake Golf amp Country
Club will host the Octo-
ber meeting for the Sierra
Nevada GCSA Though
Mike has only been the
superintendent at Plumas
Lake for seven months he
considers this job as his
career highlight so far
Even though
Mikersquos family owned a
golf course and he started
working on the course at
a very young age he went
his own direction for a
while working construc-
tion jobs asphalt con-
crete framing and paint-
ing He even worked one
season of commercial
fishing in Alaska before
settling down at Whitney
Oaks where he remained
for 30 years He loves
being on the golf course
every day directing the
crew watching the turf
respond to the changes of
the seasons and he loves
the game of golf
Plumas Lake
Golf amp Country Club was
first established in 1926
It is a semi private facility
that has long been called
the ldquoHidden Jewelrdquo of the
Sacramento Valley It has
twice been listed in the top
100 public courses in
America by Golf Digest
The original nine
holes were developed by
the membership but in
1960 the course underwent
a complete re-design with
architect Bob Baldock
overseeing the project and
became an 18 hole facility
Then in 2006 they com-
pleted a renovation to all
the putting surfaces to add
slopes undulation and
(Continued on page 4)
P L U M A S L A K E G O L F amp C O U N T RY C L U B
M I C H A E L K AV E N E Y S U P E R I N T E N D E N T
I hope you enjoy
this latest edition of our
association newsletter We
are trying some new things
with articles to allow you
the member a chance to
learn something about our
region you might have
known but might not have
taken advantage of in the
past This is the time for
family friends and fellow-
ship
We will still have
our normal articles but for
the next few months we will
add an article that has ac-
tivities day trips etc for
you to try out and enjoy
Thank you Kurtis for the
article and I hope we as
members try it out
I would also like to
take the time to thank the
association for making my
time as the President of our
association a rewarding
one I feel as though we
have accomplished a lot
Some of which are the ini-
tiatives we have supported
the amount of money that
we have been able to donate
to research the scholarships
we have provided and we
have put our association in
a solid financial position for
our future Participation
was
good at our monthly meet-
ings and we have been able
to maintain a strong and
stable membership
Lets all remember
to thank the support staff as
well Irene Kim and every-
one else at the association
office have helped make
our association what it is
today So letrsquos all finish our
aerations over seeding
other fall activities and pro-
jects finish off strong and
spend our time to enjoying
the finer things in life
Jeff
Page 2
P R E S I D E N T rsquo S ME S S A G E B Y J E F F C O U W E N H O V E N
Fore Your Information
Fore Your Information
EDITOR
Jim Alwine
Bernardo Heights GC
OFFICE
SNGCSA
5322 N Leonard
Clovis CA 93619
559-298-6262
Fax 559-298-6957
sngcsaaaolcom
PRESIDENT
Jeff Couwenhoven
Resort at Squaw Creek
916-771-7370
VICE PRESIDENT
Jeremy Payne
Winchester CC
916-817-8106
SECRETARYTREASURER
Jesse Seguin
Lincoln Hills Golf Course
916-434-7200
PAST PRESIDENT
Jim Alwine
Bernardo Heights GC
DIRECTORS
Dave Bermudez
Del Rio Golf amp Country Club
209-341-2413
Scott McCullough
The Ridge Golf Course
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
916-630-7600
Pete Bowman
Target Specialty Products
916-396-9394
FORE YOUR INFORMATION
Published by the Sierra Nevada Golf Course Superintendents Association
800 MOSSDALE RD LATHROP CA
209 234-1500 wwwbrownsandinccom
PRODUCTS- SERVICES AVAILABLE-
USGA 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 ndash Director of Sales and Market
Cell 209 993-5211 E-mail reggiebrownsandinccom
Jeff Couwenhoven
Fore Your Information Page 3
ME E T IN G SC H EDU L E
October 22 2012 Plumas Lakes Golf Course
Host Superintendent Mike Kavaney
November 12 2012 Cameron Park CC
Host Superintendent Jessie Creencia CGCS
Annual Association Meeting amp Election
December 14 2012 River Boat Cruise on the Delta King
Dinner amp Entertainment
January 2013 Pending Confirmation of Date amp Location
February 4-8 2013 Annual Conference amp Show
San Diego CA
California Room USS Midway
Wednesday Feb 6 2012
March 2013 Pending Confirmation of Date amp Location
If you are interested in hosting a meeting email Jeremy Payne at jspturfhotmailcom or
Dave Wilber at davewilberyahoocom
Page 4 Fore Your Information
Grizzly Ranch C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1
organizing the event The rules format
and directions were easy to follow which
helped with the flow of the day and kept
the pace of play tolerable
Now to my favorite part of the ex-
periencehellipthe conditions and golf
course The golf course was setup to pro-
vide challenges and enjoyment for many
different skill sets Conditions were solid
from tee to green The greens were in phe-
nomenal shape and a pleasure to put on
except of course when 3 putting Some
tricky pin placements kept things exciting
and made you think twice when deciding on your approach
shot The Bob Cupp designed course blended in well with its
natural surroundings giving the golf course character and defini-
tion The layout and setup also provided the opportunity to use
every club in the bag
Food and service provided during and after the outing
was also outstanding All in all what a great event It takes a lot
of hard work and preparation to put together an event like
this We are extremely fortunate to have members like Mike in
our Association
Thanks again to Mike Baty and the Grizzly Ranch team
for their professionalism
and providing a quality
experience
Jesse Sequin
pure bentgrass
Course yardage is
6422 and 14 is the
signature hole
Mike has
some challenges
with the irrigation
system still being a
quick coupler with
night waterman
even for the greens
Bunkers need re-
building but with
limited budget this
is taking time
Interesting facts include a major ca-
tastrophe at the course in 1997 when the
Feather River levee system failed which sent
a wall of water that completely flooded the
golf course and surrounding areas The wa-
ter went to the roof of the clubhouse and
maintenance shop Then in 2007 the club
was struck again by a major catastrophe
when a fire burned the cart shed containing
the rental carts along with fifty member carts
Mike is supported in his new job by
his wife Carol who he has been married to
for 20 years They have a daughter Serena
18 who is attending junior college outside of
Santa Cruz and a son John 16 who is at-
tending high school Mike enjoys motorcy-
cle racing cross country and desert as well
as boating Mike is a member of the Placer
County Search and Rescue motorcycle team
Mike is looking forward to hosting
the October meeting and sharing his ldquoHidden
Jewelrdquo
Mike KavaneyPlumas Lake C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1
Michael Kaveney
Club House at Plumas Lake Golf amp Coun-
try Club
The SNGCSA is now on Facebook
and Twitter Check it out
Fore Your Information Page 5
Mike Farmen
559-709-6295
Bob Francischine
209-747-2206
Thor Larson
831-277-4356
Guy Auxer
303-601-2361
The Sierra Nevada GCSA
has been a proud supporter of Cali-
fornia turfgrass research for many
years The last two years have seen a
great increase in funding with mem-
ber generated proceeds from the
SampR Tournament and auction Just
last July you may have seen the
presentation of a $10000 check to
Bruce Williams who was represent-
ing the California Turf and Land-
scape Foundation That donation
went directly to Dr Jim Baird and
his staff funding experimental
turfgrass plots throughout California
The UCR Field Day is the
annual showcase of these studies and
attendance at this yearrsquos event sur-
passed previous numbers even
though it was a million degrees in
Riverside Actually it topped out at
103 but it felt so much hotter At-
tendees could find some shade and
cool refreshments under the main
tent while browsing the well attended
trade show Many affiliate members
set up shop and reported their appre-
ciation of the strong turnout I per-
sonally went home with multiple
contacts and plans for future course
improvements
Of course the real show is
the turf trials and there were plenty
to observe There were some NTEP
trials groundcover drought studies
and some work on buffalograss On
the turf disease and stress topic we
got a close look at dollar spot and
anthracnose management salinity
tolerance and nematode damage As
usual there were multiple studies on
irrigation practices including sub
surface irrigation ET regimes and
drip vs overhead After an excellent
lunch some education and a little
more time hiding in the shade we all
headed up to the Kikuyugrass study
before calling it a day
The work at UC Riverside is
only a small snapshot of the efforts
of Dr Baird and his team They also
manage trial locations throughout the
state including the
local courses of
many Sierra Ne-
vada members
Research in Cali-
fornia is moving in
the right direction
with the support of
the all local Chap-
ters the State As-
sociation the PGA
USGA and of
course the affiliate
companies Up-
coming programs like Rounds for
Research make the future even
brighter as California drives to be
one of the leaders in turfgrass re-
search and innovation Continue
your support of these programs and
try to make it down to the next field
day
2012 UCR L AN D SC APE amp TUR F F I E L D DAY Y O U R R E S E A R C H D O L L A R S A T W O R K
B Y J I M A L W I N E
Floratine
AquaVive
Bio-Amp
JRM
Farmload Distributors
Phoenix
AnaLync
Gro-Power
Aqua-Pucks
(800) 322-8417
Your Exclusive Northern California Dealers
Page 6 Fore Your Information
E-mail smithphelenachemicalcom
VM (800) 543-0630
Box2417
Mob (530) 864-6443
Paul K Smith Sales Representative
Pest Control Advisor Western Specialty Division
HELENA CHEMICAL COMPANY
3155 Southgate Lane
Chico Ca 95928
Bus (530) 342-4786
(800) 554-5703
Fax (530) 343-9047
Wilberrsquos Sierra Nevada News by Dave Wilber
Certainly the
passing of Jim
Alwine into the
realm of San
Diego will be
mourned by all
of us who
needed his wit
and wisdom on
a regular basis
However Jim
says that he may
be gone but not forgotten We will
miss Jim and wish him the very best at
Bernardo Heights CC Replacing Jim at Stockton
Golf and C C is a former right hand
of Jims Rob Williams Rob was run-
ning the show at Sunnyside CC in
Fresno prior to his selection
Mat Dunmyer has left Valley
Hi CC in Elk Grove to take a posi-
tion at Monarch Beach GC in Laguna
Nigel (thats So Cal once again)
Theres no truth in the rumor that Mat
just wanted to be neighbors with Al-
wine Mats number 1 Jeremiah
Stumph took the reins of VHCC for a
bit but quickly saw the light and ac-
cepted a position as Mats right hand at
Mats new gig leaving Valley Hi open
at the time of this writing
Changes at Edgewood Tahoe
with Brad Wunderlich taking over
Brad was the Assistant Super at
Montreaux in Reno
David Major is the new super
at Tierra Oaks GC in Redding
Dave comes to us from Shady Canyon
CC in the San Diego area and is a past
president of the San Diego Chapter
Lots of talk about manage-
ment groups and management consult-
ants in our area as lots of distressed
properties are being looked at More
than several supers and affiliates in
our area have received calls from man-
agement consulting types who are
looking for info and may be doing it
behind the current supers back Lets
all remember our ethics in
talking about other peo-
ples situations that we
probably really dont know
anything about
Lastly (and I
wonder why I always get
this job---old age I guess)
lets all remember that our monthly
meetings are places where we gather
network educate and enjoy the fruits
of association membership A monthly
meeting isnt really set up as an excuse
for you to try to become a rockstar and
party like one Leave that for Friday
nights in your hometown We should
never have a situation where we
would ever be embarrassed to bring an
official from our course or club to see
what the SNGCSA is all about after
all they may be approving the expense
of association membership and if it
just looks like an excuse to get silly
expect that line item to be on the cut
list And really isnt it a matter of pro-
fessional courtesy Sure have a good
time but remember who you are and
who we are Its hard enough to get
respect these days without pushing it
Pete Bowman and I are
happy to have the task of being on
point to set up meetings for next year
If youd like the honor to host a meet-
ing we would love to fulfill that
dream for you and can make it worth-
while for the club and the association
with our experience in event planning
In fact if Pete and I ever get tired of
doing what we do Im sure that
a Wedding Planning Service is in our
future
Dave Wilber
R E C R E A T I O N -F A M I LY T I M E B Y K U R T I S W O L F O R D
Fore Your Information Page 7
Lets face it being a golf
course superintendent is a difficult
job sometimes When we are in the
middle of the summer season the
pressure is on when its 100 degrees
out in the day with high night time
60 degree temperatures we work a
lot of crazy hours lose lots of sleep
etc Some of us are always con-
nected to the course via cell phones
With working those crazy hours we
sometimes miss out on or are late
to or cannot attend the things that
are most important to us ldquoFAMILY
Stuffrdquo
With the stresses that our
job produces it is very important
that we take care of the things that
matter the most Our families are the
people that help us decompress and
get our minds off our job for a
while ldquoFamily Timerdquo
I have had the pleasure of
working for a few superrsquos in my ca-
reer that have taught me this and a
few other things along the way On
a weekend day off schedule family
time Turn off the phone Spend the
time together doing whatever activ-
ity you all like to do Plan a day trip
The Sacramento region and the Si-
erra Nevada region have lots of
things to offer Most of us love the
outdoors If I had to be stuck inside I
would go crazy
Here is an idea that offers
something for just about everyone
and you can spend just a few hours
to all day doing it The Sacramento
Region has a jewel that is easy to
access and has lots of activities
Most of you know about the Ameri-
can River Parkway The American
River Parkway is 23 miles in length
with paved paths that are designated
as both a State and National Wild
and Scenic River There are 82 miles
+ of other maintained trails in the
American River Parkway that ex-
tend from Folsom Lake to Sacra-
mento These trails include bike
trails equestrian trails hiking trails
and others The Parkway incorpo-
rates four major parks Discovery
Park that is 302-acres in downtown
Sacramento Ancil Hoffman Park
that is 396-acres in Carmichael
River Bend Park which is 444-acres
in Rancho Cordova and William B
Pond Recreation Area at the end of
Arden Way Lake Natomas offers
boating (5 mph max) kayaking etc
Nimbus dam and Nimbus fish hatch-
ery have great events like tours and
the salmon festival Each of these
parks offers numerous activities
The American River is a world class
fishery for steel
head trout
striped bass
and salmon
The bike paths
offer miles of
riding time
(something I
personally use
twice a week)
All the parks
have play-
grounds for the
kids The Effie
Yeaw Nature
Center is great
for all ages and
is very educa-
tional The en-
tire parkway
offers nature
viewing
These
areas within the
parkway I per-
sonally use and
take my family
to anytime I
can Itrsquos where I go to de-stress de-
compress and to have family time
Go and utilize this area with your
family It offers something for eve-
ryone Have Fun and enjoy your
time away from work
Kurtis Wolford
Page 8 Fore Your Information
FROM T HE F I E L D J E F F J E N S E N G C S A A F I E L D S T A F F S O U T H W E S T R E G I O N
As we ap-
proach Novem-
ber and the
start of the
holiday season
I want to re-
mind Sierra
Nevada mem-
bers that next
yearrsquos GCSAA
Education Con-
ference and Golf Industry Show are
going to be hosted by your
neighbor to the south
The 2013 event will take
place at the San Diego Convention
Center The Education Conference
is scheduled for Feb 4-8 with the
Golf Industry Show taking place
Feb 6-7
This yearrsquos Education Con-
ference will feature over 100 semi-
nars providing you the in-depth
education you need to meet todays
challenges and prepare for tomor-
row 16 new seminars have been
added featuring a variety of topics
including turfgrass management
communications finance leader-
ship and technology Led by the
industrys most renowned research-
ers industry experts and superin-
tendents seminars are available in
full-day six-hour half-day and two
-hour formats Education points
are offered for completing the
seminars and enrollment is limited
so register early
The Golf Industry Show
presented by GCSAA and NGCOA
is an innovative trade show de-
signed for owners and operators of
golf facilities and golf course man-
agement professionals Featuring
the largest exhibit floor in the in-
dustry the event combines educa-
tion networking and solutions for
golf course superintendents equip-
ment managers ownersoperators
general managers chief operating
officers and architects and build-
ers
In addition a number of
networking events will be held dur-
ing the conference and show in-
cluding a Welcome Reception
Opening Session General Session
and the19th Annual GCSAA Colle-
giate Turf Bowl
Early conference and show
registration for GCSAA members
begins Nov 1 and can be com-
pleted online at www2gcsaaorg
conferenceregistration We look
(Continued on page 9)
Jeff Jensen
Fore Your Information Page 9
GCSANC 208
SNGCSA 305
CCGCSA (not enough
scores to qualify)
Long Drive Jim Ferrin
CGCS Sun City Roseville
(won a putter)
Closes to Pin Robert Wil-
liams Stockton Country
Club (won a driver)
TPC Stonebrae
Tournament Results
FROM THE FIELD
C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 8
forward to a big turnout from all of our California affiliated chapters and we
appreciate your support of this event as it returns to the West Coast
In closing I would be remiss if I didnrsquot mention the California GCSA
ldquoCalifornia Roomrdquo that will be held Wednesday Feb 6 during conference
and show The annual cocktail party and social will take place this year
aboard the aircraft carrier USS
Midway in San Diego Harbor
The Midway now serves as a na-
val aviation museum and will of-
fer members and guests the oppor-
tunity to tour the carrier and par-
ticipate in flight simulations and
other activities The event was
attended by nearly 600 partici-
pants last year in Las Vegas and this year promises to be even bigger More
information will be forthcoming and registration will be available online at
wwwcaliforniagcsaorg
As always if I can be of any assistance to you please email me at
jjensengcsaaorg and make sure to follow me on Twitter GCSAA_SW
Page 10 Fore Your Information
Russ Mitchell
Boardtronics
Turf Tire Express
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Fore Your Information Page 11
2012 DELEGATES MEETING B Y J E F F C O U W E N H O V E N
The 2012 delegates meet-
ing was a adventurous one from
before I left to the time I got back
from it Those details can be
spared but the experience I re-
ceived from attending to represent
the SNGCSA was paramount to
understanding more about what it
is that the GCSAA is doing to
help promote our profession In
the next few pages I will be ad-
dressing many of the highlights
and important messages sent
home for myself to distribute to
the members of our association
Sandy Queen the sitting GCSAA
president gave an overview and a
ldquoState of the Associationrdquo address
highlighted by a few things
First he shared informa-
tion about golfer perception of our
profession and the results from
the survey taken were rather
shocking but yet exciting Golf
course superintendents according
to the McMahon survey report
indicated that 79 of golfers felt
that Golf Course Superintendents
are the key to economic success
of our facilities That was the
highest amongst all professionals
at our facilities 62 of all golf-
ers polled felt that we were the
key to golfer satisfaction which
was also the highest amongst all
professionals at our facilities
96 of our employers felt that
Golf Course Superintendents were
the key to the economic vitality of
our facilities tops of all profes-
sionals at our facilities Our over-
all ranking tied with the club man-
agers in level of importance at our
facilities
Second Mr Queen dis-
cussed some things the GCSAA
board are trying to do to raise
funding through the EIFG our
5013c organization that helps the
GCSAA operate provide re-
search and scholarships to our
members and students He also
bundled that note with the fact
that the national headquarters is in
need of repairs and updating and
that the headquarters is going to
undergo a facelift of some sorts
The projects range from improv-
ing the exterior infrastructure
Interior infrastructure and land-
scaping updates that will help pre-
sent our profession in a better
manner The whole cost is to be
estimated at 19 million dollars
This seems like a lot but
when you think about it we own
our building and nothing has
been done to update the facility in
twenty years I will be presenting
the details of the update at our
annual meeting
Following Mr Queenrsquos
address CEO Rhett Evans gave us
a status of the industry address
that highlighted many items that
regard the golf industry as a
whole They ranged from ten
year comparisons of Rounds
course opening and closings as
well as the status of our mainte-
nance budgets He emphasized
the importance of the GCSAA
surveys some of us participate in
every year If we donrsquot partici-
pate we arenrsquot represented in the
data and we might not get signifi-
cant data to accurately provide a
true snapshot of our end of the
business Those details will be
shared at the annual meeting in
November as well
Mr Evans also touched
upon how we are funded how we
spend our funding and what they
are looking to do in the near fu-
ture to help promote and serve
our professional organization
from a staff and operational level
Again these details are going to
be provided in more depth at our
annual meeting in November
He finished off with putting the
(Continued on page 12)
Verti Drain
Service
Bruce Christensen
Minden NV 89423
2754 Kayne Ave Christensen
Turf Products
Christensen Turf Products
Tel (775) 450-2761
Fax (775-267-9382
Email becgolfearthlinknet
Page 12 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 1
GCSAA mission The key points
in this segment were as follows
Serve the membership
Advance our profession
Enhance the enjoyment growth
and vitality of golf
Increase revenues and operating
efficiencies
Following Mr Evans Mr Sean
Hoolehan the chair of the Member
Standards committee gave a pres-
entation of the results of a study
that has been analyzing three
things
Determine if the original goals
of the Professional Develop
Initiative have or are being
met
Determine if GCSAA member-
ships standards have had any
unintended consequences for
the association and its members
that should be addressed mov-
ing forward
Make recommendations on a
future course of action for the
GCSAA in regards to member-
ship standards
The committee went through eve-
rything from our bylaws affiliate
chapter agreement to the member-
ship growth and classification data
available In a nutshell they found
some things that have been occur-
ring that the GCSAA did not think
were going to happen when PDI
was initiated and they range from
the loss of Class A members to sal-
ary information regarding the clas-
sifications The detail of the report
will be provided at the annual
meeting in November Their rec-
ommendations will be provided as
well at the annual meeting for our
membership
Mr Bill Maynard chair of
the membership committee went
through the upcoming affiliate
chapter agreement that we approve
here at the SNGCSA every three
years to be a affiliated chapter of
the GCSAA It was announced
following some discussion that
there will be a one year extension
of the current agreement to get
some more data from the current
affiliated chapters to better imple-
ment the new agreement in the
coming year The reason for this is
that there will be some verbiage
change and there were quite a few
chapters that felt it necessary to
need more time to correctly change
their bylaws and get a membership
vote to approve the changes for the
next agreement This will be a
topic for discussion in the coming
year I do not think it will affect
our chapter but I will research this
matter further and discuss it with
our board
Mr Randquist presented a
proposal for the GCSAA to raise
our dues $25 dollars This would
cover a CPI increase as well as
some operating expenses with rela-
tion to our life insurance provided
through the GCSAA membership
Further details will be discussed at
the annual meeting
We then got to meet the candidates
for the upcoming election that will
occur at GIS Everyone got five
minutes at the podium to give us all
a first impression
Mr Pat Finlen gave us a
vision for his Presidency high-
lighted the importance of the EIFG
and strategies for its growth and
future to help sustain its future He
touched upon the growth of the
GCSAA into Asia and other re-
gions of the world He briefly
noted that the applications for certi-
fication for the first time since PDI
are up
Our current secretarytreasurer was
not present at the meeting due to
family medical issues He will be
(Continued on page 13)
Page 13 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 2
the incoming Vice president
There are two candidates for the
Secretary Treasurer position This
will create a little drama on the floor
of the election since one of the can-
didates will not be elected Both are
current sitting Board members and
they both expressed interest to con-
tinue sitting on the board if not
elected The one that is not elected
into the officer position will need to
be nominated on the floor of the an-
nual election to be eligible for one of
the three open BOD positions
There are then five candidates for
three positions if that occurs The
candidates that are running for that
position are Peter Grass CGCS and
John J OrsquoKeefe CGCS Both offer
up a strong message and I will high-
light them at the upcoming annual
meeting
For the three BOD positions open
there are four candidates
John Fulling CGCS from Kala-
mazoo Country Club in
Kalamazoo Michigan
John Walker from Blackhorse
Golf Club in Cypress Texas
Mark Jordan CGCS from West-
field Group Country Club in
Westfield Center Ohio
Darren J Davis from Olde Flor-
ida Golf Club in Naples
Florida
Out of the four candidates
Darren Davis is the only incumbent
sitting on the current board All will
be highlighted more in the upcoming
annual meeting
On Sunday we heard more
about the Environmental Institute for
Golf or the EIFG The focus is be-
ing made on how to get more mem-
ber support to help its marketability
with industry partners Currently the
support saturation is around 19
amongst current active members
The target has been set to get 51 of
current members to donate to the
EIFG So they have a long way to
go Some ideas to boost funding are
the sale of a superintendents life sup-
port bag These backpacks will have
essential tools and other little trin-
kets in them to be up for sale on the
EIFG website to help boost revenue
The other ideas are through the now
launched Rounds for Research pro-
gram from which many of our mem-
bersrsquo clubs have donated to If you
do not know where to look you can
reach the R4R website from the
GCSAA website or look for it on the
actual auction sit at
wwwbiddingforgoodcom
We received a update from
the Board policy Overview commit-
tee all the GCSAA field Staff repre-
sentatives another update from CEO
Rhett Evans and most
importantly from
Chava McKeel and
John OrsquoKeefe with
regards to the Public
Policy committee It is
here that Chava let us
all know the priority
issues that the GCSAA
is focusing on They
are as follows
American with Dis-
abilities Act
Fertilizers
Labor and Immigration
Pesticides
Value of Golf
Water Management
There will be some slides devoted to
what they have been fighting for at
the annual meeting and we will be
seeing what this group has been ac-
tively participating in at the National
level as well as at the State level for
our profession
So as you can see there was
a lot of information divulged for a
one and a half day meeting There
will be even more information
passed along in the upcoming
months I hope as your delegate that
you bring to me any hot button is-
sues and other items for discussion
as time moves on and I will be sure
to communicate these properly Feel
free to contact me at
jeffcouwenhovengmailcom or on
my phone at 559-250-0694
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
I hope you enjoy
this latest edition of our
association newsletter We
are trying some new things
with articles to allow you
the member a chance to
learn something about our
region you might have
known but might not have
taken advantage of in the
past This is the time for
family friends and fellow-
ship
We will still have
our normal articles but for
the next few months we will
add an article that has ac-
tivities day trips etc for
you to try out and enjoy
Thank you Kurtis for the
article and I hope we as
members try it out
I would also like to
take the time to thank the
association for making my
time as the President of our
association a rewarding
one I feel as though we
have accomplished a lot
Some of which are the ini-
tiatives we have supported
the amount of money that
we have been able to donate
to research the scholarships
we have provided and we
have put our association in
a solid financial position for
our future Participation
was
good at our monthly meet-
ings and we have been able
to maintain a strong and
stable membership
Lets all remember
to thank the support staff as
well Irene Kim and every-
one else at the association
office have helped make
our association what it is
today So letrsquos all finish our
aerations over seeding
other fall activities and pro-
jects finish off strong and
spend our time to enjoying
the finer things in life
Jeff
Page 2
P R E S I D E N T rsquo S ME S S A G E B Y J E F F C O U W E N H O V E N
Fore Your Information
Fore Your Information
EDITOR
Jim Alwine
Bernardo Heights GC
OFFICE
SNGCSA
5322 N Leonard
Clovis CA 93619
559-298-6262
Fax 559-298-6957
sngcsaaaolcom
PRESIDENT
Jeff Couwenhoven
Resort at Squaw Creek
916-771-7370
VICE PRESIDENT
Jeremy Payne
Winchester CC
916-817-8106
SECRETARYTREASURER
Jesse Seguin
Lincoln Hills Golf Course
916-434-7200
PAST PRESIDENT
Jim Alwine
Bernardo Heights GC
DIRECTORS
Dave Bermudez
Del Rio Golf amp Country Club
209-341-2413
Scott McCullough
The Ridge Golf Course
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
916-630-7600
Pete Bowman
Target Specialty Products
916-396-9394
FORE YOUR INFORMATION
Published by the Sierra Nevada Golf Course Superintendents Association
800 MOSSDALE RD LATHROP CA
209 234-1500 wwwbrownsandinccom
PRODUCTS- SERVICES AVAILABLE-
USGA 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 ndash Director of Sales and Market
Cell 209 993-5211 E-mail reggiebrownsandinccom
Jeff Couwenhoven
Fore Your Information Page 3
ME E T IN G SC H EDU L E
October 22 2012 Plumas Lakes Golf Course
Host Superintendent Mike Kavaney
November 12 2012 Cameron Park CC
Host Superintendent Jessie Creencia CGCS
Annual Association Meeting amp Election
December 14 2012 River Boat Cruise on the Delta King
Dinner amp Entertainment
January 2013 Pending Confirmation of Date amp Location
February 4-8 2013 Annual Conference amp Show
San Diego CA
California Room USS Midway
Wednesday Feb 6 2012
March 2013 Pending Confirmation of Date amp Location
If you are interested in hosting a meeting email Jeremy Payne at jspturfhotmailcom or
Dave Wilber at davewilberyahoocom
Page 4 Fore Your Information
Grizzly Ranch C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1
organizing the event The rules format
and directions were easy to follow which
helped with the flow of the day and kept
the pace of play tolerable
Now to my favorite part of the ex-
periencehellipthe conditions and golf
course The golf course was setup to pro-
vide challenges and enjoyment for many
different skill sets Conditions were solid
from tee to green The greens were in phe-
nomenal shape and a pleasure to put on
except of course when 3 putting Some
tricky pin placements kept things exciting
and made you think twice when deciding on your approach
shot The Bob Cupp designed course blended in well with its
natural surroundings giving the golf course character and defini-
tion The layout and setup also provided the opportunity to use
every club in the bag
Food and service provided during and after the outing
was also outstanding All in all what a great event It takes a lot
of hard work and preparation to put together an event like
this We are extremely fortunate to have members like Mike in
our Association
Thanks again to Mike Baty and the Grizzly Ranch team
for their professionalism
and providing a quality
experience
Jesse Sequin
pure bentgrass
Course yardage is
6422 and 14 is the
signature hole
Mike has
some challenges
with the irrigation
system still being a
quick coupler with
night waterman
even for the greens
Bunkers need re-
building but with
limited budget this
is taking time
Interesting facts include a major ca-
tastrophe at the course in 1997 when the
Feather River levee system failed which sent
a wall of water that completely flooded the
golf course and surrounding areas The wa-
ter went to the roof of the clubhouse and
maintenance shop Then in 2007 the club
was struck again by a major catastrophe
when a fire burned the cart shed containing
the rental carts along with fifty member carts
Mike is supported in his new job by
his wife Carol who he has been married to
for 20 years They have a daughter Serena
18 who is attending junior college outside of
Santa Cruz and a son John 16 who is at-
tending high school Mike enjoys motorcy-
cle racing cross country and desert as well
as boating Mike is a member of the Placer
County Search and Rescue motorcycle team
Mike is looking forward to hosting
the October meeting and sharing his ldquoHidden
Jewelrdquo
Mike KavaneyPlumas Lake C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1
Michael Kaveney
Club House at Plumas Lake Golf amp Coun-
try Club
The SNGCSA is now on Facebook
and Twitter Check it out
Fore Your Information Page 5
Mike Farmen
559-709-6295
Bob Francischine
209-747-2206
Thor Larson
831-277-4356
Guy Auxer
303-601-2361
The Sierra Nevada GCSA
has been a proud supporter of Cali-
fornia turfgrass research for many
years The last two years have seen a
great increase in funding with mem-
ber generated proceeds from the
SampR Tournament and auction Just
last July you may have seen the
presentation of a $10000 check to
Bruce Williams who was represent-
ing the California Turf and Land-
scape Foundation That donation
went directly to Dr Jim Baird and
his staff funding experimental
turfgrass plots throughout California
The UCR Field Day is the
annual showcase of these studies and
attendance at this yearrsquos event sur-
passed previous numbers even
though it was a million degrees in
Riverside Actually it topped out at
103 but it felt so much hotter At-
tendees could find some shade and
cool refreshments under the main
tent while browsing the well attended
trade show Many affiliate members
set up shop and reported their appre-
ciation of the strong turnout I per-
sonally went home with multiple
contacts and plans for future course
improvements
Of course the real show is
the turf trials and there were plenty
to observe There were some NTEP
trials groundcover drought studies
and some work on buffalograss On
the turf disease and stress topic we
got a close look at dollar spot and
anthracnose management salinity
tolerance and nematode damage As
usual there were multiple studies on
irrigation practices including sub
surface irrigation ET regimes and
drip vs overhead After an excellent
lunch some education and a little
more time hiding in the shade we all
headed up to the Kikuyugrass study
before calling it a day
The work at UC Riverside is
only a small snapshot of the efforts
of Dr Baird and his team They also
manage trial locations throughout the
state including the
local courses of
many Sierra Ne-
vada members
Research in Cali-
fornia is moving in
the right direction
with the support of
the all local Chap-
ters the State As-
sociation the PGA
USGA and of
course the affiliate
companies Up-
coming programs like Rounds for
Research make the future even
brighter as California drives to be
one of the leaders in turfgrass re-
search and innovation Continue
your support of these programs and
try to make it down to the next field
day
2012 UCR L AN D SC APE amp TUR F F I E L D DAY Y O U R R E S E A R C H D O L L A R S A T W O R K
B Y J I M A L W I N E
Floratine
AquaVive
Bio-Amp
JRM
Farmload Distributors
Phoenix
AnaLync
Gro-Power
Aqua-Pucks
(800) 322-8417
Your Exclusive Northern California Dealers
Page 6 Fore Your Information
E-mail smithphelenachemicalcom
VM (800) 543-0630
Box2417
Mob (530) 864-6443
Paul K Smith Sales Representative
Pest Control Advisor Western Specialty Division
HELENA CHEMICAL COMPANY
3155 Southgate Lane
Chico Ca 95928
Bus (530) 342-4786
(800) 554-5703
Fax (530) 343-9047
Wilberrsquos Sierra Nevada News by Dave Wilber
Certainly the
passing of Jim
Alwine into the
realm of San
Diego will be
mourned by all
of us who
needed his wit
and wisdom on
a regular basis
However Jim
says that he may
be gone but not forgotten We will
miss Jim and wish him the very best at
Bernardo Heights CC Replacing Jim at Stockton
Golf and C C is a former right hand
of Jims Rob Williams Rob was run-
ning the show at Sunnyside CC in
Fresno prior to his selection
Mat Dunmyer has left Valley
Hi CC in Elk Grove to take a posi-
tion at Monarch Beach GC in Laguna
Nigel (thats So Cal once again)
Theres no truth in the rumor that Mat
just wanted to be neighbors with Al-
wine Mats number 1 Jeremiah
Stumph took the reins of VHCC for a
bit but quickly saw the light and ac-
cepted a position as Mats right hand at
Mats new gig leaving Valley Hi open
at the time of this writing
Changes at Edgewood Tahoe
with Brad Wunderlich taking over
Brad was the Assistant Super at
Montreaux in Reno
David Major is the new super
at Tierra Oaks GC in Redding
Dave comes to us from Shady Canyon
CC in the San Diego area and is a past
president of the San Diego Chapter
Lots of talk about manage-
ment groups and management consult-
ants in our area as lots of distressed
properties are being looked at More
than several supers and affiliates in
our area have received calls from man-
agement consulting types who are
looking for info and may be doing it
behind the current supers back Lets
all remember our ethics in
talking about other peo-
ples situations that we
probably really dont know
anything about
Lastly (and I
wonder why I always get
this job---old age I guess)
lets all remember that our monthly
meetings are places where we gather
network educate and enjoy the fruits
of association membership A monthly
meeting isnt really set up as an excuse
for you to try to become a rockstar and
party like one Leave that for Friday
nights in your hometown We should
never have a situation where we
would ever be embarrassed to bring an
official from our course or club to see
what the SNGCSA is all about after
all they may be approving the expense
of association membership and if it
just looks like an excuse to get silly
expect that line item to be on the cut
list And really isnt it a matter of pro-
fessional courtesy Sure have a good
time but remember who you are and
who we are Its hard enough to get
respect these days without pushing it
Pete Bowman and I are
happy to have the task of being on
point to set up meetings for next year
If youd like the honor to host a meet-
ing we would love to fulfill that
dream for you and can make it worth-
while for the club and the association
with our experience in event planning
In fact if Pete and I ever get tired of
doing what we do Im sure that
a Wedding Planning Service is in our
future
Dave Wilber
R E C R E A T I O N -F A M I LY T I M E B Y K U R T I S W O L F O R D
Fore Your Information Page 7
Lets face it being a golf
course superintendent is a difficult
job sometimes When we are in the
middle of the summer season the
pressure is on when its 100 degrees
out in the day with high night time
60 degree temperatures we work a
lot of crazy hours lose lots of sleep
etc Some of us are always con-
nected to the course via cell phones
With working those crazy hours we
sometimes miss out on or are late
to or cannot attend the things that
are most important to us ldquoFAMILY
Stuffrdquo
With the stresses that our
job produces it is very important
that we take care of the things that
matter the most Our families are the
people that help us decompress and
get our minds off our job for a
while ldquoFamily Timerdquo
I have had the pleasure of
working for a few superrsquos in my ca-
reer that have taught me this and a
few other things along the way On
a weekend day off schedule family
time Turn off the phone Spend the
time together doing whatever activ-
ity you all like to do Plan a day trip
The Sacramento region and the Si-
erra Nevada region have lots of
things to offer Most of us love the
outdoors If I had to be stuck inside I
would go crazy
Here is an idea that offers
something for just about everyone
and you can spend just a few hours
to all day doing it The Sacramento
Region has a jewel that is easy to
access and has lots of activities
Most of you know about the Ameri-
can River Parkway The American
River Parkway is 23 miles in length
with paved paths that are designated
as both a State and National Wild
and Scenic River There are 82 miles
+ of other maintained trails in the
American River Parkway that ex-
tend from Folsom Lake to Sacra-
mento These trails include bike
trails equestrian trails hiking trails
and others The Parkway incorpo-
rates four major parks Discovery
Park that is 302-acres in downtown
Sacramento Ancil Hoffman Park
that is 396-acres in Carmichael
River Bend Park which is 444-acres
in Rancho Cordova and William B
Pond Recreation Area at the end of
Arden Way Lake Natomas offers
boating (5 mph max) kayaking etc
Nimbus dam and Nimbus fish hatch-
ery have great events like tours and
the salmon festival Each of these
parks offers numerous activities
The American River is a world class
fishery for steel
head trout
striped bass
and salmon
The bike paths
offer miles of
riding time
(something I
personally use
twice a week)
All the parks
have play-
grounds for the
kids The Effie
Yeaw Nature
Center is great
for all ages and
is very educa-
tional The en-
tire parkway
offers nature
viewing
These
areas within the
parkway I per-
sonally use and
take my family
to anytime I
can Itrsquos where I go to de-stress de-
compress and to have family time
Go and utilize this area with your
family It offers something for eve-
ryone Have Fun and enjoy your
time away from work
Kurtis Wolford
Page 8 Fore Your Information
FROM T HE F I E L D J E F F J E N S E N G C S A A F I E L D S T A F F S O U T H W E S T R E G I O N
As we ap-
proach Novem-
ber and the
start of the
holiday season
I want to re-
mind Sierra
Nevada mem-
bers that next
yearrsquos GCSAA
Education Con-
ference and Golf Industry Show are
going to be hosted by your
neighbor to the south
The 2013 event will take
place at the San Diego Convention
Center The Education Conference
is scheduled for Feb 4-8 with the
Golf Industry Show taking place
Feb 6-7
This yearrsquos Education Con-
ference will feature over 100 semi-
nars providing you the in-depth
education you need to meet todays
challenges and prepare for tomor-
row 16 new seminars have been
added featuring a variety of topics
including turfgrass management
communications finance leader-
ship and technology Led by the
industrys most renowned research-
ers industry experts and superin-
tendents seminars are available in
full-day six-hour half-day and two
-hour formats Education points
are offered for completing the
seminars and enrollment is limited
so register early
The Golf Industry Show
presented by GCSAA and NGCOA
is an innovative trade show de-
signed for owners and operators of
golf facilities and golf course man-
agement professionals Featuring
the largest exhibit floor in the in-
dustry the event combines educa-
tion networking and solutions for
golf course superintendents equip-
ment managers ownersoperators
general managers chief operating
officers and architects and build-
ers
In addition a number of
networking events will be held dur-
ing the conference and show in-
cluding a Welcome Reception
Opening Session General Session
and the19th Annual GCSAA Colle-
giate Turf Bowl
Early conference and show
registration for GCSAA members
begins Nov 1 and can be com-
pleted online at www2gcsaaorg
conferenceregistration We look
(Continued on page 9)
Jeff Jensen
Fore Your Information Page 9
GCSANC 208
SNGCSA 305
CCGCSA (not enough
scores to qualify)
Long Drive Jim Ferrin
CGCS Sun City Roseville
(won a putter)
Closes to Pin Robert Wil-
liams Stockton Country
Club (won a driver)
TPC Stonebrae
Tournament Results
FROM THE FIELD
C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 8
forward to a big turnout from all of our California affiliated chapters and we
appreciate your support of this event as it returns to the West Coast
In closing I would be remiss if I didnrsquot mention the California GCSA
ldquoCalifornia Roomrdquo that will be held Wednesday Feb 6 during conference
and show The annual cocktail party and social will take place this year
aboard the aircraft carrier USS
Midway in San Diego Harbor
The Midway now serves as a na-
val aviation museum and will of-
fer members and guests the oppor-
tunity to tour the carrier and par-
ticipate in flight simulations and
other activities The event was
attended by nearly 600 partici-
pants last year in Las Vegas and this year promises to be even bigger More
information will be forthcoming and registration will be available online at
wwwcaliforniagcsaorg
As always if I can be of any assistance to you please email me at
jjensengcsaaorg and make sure to follow me on Twitter GCSAA_SW
Page 10 Fore Your Information
Russ Mitchell
Boardtronics
Turf Tire Express
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Fore Your Information Page 11
2012 DELEGATES MEETING B Y J E F F C O U W E N H O V E N
The 2012 delegates meet-
ing was a adventurous one from
before I left to the time I got back
from it Those details can be
spared but the experience I re-
ceived from attending to represent
the SNGCSA was paramount to
understanding more about what it
is that the GCSAA is doing to
help promote our profession In
the next few pages I will be ad-
dressing many of the highlights
and important messages sent
home for myself to distribute to
the members of our association
Sandy Queen the sitting GCSAA
president gave an overview and a
ldquoState of the Associationrdquo address
highlighted by a few things
First he shared informa-
tion about golfer perception of our
profession and the results from
the survey taken were rather
shocking but yet exciting Golf
course superintendents according
to the McMahon survey report
indicated that 79 of golfers felt
that Golf Course Superintendents
are the key to economic success
of our facilities That was the
highest amongst all professionals
at our facilities 62 of all golf-
ers polled felt that we were the
key to golfer satisfaction which
was also the highest amongst all
professionals at our facilities
96 of our employers felt that
Golf Course Superintendents were
the key to the economic vitality of
our facilities tops of all profes-
sionals at our facilities Our over-
all ranking tied with the club man-
agers in level of importance at our
facilities
Second Mr Queen dis-
cussed some things the GCSAA
board are trying to do to raise
funding through the EIFG our
5013c organization that helps the
GCSAA operate provide re-
search and scholarships to our
members and students He also
bundled that note with the fact
that the national headquarters is in
need of repairs and updating and
that the headquarters is going to
undergo a facelift of some sorts
The projects range from improv-
ing the exterior infrastructure
Interior infrastructure and land-
scaping updates that will help pre-
sent our profession in a better
manner The whole cost is to be
estimated at 19 million dollars
This seems like a lot but
when you think about it we own
our building and nothing has
been done to update the facility in
twenty years I will be presenting
the details of the update at our
annual meeting
Following Mr Queenrsquos
address CEO Rhett Evans gave us
a status of the industry address
that highlighted many items that
regard the golf industry as a
whole They ranged from ten
year comparisons of Rounds
course opening and closings as
well as the status of our mainte-
nance budgets He emphasized
the importance of the GCSAA
surveys some of us participate in
every year If we donrsquot partici-
pate we arenrsquot represented in the
data and we might not get signifi-
cant data to accurately provide a
true snapshot of our end of the
business Those details will be
shared at the annual meeting in
November as well
Mr Evans also touched
upon how we are funded how we
spend our funding and what they
are looking to do in the near fu-
ture to help promote and serve
our professional organization
from a staff and operational level
Again these details are going to
be provided in more depth at our
annual meeting in November
He finished off with putting the
(Continued on page 12)
Verti Drain
Service
Bruce Christensen
Minden NV 89423
2754 Kayne Ave Christensen
Turf Products
Christensen Turf Products
Tel (775) 450-2761
Fax (775-267-9382
Email becgolfearthlinknet
Page 12 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 1
GCSAA mission The key points
in this segment were as follows
Serve the membership
Advance our profession
Enhance the enjoyment growth
and vitality of golf
Increase revenues and operating
efficiencies
Following Mr Evans Mr Sean
Hoolehan the chair of the Member
Standards committee gave a pres-
entation of the results of a study
that has been analyzing three
things
Determine if the original goals
of the Professional Develop
Initiative have or are being
met
Determine if GCSAA member-
ships standards have had any
unintended consequences for
the association and its members
that should be addressed mov-
ing forward
Make recommendations on a
future course of action for the
GCSAA in regards to member-
ship standards
The committee went through eve-
rything from our bylaws affiliate
chapter agreement to the member-
ship growth and classification data
available In a nutshell they found
some things that have been occur-
ring that the GCSAA did not think
were going to happen when PDI
was initiated and they range from
the loss of Class A members to sal-
ary information regarding the clas-
sifications The detail of the report
will be provided at the annual
meeting in November Their rec-
ommendations will be provided as
well at the annual meeting for our
membership
Mr Bill Maynard chair of
the membership committee went
through the upcoming affiliate
chapter agreement that we approve
here at the SNGCSA every three
years to be a affiliated chapter of
the GCSAA It was announced
following some discussion that
there will be a one year extension
of the current agreement to get
some more data from the current
affiliated chapters to better imple-
ment the new agreement in the
coming year The reason for this is
that there will be some verbiage
change and there were quite a few
chapters that felt it necessary to
need more time to correctly change
their bylaws and get a membership
vote to approve the changes for the
next agreement This will be a
topic for discussion in the coming
year I do not think it will affect
our chapter but I will research this
matter further and discuss it with
our board
Mr Randquist presented a
proposal for the GCSAA to raise
our dues $25 dollars This would
cover a CPI increase as well as
some operating expenses with rela-
tion to our life insurance provided
through the GCSAA membership
Further details will be discussed at
the annual meeting
We then got to meet the candidates
for the upcoming election that will
occur at GIS Everyone got five
minutes at the podium to give us all
a first impression
Mr Pat Finlen gave us a
vision for his Presidency high-
lighted the importance of the EIFG
and strategies for its growth and
future to help sustain its future He
touched upon the growth of the
GCSAA into Asia and other re-
gions of the world He briefly
noted that the applications for certi-
fication for the first time since PDI
are up
Our current secretarytreasurer was
not present at the meeting due to
family medical issues He will be
(Continued on page 13)
Page 13 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 2
the incoming Vice president
There are two candidates for the
Secretary Treasurer position This
will create a little drama on the floor
of the election since one of the can-
didates will not be elected Both are
current sitting Board members and
they both expressed interest to con-
tinue sitting on the board if not
elected The one that is not elected
into the officer position will need to
be nominated on the floor of the an-
nual election to be eligible for one of
the three open BOD positions
There are then five candidates for
three positions if that occurs The
candidates that are running for that
position are Peter Grass CGCS and
John J OrsquoKeefe CGCS Both offer
up a strong message and I will high-
light them at the upcoming annual
meeting
For the three BOD positions open
there are four candidates
John Fulling CGCS from Kala-
mazoo Country Club in
Kalamazoo Michigan
John Walker from Blackhorse
Golf Club in Cypress Texas
Mark Jordan CGCS from West-
field Group Country Club in
Westfield Center Ohio
Darren J Davis from Olde Flor-
ida Golf Club in Naples
Florida
Out of the four candidates
Darren Davis is the only incumbent
sitting on the current board All will
be highlighted more in the upcoming
annual meeting
On Sunday we heard more
about the Environmental Institute for
Golf or the EIFG The focus is be-
ing made on how to get more mem-
ber support to help its marketability
with industry partners Currently the
support saturation is around 19
amongst current active members
The target has been set to get 51 of
current members to donate to the
EIFG So they have a long way to
go Some ideas to boost funding are
the sale of a superintendents life sup-
port bag These backpacks will have
essential tools and other little trin-
kets in them to be up for sale on the
EIFG website to help boost revenue
The other ideas are through the now
launched Rounds for Research pro-
gram from which many of our mem-
bersrsquo clubs have donated to If you
do not know where to look you can
reach the R4R website from the
GCSAA website or look for it on the
actual auction sit at
wwwbiddingforgoodcom
We received a update from
the Board policy Overview commit-
tee all the GCSAA field Staff repre-
sentatives another update from CEO
Rhett Evans and most
importantly from
Chava McKeel and
John OrsquoKeefe with
regards to the Public
Policy committee It is
here that Chava let us
all know the priority
issues that the GCSAA
is focusing on They
are as follows
American with Dis-
abilities Act
Fertilizers
Labor and Immigration
Pesticides
Value of Golf
Water Management
There will be some slides devoted to
what they have been fighting for at
the annual meeting and we will be
seeing what this group has been ac-
tively participating in at the National
level as well as at the State level for
our profession
So as you can see there was
a lot of information divulged for a
one and a half day meeting There
will be even more information
passed along in the upcoming
months I hope as your delegate that
you bring to me any hot button is-
sues and other items for discussion
as time moves on and I will be sure
to communicate these properly Feel
free to contact me at
jeffcouwenhovengmailcom or on
my phone at 559-250-0694
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
Fore Your Information Page 3
ME E T IN G SC H EDU L E
October 22 2012 Plumas Lakes Golf Course
Host Superintendent Mike Kavaney
November 12 2012 Cameron Park CC
Host Superintendent Jessie Creencia CGCS
Annual Association Meeting amp Election
December 14 2012 River Boat Cruise on the Delta King
Dinner amp Entertainment
January 2013 Pending Confirmation of Date amp Location
February 4-8 2013 Annual Conference amp Show
San Diego CA
California Room USS Midway
Wednesday Feb 6 2012
March 2013 Pending Confirmation of Date amp Location
If you are interested in hosting a meeting email Jeremy Payne at jspturfhotmailcom or
Dave Wilber at davewilberyahoocom
Page 4 Fore Your Information
Grizzly Ranch C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1
organizing the event The rules format
and directions were easy to follow which
helped with the flow of the day and kept
the pace of play tolerable
Now to my favorite part of the ex-
periencehellipthe conditions and golf
course The golf course was setup to pro-
vide challenges and enjoyment for many
different skill sets Conditions were solid
from tee to green The greens were in phe-
nomenal shape and a pleasure to put on
except of course when 3 putting Some
tricky pin placements kept things exciting
and made you think twice when deciding on your approach
shot The Bob Cupp designed course blended in well with its
natural surroundings giving the golf course character and defini-
tion The layout and setup also provided the opportunity to use
every club in the bag
Food and service provided during and after the outing
was also outstanding All in all what a great event It takes a lot
of hard work and preparation to put together an event like
this We are extremely fortunate to have members like Mike in
our Association
Thanks again to Mike Baty and the Grizzly Ranch team
for their professionalism
and providing a quality
experience
Jesse Sequin
pure bentgrass
Course yardage is
6422 and 14 is the
signature hole
Mike has
some challenges
with the irrigation
system still being a
quick coupler with
night waterman
even for the greens
Bunkers need re-
building but with
limited budget this
is taking time
Interesting facts include a major ca-
tastrophe at the course in 1997 when the
Feather River levee system failed which sent
a wall of water that completely flooded the
golf course and surrounding areas The wa-
ter went to the roof of the clubhouse and
maintenance shop Then in 2007 the club
was struck again by a major catastrophe
when a fire burned the cart shed containing
the rental carts along with fifty member carts
Mike is supported in his new job by
his wife Carol who he has been married to
for 20 years They have a daughter Serena
18 who is attending junior college outside of
Santa Cruz and a son John 16 who is at-
tending high school Mike enjoys motorcy-
cle racing cross country and desert as well
as boating Mike is a member of the Placer
County Search and Rescue motorcycle team
Mike is looking forward to hosting
the October meeting and sharing his ldquoHidden
Jewelrdquo
Mike KavaneyPlumas Lake C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1
Michael Kaveney
Club House at Plumas Lake Golf amp Coun-
try Club
The SNGCSA is now on Facebook
and Twitter Check it out
Fore Your Information Page 5
Mike Farmen
559-709-6295
Bob Francischine
209-747-2206
Thor Larson
831-277-4356
Guy Auxer
303-601-2361
The Sierra Nevada GCSA
has been a proud supporter of Cali-
fornia turfgrass research for many
years The last two years have seen a
great increase in funding with mem-
ber generated proceeds from the
SampR Tournament and auction Just
last July you may have seen the
presentation of a $10000 check to
Bruce Williams who was represent-
ing the California Turf and Land-
scape Foundation That donation
went directly to Dr Jim Baird and
his staff funding experimental
turfgrass plots throughout California
The UCR Field Day is the
annual showcase of these studies and
attendance at this yearrsquos event sur-
passed previous numbers even
though it was a million degrees in
Riverside Actually it topped out at
103 but it felt so much hotter At-
tendees could find some shade and
cool refreshments under the main
tent while browsing the well attended
trade show Many affiliate members
set up shop and reported their appre-
ciation of the strong turnout I per-
sonally went home with multiple
contacts and plans for future course
improvements
Of course the real show is
the turf trials and there were plenty
to observe There were some NTEP
trials groundcover drought studies
and some work on buffalograss On
the turf disease and stress topic we
got a close look at dollar spot and
anthracnose management salinity
tolerance and nematode damage As
usual there were multiple studies on
irrigation practices including sub
surface irrigation ET regimes and
drip vs overhead After an excellent
lunch some education and a little
more time hiding in the shade we all
headed up to the Kikuyugrass study
before calling it a day
The work at UC Riverside is
only a small snapshot of the efforts
of Dr Baird and his team They also
manage trial locations throughout the
state including the
local courses of
many Sierra Ne-
vada members
Research in Cali-
fornia is moving in
the right direction
with the support of
the all local Chap-
ters the State As-
sociation the PGA
USGA and of
course the affiliate
companies Up-
coming programs like Rounds for
Research make the future even
brighter as California drives to be
one of the leaders in turfgrass re-
search and innovation Continue
your support of these programs and
try to make it down to the next field
day
2012 UCR L AN D SC APE amp TUR F F I E L D DAY Y O U R R E S E A R C H D O L L A R S A T W O R K
B Y J I M A L W I N E
Floratine
AquaVive
Bio-Amp
JRM
Farmload Distributors
Phoenix
AnaLync
Gro-Power
Aqua-Pucks
(800) 322-8417
Your Exclusive Northern California Dealers
Page 6 Fore Your Information
E-mail smithphelenachemicalcom
VM (800) 543-0630
Box2417
Mob (530) 864-6443
Paul K Smith Sales Representative
Pest Control Advisor Western Specialty Division
HELENA CHEMICAL COMPANY
3155 Southgate Lane
Chico Ca 95928
Bus (530) 342-4786
(800) 554-5703
Fax (530) 343-9047
Wilberrsquos Sierra Nevada News by Dave Wilber
Certainly the
passing of Jim
Alwine into the
realm of San
Diego will be
mourned by all
of us who
needed his wit
and wisdom on
a regular basis
However Jim
says that he may
be gone but not forgotten We will
miss Jim and wish him the very best at
Bernardo Heights CC Replacing Jim at Stockton
Golf and C C is a former right hand
of Jims Rob Williams Rob was run-
ning the show at Sunnyside CC in
Fresno prior to his selection
Mat Dunmyer has left Valley
Hi CC in Elk Grove to take a posi-
tion at Monarch Beach GC in Laguna
Nigel (thats So Cal once again)
Theres no truth in the rumor that Mat
just wanted to be neighbors with Al-
wine Mats number 1 Jeremiah
Stumph took the reins of VHCC for a
bit but quickly saw the light and ac-
cepted a position as Mats right hand at
Mats new gig leaving Valley Hi open
at the time of this writing
Changes at Edgewood Tahoe
with Brad Wunderlich taking over
Brad was the Assistant Super at
Montreaux in Reno
David Major is the new super
at Tierra Oaks GC in Redding
Dave comes to us from Shady Canyon
CC in the San Diego area and is a past
president of the San Diego Chapter
Lots of talk about manage-
ment groups and management consult-
ants in our area as lots of distressed
properties are being looked at More
than several supers and affiliates in
our area have received calls from man-
agement consulting types who are
looking for info and may be doing it
behind the current supers back Lets
all remember our ethics in
talking about other peo-
ples situations that we
probably really dont know
anything about
Lastly (and I
wonder why I always get
this job---old age I guess)
lets all remember that our monthly
meetings are places where we gather
network educate and enjoy the fruits
of association membership A monthly
meeting isnt really set up as an excuse
for you to try to become a rockstar and
party like one Leave that for Friday
nights in your hometown We should
never have a situation where we
would ever be embarrassed to bring an
official from our course or club to see
what the SNGCSA is all about after
all they may be approving the expense
of association membership and if it
just looks like an excuse to get silly
expect that line item to be on the cut
list And really isnt it a matter of pro-
fessional courtesy Sure have a good
time but remember who you are and
who we are Its hard enough to get
respect these days without pushing it
Pete Bowman and I are
happy to have the task of being on
point to set up meetings for next year
If youd like the honor to host a meet-
ing we would love to fulfill that
dream for you and can make it worth-
while for the club and the association
with our experience in event planning
In fact if Pete and I ever get tired of
doing what we do Im sure that
a Wedding Planning Service is in our
future
Dave Wilber
R E C R E A T I O N -F A M I LY T I M E B Y K U R T I S W O L F O R D
Fore Your Information Page 7
Lets face it being a golf
course superintendent is a difficult
job sometimes When we are in the
middle of the summer season the
pressure is on when its 100 degrees
out in the day with high night time
60 degree temperatures we work a
lot of crazy hours lose lots of sleep
etc Some of us are always con-
nected to the course via cell phones
With working those crazy hours we
sometimes miss out on or are late
to or cannot attend the things that
are most important to us ldquoFAMILY
Stuffrdquo
With the stresses that our
job produces it is very important
that we take care of the things that
matter the most Our families are the
people that help us decompress and
get our minds off our job for a
while ldquoFamily Timerdquo
I have had the pleasure of
working for a few superrsquos in my ca-
reer that have taught me this and a
few other things along the way On
a weekend day off schedule family
time Turn off the phone Spend the
time together doing whatever activ-
ity you all like to do Plan a day trip
The Sacramento region and the Si-
erra Nevada region have lots of
things to offer Most of us love the
outdoors If I had to be stuck inside I
would go crazy
Here is an idea that offers
something for just about everyone
and you can spend just a few hours
to all day doing it The Sacramento
Region has a jewel that is easy to
access and has lots of activities
Most of you know about the Ameri-
can River Parkway The American
River Parkway is 23 miles in length
with paved paths that are designated
as both a State and National Wild
and Scenic River There are 82 miles
+ of other maintained trails in the
American River Parkway that ex-
tend from Folsom Lake to Sacra-
mento These trails include bike
trails equestrian trails hiking trails
and others The Parkway incorpo-
rates four major parks Discovery
Park that is 302-acres in downtown
Sacramento Ancil Hoffman Park
that is 396-acres in Carmichael
River Bend Park which is 444-acres
in Rancho Cordova and William B
Pond Recreation Area at the end of
Arden Way Lake Natomas offers
boating (5 mph max) kayaking etc
Nimbus dam and Nimbus fish hatch-
ery have great events like tours and
the salmon festival Each of these
parks offers numerous activities
The American River is a world class
fishery for steel
head trout
striped bass
and salmon
The bike paths
offer miles of
riding time
(something I
personally use
twice a week)
All the parks
have play-
grounds for the
kids The Effie
Yeaw Nature
Center is great
for all ages and
is very educa-
tional The en-
tire parkway
offers nature
viewing
These
areas within the
parkway I per-
sonally use and
take my family
to anytime I
can Itrsquos where I go to de-stress de-
compress and to have family time
Go and utilize this area with your
family It offers something for eve-
ryone Have Fun and enjoy your
time away from work
Kurtis Wolford
Page 8 Fore Your Information
FROM T HE F I E L D J E F F J E N S E N G C S A A F I E L D S T A F F S O U T H W E S T R E G I O N
As we ap-
proach Novem-
ber and the
start of the
holiday season
I want to re-
mind Sierra
Nevada mem-
bers that next
yearrsquos GCSAA
Education Con-
ference and Golf Industry Show are
going to be hosted by your
neighbor to the south
The 2013 event will take
place at the San Diego Convention
Center The Education Conference
is scheduled for Feb 4-8 with the
Golf Industry Show taking place
Feb 6-7
This yearrsquos Education Con-
ference will feature over 100 semi-
nars providing you the in-depth
education you need to meet todays
challenges and prepare for tomor-
row 16 new seminars have been
added featuring a variety of topics
including turfgrass management
communications finance leader-
ship and technology Led by the
industrys most renowned research-
ers industry experts and superin-
tendents seminars are available in
full-day six-hour half-day and two
-hour formats Education points
are offered for completing the
seminars and enrollment is limited
so register early
The Golf Industry Show
presented by GCSAA and NGCOA
is an innovative trade show de-
signed for owners and operators of
golf facilities and golf course man-
agement professionals Featuring
the largest exhibit floor in the in-
dustry the event combines educa-
tion networking and solutions for
golf course superintendents equip-
ment managers ownersoperators
general managers chief operating
officers and architects and build-
ers
In addition a number of
networking events will be held dur-
ing the conference and show in-
cluding a Welcome Reception
Opening Session General Session
and the19th Annual GCSAA Colle-
giate Turf Bowl
Early conference and show
registration for GCSAA members
begins Nov 1 and can be com-
pleted online at www2gcsaaorg
conferenceregistration We look
(Continued on page 9)
Jeff Jensen
Fore Your Information Page 9
GCSANC 208
SNGCSA 305
CCGCSA (not enough
scores to qualify)
Long Drive Jim Ferrin
CGCS Sun City Roseville
(won a putter)
Closes to Pin Robert Wil-
liams Stockton Country
Club (won a driver)
TPC Stonebrae
Tournament Results
FROM THE FIELD
C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 8
forward to a big turnout from all of our California affiliated chapters and we
appreciate your support of this event as it returns to the West Coast
In closing I would be remiss if I didnrsquot mention the California GCSA
ldquoCalifornia Roomrdquo that will be held Wednesday Feb 6 during conference
and show The annual cocktail party and social will take place this year
aboard the aircraft carrier USS
Midway in San Diego Harbor
The Midway now serves as a na-
val aviation museum and will of-
fer members and guests the oppor-
tunity to tour the carrier and par-
ticipate in flight simulations and
other activities The event was
attended by nearly 600 partici-
pants last year in Las Vegas and this year promises to be even bigger More
information will be forthcoming and registration will be available online at
wwwcaliforniagcsaorg
As always if I can be of any assistance to you please email me at
jjensengcsaaorg and make sure to follow me on Twitter GCSAA_SW
Page 10 Fore Your Information
Russ Mitchell
Boardtronics
Turf Tire Express
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Fore Your Information Page 11
2012 DELEGATES MEETING B Y J E F F C O U W E N H O V E N
The 2012 delegates meet-
ing was a adventurous one from
before I left to the time I got back
from it Those details can be
spared but the experience I re-
ceived from attending to represent
the SNGCSA was paramount to
understanding more about what it
is that the GCSAA is doing to
help promote our profession In
the next few pages I will be ad-
dressing many of the highlights
and important messages sent
home for myself to distribute to
the members of our association
Sandy Queen the sitting GCSAA
president gave an overview and a
ldquoState of the Associationrdquo address
highlighted by a few things
First he shared informa-
tion about golfer perception of our
profession and the results from
the survey taken were rather
shocking but yet exciting Golf
course superintendents according
to the McMahon survey report
indicated that 79 of golfers felt
that Golf Course Superintendents
are the key to economic success
of our facilities That was the
highest amongst all professionals
at our facilities 62 of all golf-
ers polled felt that we were the
key to golfer satisfaction which
was also the highest amongst all
professionals at our facilities
96 of our employers felt that
Golf Course Superintendents were
the key to the economic vitality of
our facilities tops of all profes-
sionals at our facilities Our over-
all ranking tied with the club man-
agers in level of importance at our
facilities
Second Mr Queen dis-
cussed some things the GCSAA
board are trying to do to raise
funding through the EIFG our
5013c organization that helps the
GCSAA operate provide re-
search and scholarships to our
members and students He also
bundled that note with the fact
that the national headquarters is in
need of repairs and updating and
that the headquarters is going to
undergo a facelift of some sorts
The projects range from improv-
ing the exterior infrastructure
Interior infrastructure and land-
scaping updates that will help pre-
sent our profession in a better
manner The whole cost is to be
estimated at 19 million dollars
This seems like a lot but
when you think about it we own
our building and nothing has
been done to update the facility in
twenty years I will be presenting
the details of the update at our
annual meeting
Following Mr Queenrsquos
address CEO Rhett Evans gave us
a status of the industry address
that highlighted many items that
regard the golf industry as a
whole They ranged from ten
year comparisons of Rounds
course opening and closings as
well as the status of our mainte-
nance budgets He emphasized
the importance of the GCSAA
surveys some of us participate in
every year If we donrsquot partici-
pate we arenrsquot represented in the
data and we might not get signifi-
cant data to accurately provide a
true snapshot of our end of the
business Those details will be
shared at the annual meeting in
November as well
Mr Evans also touched
upon how we are funded how we
spend our funding and what they
are looking to do in the near fu-
ture to help promote and serve
our professional organization
from a staff and operational level
Again these details are going to
be provided in more depth at our
annual meeting in November
He finished off with putting the
(Continued on page 12)
Verti Drain
Service
Bruce Christensen
Minden NV 89423
2754 Kayne Ave Christensen
Turf Products
Christensen Turf Products
Tel (775) 450-2761
Fax (775-267-9382
Email becgolfearthlinknet
Page 12 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 1
GCSAA mission The key points
in this segment were as follows
Serve the membership
Advance our profession
Enhance the enjoyment growth
and vitality of golf
Increase revenues and operating
efficiencies
Following Mr Evans Mr Sean
Hoolehan the chair of the Member
Standards committee gave a pres-
entation of the results of a study
that has been analyzing three
things
Determine if the original goals
of the Professional Develop
Initiative have or are being
met
Determine if GCSAA member-
ships standards have had any
unintended consequences for
the association and its members
that should be addressed mov-
ing forward
Make recommendations on a
future course of action for the
GCSAA in regards to member-
ship standards
The committee went through eve-
rything from our bylaws affiliate
chapter agreement to the member-
ship growth and classification data
available In a nutshell they found
some things that have been occur-
ring that the GCSAA did not think
were going to happen when PDI
was initiated and they range from
the loss of Class A members to sal-
ary information regarding the clas-
sifications The detail of the report
will be provided at the annual
meeting in November Their rec-
ommendations will be provided as
well at the annual meeting for our
membership
Mr Bill Maynard chair of
the membership committee went
through the upcoming affiliate
chapter agreement that we approve
here at the SNGCSA every three
years to be a affiliated chapter of
the GCSAA It was announced
following some discussion that
there will be a one year extension
of the current agreement to get
some more data from the current
affiliated chapters to better imple-
ment the new agreement in the
coming year The reason for this is
that there will be some verbiage
change and there were quite a few
chapters that felt it necessary to
need more time to correctly change
their bylaws and get a membership
vote to approve the changes for the
next agreement This will be a
topic for discussion in the coming
year I do not think it will affect
our chapter but I will research this
matter further and discuss it with
our board
Mr Randquist presented a
proposal for the GCSAA to raise
our dues $25 dollars This would
cover a CPI increase as well as
some operating expenses with rela-
tion to our life insurance provided
through the GCSAA membership
Further details will be discussed at
the annual meeting
We then got to meet the candidates
for the upcoming election that will
occur at GIS Everyone got five
minutes at the podium to give us all
a first impression
Mr Pat Finlen gave us a
vision for his Presidency high-
lighted the importance of the EIFG
and strategies for its growth and
future to help sustain its future He
touched upon the growth of the
GCSAA into Asia and other re-
gions of the world He briefly
noted that the applications for certi-
fication for the first time since PDI
are up
Our current secretarytreasurer was
not present at the meeting due to
family medical issues He will be
(Continued on page 13)
Page 13 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 2
the incoming Vice president
There are two candidates for the
Secretary Treasurer position This
will create a little drama on the floor
of the election since one of the can-
didates will not be elected Both are
current sitting Board members and
they both expressed interest to con-
tinue sitting on the board if not
elected The one that is not elected
into the officer position will need to
be nominated on the floor of the an-
nual election to be eligible for one of
the three open BOD positions
There are then five candidates for
three positions if that occurs The
candidates that are running for that
position are Peter Grass CGCS and
John J OrsquoKeefe CGCS Both offer
up a strong message and I will high-
light them at the upcoming annual
meeting
For the three BOD positions open
there are four candidates
John Fulling CGCS from Kala-
mazoo Country Club in
Kalamazoo Michigan
John Walker from Blackhorse
Golf Club in Cypress Texas
Mark Jordan CGCS from West-
field Group Country Club in
Westfield Center Ohio
Darren J Davis from Olde Flor-
ida Golf Club in Naples
Florida
Out of the four candidates
Darren Davis is the only incumbent
sitting on the current board All will
be highlighted more in the upcoming
annual meeting
On Sunday we heard more
about the Environmental Institute for
Golf or the EIFG The focus is be-
ing made on how to get more mem-
ber support to help its marketability
with industry partners Currently the
support saturation is around 19
amongst current active members
The target has been set to get 51 of
current members to donate to the
EIFG So they have a long way to
go Some ideas to boost funding are
the sale of a superintendents life sup-
port bag These backpacks will have
essential tools and other little trin-
kets in them to be up for sale on the
EIFG website to help boost revenue
The other ideas are through the now
launched Rounds for Research pro-
gram from which many of our mem-
bersrsquo clubs have donated to If you
do not know where to look you can
reach the R4R website from the
GCSAA website or look for it on the
actual auction sit at
wwwbiddingforgoodcom
We received a update from
the Board policy Overview commit-
tee all the GCSAA field Staff repre-
sentatives another update from CEO
Rhett Evans and most
importantly from
Chava McKeel and
John OrsquoKeefe with
regards to the Public
Policy committee It is
here that Chava let us
all know the priority
issues that the GCSAA
is focusing on They
are as follows
American with Dis-
abilities Act
Fertilizers
Labor and Immigration
Pesticides
Value of Golf
Water Management
There will be some slides devoted to
what they have been fighting for at
the annual meeting and we will be
seeing what this group has been ac-
tively participating in at the National
level as well as at the State level for
our profession
So as you can see there was
a lot of information divulged for a
one and a half day meeting There
will be even more information
passed along in the upcoming
months I hope as your delegate that
you bring to me any hot button is-
sues and other items for discussion
as time moves on and I will be sure
to communicate these properly Feel
free to contact me at
jeffcouwenhovengmailcom or on
my phone at 559-250-0694
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
Page 4 Fore Your Information
Grizzly Ranch C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1
organizing the event The rules format
and directions were easy to follow which
helped with the flow of the day and kept
the pace of play tolerable
Now to my favorite part of the ex-
periencehellipthe conditions and golf
course The golf course was setup to pro-
vide challenges and enjoyment for many
different skill sets Conditions were solid
from tee to green The greens were in phe-
nomenal shape and a pleasure to put on
except of course when 3 putting Some
tricky pin placements kept things exciting
and made you think twice when deciding on your approach
shot The Bob Cupp designed course blended in well with its
natural surroundings giving the golf course character and defini-
tion The layout and setup also provided the opportunity to use
every club in the bag
Food and service provided during and after the outing
was also outstanding All in all what a great event It takes a lot
of hard work and preparation to put together an event like
this We are extremely fortunate to have members like Mike in
our Association
Thanks again to Mike Baty and the Grizzly Ranch team
for their professionalism
and providing a quality
experience
Jesse Sequin
pure bentgrass
Course yardage is
6422 and 14 is the
signature hole
Mike has
some challenges
with the irrigation
system still being a
quick coupler with
night waterman
even for the greens
Bunkers need re-
building but with
limited budget this
is taking time
Interesting facts include a major ca-
tastrophe at the course in 1997 when the
Feather River levee system failed which sent
a wall of water that completely flooded the
golf course and surrounding areas The wa-
ter went to the roof of the clubhouse and
maintenance shop Then in 2007 the club
was struck again by a major catastrophe
when a fire burned the cart shed containing
the rental carts along with fifty member carts
Mike is supported in his new job by
his wife Carol who he has been married to
for 20 years They have a daughter Serena
18 who is attending junior college outside of
Santa Cruz and a son John 16 who is at-
tending high school Mike enjoys motorcy-
cle racing cross country and desert as well
as boating Mike is a member of the Placer
County Search and Rescue motorcycle team
Mike is looking forward to hosting
the October meeting and sharing his ldquoHidden
Jewelrdquo
Mike KavaneyPlumas Lake C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1
Michael Kaveney
Club House at Plumas Lake Golf amp Coun-
try Club
The SNGCSA is now on Facebook
and Twitter Check it out
Fore Your Information Page 5
Mike Farmen
559-709-6295
Bob Francischine
209-747-2206
Thor Larson
831-277-4356
Guy Auxer
303-601-2361
The Sierra Nevada GCSA
has been a proud supporter of Cali-
fornia turfgrass research for many
years The last two years have seen a
great increase in funding with mem-
ber generated proceeds from the
SampR Tournament and auction Just
last July you may have seen the
presentation of a $10000 check to
Bruce Williams who was represent-
ing the California Turf and Land-
scape Foundation That donation
went directly to Dr Jim Baird and
his staff funding experimental
turfgrass plots throughout California
The UCR Field Day is the
annual showcase of these studies and
attendance at this yearrsquos event sur-
passed previous numbers even
though it was a million degrees in
Riverside Actually it topped out at
103 but it felt so much hotter At-
tendees could find some shade and
cool refreshments under the main
tent while browsing the well attended
trade show Many affiliate members
set up shop and reported their appre-
ciation of the strong turnout I per-
sonally went home with multiple
contacts and plans for future course
improvements
Of course the real show is
the turf trials and there were plenty
to observe There were some NTEP
trials groundcover drought studies
and some work on buffalograss On
the turf disease and stress topic we
got a close look at dollar spot and
anthracnose management salinity
tolerance and nematode damage As
usual there were multiple studies on
irrigation practices including sub
surface irrigation ET regimes and
drip vs overhead After an excellent
lunch some education and a little
more time hiding in the shade we all
headed up to the Kikuyugrass study
before calling it a day
The work at UC Riverside is
only a small snapshot of the efforts
of Dr Baird and his team They also
manage trial locations throughout the
state including the
local courses of
many Sierra Ne-
vada members
Research in Cali-
fornia is moving in
the right direction
with the support of
the all local Chap-
ters the State As-
sociation the PGA
USGA and of
course the affiliate
companies Up-
coming programs like Rounds for
Research make the future even
brighter as California drives to be
one of the leaders in turfgrass re-
search and innovation Continue
your support of these programs and
try to make it down to the next field
day
2012 UCR L AN D SC APE amp TUR F F I E L D DAY Y O U R R E S E A R C H D O L L A R S A T W O R K
B Y J I M A L W I N E
Floratine
AquaVive
Bio-Amp
JRM
Farmload Distributors
Phoenix
AnaLync
Gro-Power
Aqua-Pucks
(800) 322-8417
Your Exclusive Northern California Dealers
Page 6 Fore Your Information
E-mail smithphelenachemicalcom
VM (800) 543-0630
Box2417
Mob (530) 864-6443
Paul K Smith Sales Representative
Pest Control Advisor Western Specialty Division
HELENA CHEMICAL COMPANY
3155 Southgate Lane
Chico Ca 95928
Bus (530) 342-4786
(800) 554-5703
Fax (530) 343-9047
Wilberrsquos Sierra Nevada News by Dave Wilber
Certainly the
passing of Jim
Alwine into the
realm of San
Diego will be
mourned by all
of us who
needed his wit
and wisdom on
a regular basis
However Jim
says that he may
be gone but not forgotten We will
miss Jim and wish him the very best at
Bernardo Heights CC Replacing Jim at Stockton
Golf and C C is a former right hand
of Jims Rob Williams Rob was run-
ning the show at Sunnyside CC in
Fresno prior to his selection
Mat Dunmyer has left Valley
Hi CC in Elk Grove to take a posi-
tion at Monarch Beach GC in Laguna
Nigel (thats So Cal once again)
Theres no truth in the rumor that Mat
just wanted to be neighbors with Al-
wine Mats number 1 Jeremiah
Stumph took the reins of VHCC for a
bit but quickly saw the light and ac-
cepted a position as Mats right hand at
Mats new gig leaving Valley Hi open
at the time of this writing
Changes at Edgewood Tahoe
with Brad Wunderlich taking over
Brad was the Assistant Super at
Montreaux in Reno
David Major is the new super
at Tierra Oaks GC in Redding
Dave comes to us from Shady Canyon
CC in the San Diego area and is a past
president of the San Diego Chapter
Lots of talk about manage-
ment groups and management consult-
ants in our area as lots of distressed
properties are being looked at More
than several supers and affiliates in
our area have received calls from man-
agement consulting types who are
looking for info and may be doing it
behind the current supers back Lets
all remember our ethics in
talking about other peo-
ples situations that we
probably really dont know
anything about
Lastly (and I
wonder why I always get
this job---old age I guess)
lets all remember that our monthly
meetings are places where we gather
network educate and enjoy the fruits
of association membership A monthly
meeting isnt really set up as an excuse
for you to try to become a rockstar and
party like one Leave that for Friday
nights in your hometown We should
never have a situation where we
would ever be embarrassed to bring an
official from our course or club to see
what the SNGCSA is all about after
all they may be approving the expense
of association membership and if it
just looks like an excuse to get silly
expect that line item to be on the cut
list And really isnt it a matter of pro-
fessional courtesy Sure have a good
time but remember who you are and
who we are Its hard enough to get
respect these days without pushing it
Pete Bowman and I are
happy to have the task of being on
point to set up meetings for next year
If youd like the honor to host a meet-
ing we would love to fulfill that
dream for you and can make it worth-
while for the club and the association
with our experience in event planning
In fact if Pete and I ever get tired of
doing what we do Im sure that
a Wedding Planning Service is in our
future
Dave Wilber
R E C R E A T I O N -F A M I LY T I M E B Y K U R T I S W O L F O R D
Fore Your Information Page 7
Lets face it being a golf
course superintendent is a difficult
job sometimes When we are in the
middle of the summer season the
pressure is on when its 100 degrees
out in the day with high night time
60 degree temperatures we work a
lot of crazy hours lose lots of sleep
etc Some of us are always con-
nected to the course via cell phones
With working those crazy hours we
sometimes miss out on or are late
to or cannot attend the things that
are most important to us ldquoFAMILY
Stuffrdquo
With the stresses that our
job produces it is very important
that we take care of the things that
matter the most Our families are the
people that help us decompress and
get our minds off our job for a
while ldquoFamily Timerdquo
I have had the pleasure of
working for a few superrsquos in my ca-
reer that have taught me this and a
few other things along the way On
a weekend day off schedule family
time Turn off the phone Spend the
time together doing whatever activ-
ity you all like to do Plan a day trip
The Sacramento region and the Si-
erra Nevada region have lots of
things to offer Most of us love the
outdoors If I had to be stuck inside I
would go crazy
Here is an idea that offers
something for just about everyone
and you can spend just a few hours
to all day doing it The Sacramento
Region has a jewel that is easy to
access and has lots of activities
Most of you know about the Ameri-
can River Parkway The American
River Parkway is 23 miles in length
with paved paths that are designated
as both a State and National Wild
and Scenic River There are 82 miles
+ of other maintained trails in the
American River Parkway that ex-
tend from Folsom Lake to Sacra-
mento These trails include bike
trails equestrian trails hiking trails
and others The Parkway incorpo-
rates four major parks Discovery
Park that is 302-acres in downtown
Sacramento Ancil Hoffman Park
that is 396-acres in Carmichael
River Bend Park which is 444-acres
in Rancho Cordova and William B
Pond Recreation Area at the end of
Arden Way Lake Natomas offers
boating (5 mph max) kayaking etc
Nimbus dam and Nimbus fish hatch-
ery have great events like tours and
the salmon festival Each of these
parks offers numerous activities
The American River is a world class
fishery for steel
head trout
striped bass
and salmon
The bike paths
offer miles of
riding time
(something I
personally use
twice a week)
All the parks
have play-
grounds for the
kids The Effie
Yeaw Nature
Center is great
for all ages and
is very educa-
tional The en-
tire parkway
offers nature
viewing
These
areas within the
parkway I per-
sonally use and
take my family
to anytime I
can Itrsquos where I go to de-stress de-
compress and to have family time
Go and utilize this area with your
family It offers something for eve-
ryone Have Fun and enjoy your
time away from work
Kurtis Wolford
Page 8 Fore Your Information
FROM T HE F I E L D J E F F J E N S E N G C S A A F I E L D S T A F F S O U T H W E S T R E G I O N
As we ap-
proach Novem-
ber and the
start of the
holiday season
I want to re-
mind Sierra
Nevada mem-
bers that next
yearrsquos GCSAA
Education Con-
ference and Golf Industry Show are
going to be hosted by your
neighbor to the south
The 2013 event will take
place at the San Diego Convention
Center The Education Conference
is scheduled for Feb 4-8 with the
Golf Industry Show taking place
Feb 6-7
This yearrsquos Education Con-
ference will feature over 100 semi-
nars providing you the in-depth
education you need to meet todays
challenges and prepare for tomor-
row 16 new seminars have been
added featuring a variety of topics
including turfgrass management
communications finance leader-
ship and technology Led by the
industrys most renowned research-
ers industry experts and superin-
tendents seminars are available in
full-day six-hour half-day and two
-hour formats Education points
are offered for completing the
seminars and enrollment is limited
so register early
The Golf Industry Show
presented by GCSAA and NGCOA
is an innovative trade show de-
signed for owners and operators of
golf facilities and golf course man-
agement professionals Featuring
the largest exhibit floor in the in-
dustry the event combines educa-
tion networking and solutions for
golf course superintendents equip-
ment managers ownersoperators
general managers chief operating
officers and architects and build-
ers
In addition a number of
networking events will be held dur-
ing the conference and show in-
cluding a Welcome Reception
Opening Session General Session
and the19th Annual GCSAA Colle-
giate Turf Bowl
Early conference and show
registration for GCSAA members
begins Nov 1 and can be com-
pleted online at www2gcsaaorg
conferenceregistration We look
(Continued on page 9)
Jeff Jensen
Fore Your Information Page 9
GCSANC 208
SNGCSA 305
CCGCSA (not enough
scores to qualify)
Long Drive Jim Ferrin
CGCS Sun City Roseville
(won a putter)
Closes to Pin Robert Wil-
liams Stockton Country
Club (won a driver)
TPC Stonebrae
Tournament Results
FROM THE FIELD
C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 8
forward to a big turnout from all of our California affiliated chapters and we
appreciate your support of this event as it returns to the West Coast
In closing I would be remiss if I didnrsquot mention the California GCSA
ldquoCalifornia Roomrdquo that will be held Wednesday Feb 6 during conference
and show The annual cocktail party and social will take place this year
aboard the aircraft carrier USS
Midway in San Diego Harbor
The Midway now serves as a na-
val aviation museum and will of-
fer members and guests the oppor-
tunity to tour the carrier and par-
ticipate in flight simulations and
other activities The event was
attended by nearly 600 partici-
pants last year in Las Vegas and this year promises to be even bigger More
information will be forthcoming and registration will be available online at
wwwcaliforniagcsaorg
As always if I can be of any assistance to you please email me at
jjensengcsaaorg and make sure to follow me on Twitter GCSAA_SW
Page 10 Fore Your Information
Russ Mitchell
Boardtronics
Turf Tire Express
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Fore Your Information Page 11
2012 DELEGATES MEETING B Y J E F F C O U W E N H O V E N
The 2012 delegates meet-
ing was a adventurous one from
before I left to the time I got back
from it Those details can be
spared but the experience I re-
ceived from attending to represent
the SNGCSA was paramount to
understanding more about what it
is that the GCSAA is doing to
help promote our profession In
the next few pages I will be ad-
dressing many of the highlights
and important messages sent
home for myself to distribute to
the members of our association
Sandy Queen the sitting GCSAA
president gave an overview and a
ldquoState of the Associationrdquo address
highlighted by a few things
First he shared informa-
tion about golfer perception of our
profession and the results from
the survey taken were rather
shocking but yet exciting Golf
course superintendents according
to the McMahon survey report
indicated that 79 of golfers felt
that Golf Course Superintendents
are the key to economic success
of our facilities That was the
highest amongst all professionals
at our facilities 62 of all golf-
ers polled felt that we were the
key to golfer satisfaction which
was also the highest amongst all
professionals at our facilities
96 of our employers felt that
Golf Course Superintendents were
the key to the economic vitality of
our facilities tops of all profes-
sionals at our facilities Our over-
all ranking tied with the club man-
agers in level of importance at our
facilities
Second Mr Queen dis-
cussed some things the GCSAA
board are trying to do to raise
funding through the EIFG our
5013c organization that helps the
GCSAA operate provide re-
search and scholarships to our
members and students He also
bundled that note with the fact
that the national headquarters is in
need of repairs and updating and
that the headquarters is going to
undergo a facelift of some sorts
The projects range from improv-
ing the exterior infrastructure
Interior infrastructure and land-
scaping updates that will help pre-
sent our profession in a better
manner The whole cost is to be
estimated at 19 million dollars
This seems like a lot but
when you think about it we own
our building and nothing has
been done to update the facility in
twenty years I will be presenting
the details of the update at our
annual meeting
Following Mr Queenrsquos
address CEO Rhett Evans gave us
a status of the industry address
that highlighted many items that
regard the golf industry as a
whole They ranged from ten
year comparisons of Rounds
course opening and closings as
well as the status of our mainte-
nance budgets He emphasized
the importance of the GCSAA
surveys some of us participate in
every year If we donrsquot partici-
pate we arenrsquot represented in the
data and we might not get signifi-
cant data to accurately provide a
true snapshot of our end of the
business Those details will be
shared at the annual meeting in
November as well
Mr Evans also touched
upon how we are funded how we
spend our funding and what they
are looking to do in the near fu-
ture to help promote and serve
our professional organization
from a staff and operational level
Again these details are going to
be provided in more depth at our
annual meeting in November
He finished off with putting the
(Continued on page 12)
Verti Drain
Service
Bruce Christensen
Minden NV 89423
2754 Kayne Ave Christensen
Turf Products
Christensen Turf Products
Tel (775) 450-2761
Fax (775-267-9382
Email becgolfearthlinknet
Page 12 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 1
GCSAA mission The key points
in this segment were as follows
Serve the membership
Advance our profession
Enhance the enjoyment growth
and vitality of golf
Increase revenues and operating
efficiencies
Following Mr Evans Mr Sean
Hoolehan the chair of the Member
Standards committee gave a pres-
entation of the results of a study
that has been analyzing three
things
Determine if the original goals
of the Professional Develop
Initiative have or are being
met
Determine if GCSAA member-
ships standards have had any
unintended consequences for
the association and its members
that should be addressed mov-
ing forward
Make recommendations on a
future course of action for the
GCSAA in regards to member-
ship standards
The committee went through eve-
rything from our bylaws affiliate
chapter agreement to the member-
ship growth and classification data
available In a nutshell they found
some things that have been occur-
ring that the GCSAA did not think
were going to happen when PDI
was initiated and they range from
the loss of Class A members to sal-
ary information regarding the clas-
sifications The detail of the report
will be provided at the annual
meeting in November Their rec-
ommendations will be provided as
well at the annual meeting for our
membership
Mr Bill Maynard chair of
the membership committee went
through the upcoming affiliate
chapter agreement that we approve
here at the SNGCSA every three
years to be a affiliated chapter of
the GCSAA It was announced
following some discussion that
there will be a one year extension
of the current agreement to get
some more data from the current
affiliated chapters to better imple-
ment the new agreement in the
coming year The reason for this is
that there will be some verbiage
change and there were quite a few
chapters that felt it necessary to
need more time to correctly change
their bylaws and get a membership
vote to approve the changes for the
next agreement This will be a
topic for discussion in the coming
year I do not think it will affect
our chapter but I will research this
matter further and discuss it with
our board
Mr Randquist presented a
proposal for the GCSAA to raise
our dues $25 dollars This would
cover a CPI increase as well as
some operating expenses with rela-
tion to our life insurance provided
through the GCSAA membership
Further details will be discussed at
the annual meeting
We then got to meet the candidates
for the upcoming election that will
occur at GIS Everyone got five
minutes at the podium to give us all
a first impression
Mr Pat Finlen gave us a
vision for his Presidency high-
lighted the importance of the EIFG
and strategies for its growth and
future to help sustain its future He
touched upon the growth of the
GCSAA into Asia and other re-
gions of the world He briefly
noted that the applications for certi-
fication for the first time since PDI
are up
Our current secretarytreasurer was
not present at the meeting due to
family medical issues He will be
(Continued on page 13)
Page 13 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 2
the incoming Vice president
There are two candidates for the
Secretary Treasurer position This
will create a little drama on the floor
of the election since one of the can-
didates will not be elected Both are
current sitting Board members and
they both expressed interest to con-
tinue sitting on the board if not
elected The one that is not elected
into the officer position will need to
be nominated on the floor of the an-
nual election to be eligible for one of
the three open BOD positions
There are then five candidates for
three positions if that occurs The
candidates that are running for that
position are Peter Grass CGCS and
John J OrsquoKeefe CGCS Both offer
up a strong message and I will high-
light them at the upcoming annual
meeting
For the three BOD positions open
there are four candidates
John Fulling CGCS from Kala-
mazoo Country Club in
Kalamazoo Michigan
John Walker from Blackhorse
Golf Club in Cypress Texas
Mark Jordan CGCS from West-
field Group Country Club in
Westfield Center Ohio
Darren J Davis from Olde Flor-
ida Golf Club in Naples
Florida
Out of the four candidates
Darren Davis is the only incumbent
sitting on the current board All will
be highlighted more in the upcoming
annual meeting
On Sunday we heard more
about the Environmental Institute for
Golf or the EIFG The focus is be-
ing made on how to get more mem-
ber support to help its marketability
with industry partners Currently the
support saturation is around 19
amongst current active members
The target has been set to get 51 of
current members to donate to the
EIFG So they have a long way to
go Some ideas to boost funding are
the sale of a superintendents life sup-
port bag These backpacks will have
essential tools and other little trin-
kets in them to be up for sale on the
EIFG website to help boost revenue
The other ideas are through the now
launched Rounds for Research pro-
gram from which many of our mem-
bersrsquo clubs have donated to If you
do not know where to look you can
reach the R4R website from the
GCSAA website or look for it on the
actual auction sit at
wwwbiddingforgoodcom
We received a update from
the Board policy Overview commit-
tee all the GCSAA field Staff repre-
sentatives another update from CEO
Rhett Evans and most
importantly from
Chava McKeel and
John OrsquoKeefe with
regards to the Public
Policy committee It is
here that Chava let us
all know the priority
issues that the GCSAA
is focusing on They
are as follows
American with Dis-
abilities Act
Fertilizers
Labor and Immigration
Pesticides
Value of Golf
Water Management
There will be some slides devoted to
what they have been fighting for at
the annual meeting and we will be
seeing what this group has been ac-
tively participating in at the National
level as well as at the State level for
our profession
So as you can see there was
a lot of information divulged for a
one and a half day meeting There
will be even more information
passed along in the upcoming
months I hope as your delegate that
you bring to me any hot button is-
sues and other items for discussion
as time moves on and I will be sure
to communicate these properly Feel
free to contact me at
jeffcouwenhovengmailcom or on
my phone at 559-250-0694
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
Fore Your Information Page 5
Mike Farmen
559-709-6295
Bob Francischine
209-747-2206
Thor Larson
831-277-4356
Guy Auxer
303-601-2361
The Sierra Nevada GCSA
has been a proud supporter of Cali-
fornia turfgrass research for many
years The last two years have seen a
great increase in funding with mem-
ber generated proceeds from the
SampR Tournament and auction Just
last July you may have seen the
presentation of a $10000 check to
Bruce Williams who was represent-
ing the California Turf and Land-
scape Foundation That donation
went directly to Dr Jim Baird and
his staff funding experimental
turfgrass plots throughout California
The UCR Field Day is the
annual showcase of these studies and
attendance at this yearrsquos event sur-
passed previous numbers even
though it was a million degrees in
Riverside Actually it topped out at
103 but it felt so much hotter At-
tendees could find some shade and
cool refreshments under the main
tent while browsing the well attended
trade show Many affiliate members
set up shop and reported their appre-
ciation of the strong turnout I per-
sonally went home with multiple
contacts and plans for future course
improvements
Of course the real show is
the turf trials and there were plenty
to observe There were some NTEP
trials groundcover drought studies
and some work on buffalograss On
the turf disease and stress topic we
got a close look at dollar spot and
anthracnose management salinity
tolerance and nematode damage As
usual there were multiple studies on
irrigation practices including sub
surface irrigation ET regimes and
drip vs overhead After an excellent
lunch some education and a little
more time hiding in the shade we all
headed up to the Kikuyugrass study
before calling it a day
The work at UC Riverside is
only a small snapshot of the efforts
of Dr Baird and his team They also
manage trial locations throughout the
state including the
local courses of
many Sierra Ne-
vada members
Research in Cali-
fornia is moving in
the right direction
with the support of
the all local Chap-
ters the State As-
sociation the PGA
USGA and of
course the affiliate
companies Up-
coming programs like Rounds for
Research make the future even
brighter as California drives to be
one of the leaders in turfgrass re-
search and innovation Continue
your support of these programs and
try to make it down to the next field
day
2012 UCR L AN D SC APE amp TUR F F I E L D DAY Y O U R R E S E A R C H D O L L A R S A T W O R K
B Y J I M A L W I N E
Floratine
AquaVive
Bio-Amp
JRM
Farmload Distributors
Phoenix
AnaLync
Gro-Power
Aqua-Pucks
(800) 322-8417
Your Exclusive Northern California Dealers
Page 6 Fore Your Information
E-mail smithphelenachemicalcom
VM (800) 543-0630
Box2417
Mob (530) 864-6443
Paul K Smith Sales Representative
Pest Control Advisor Western Specialty Division
HELENA CHEMICAL COMPANY
3155 Southgate Lane
Chico Ca 95928
Bus (530) 342-4786
(800) 554-5703
Fax (530) 343-9047
Wilberrsquos Sierra Nevada News by Dave Wilber
Certainly the
passing of Jim
Alwine into the
realm of San
Diego will be
mourned by all
of us who
needed his wit
and wisdom on
a regular basis
However Jim
says that he may
be gone but not forgotten We will
miss Jim and wish him the very best at
Bernardo Heights CC Replacing Jim at Stockton
Golf and C C is a former right hand
of Jims Rob Williams Rob was run-
ning the show at Sunnyside CC in
Fresno prior to his selection
Mat Dunmyer has left Valley
Hi CC in Elk Grove to take a posi-
tion at Monarch Beach GC in Laguna
Nigel (thats So Cal once again)
Theres no truth in the rumor that Mat
just wanted to be neighbors with Al-
wine Mats number 1 Jeremiah
Stumph took the reins of VHCC for a
bit but quickly saw the light and ac-
cepted a position as Mats right hand at
Mats new gig leaving Valley Hi open
at the time of this writing
Changes at Edgewood Tahoe
with Brad Wunderlich taking over
Brad was the Assistant Super at
Montreaux in Reno
David Major is the new super
at Tierra Oaks GC in Redding
Dave comes to us from Shady Canyon
CC in the San Diego area and is a past
president of the San Diego Chapter
Lots of talk about manage-
ment groups and management consult-
ants in our area as lots of distressed
properties are being looked at More
than several supers and affiliates in
our area have received calls from man-
agement consulting types who are
looking for info and may be doing it
behind the current supers back Lets
all remember our ethics in
talking about other peo-
ples situations that we
probably really dont know
anything about
Lastly (and I
wonder why I always get
this job---old age I guess)
lets all remember that our monthly
meetings are places where we gather
network educate and enjoy the fruits
of association membership A monthly
meeting isnt really set up as an excuse
for you to try to become a rockstar and
party like one Leave that for Friday
nights in your hometown We should
never have a situation where we
would ever be embarrassed to bring an
official from our course or club to see
what the SNGCSA is all about after
all they may be approving the expense
of association membership and if it
just looks like an excuse to get silly
expect that line item to be on the cut
list And really isnt it a matter of pro-
fessional courtesy Sure have a good
time but remember who you are and
who we are Its hard enough to get
respect these days without pushing it
Pete Bowman and I are
happy to have the task of being on
point to set up meetings for next year
If youd like the honor to host a meet-
ing we would love to fulfill that
dream for you and can make it worth-
while for the club and the association
with our experience in event planning
In fact if Pete and I ever get tired of
doing what we do Im sure that
a Wedding Planning Service is in our
future
Dave Wilber
R E C R E A T I O N -F A M I LY T I M E B Y K U R T I S W O L F O R D
Fore Your Information Page 7
Lets face it being a golf
course superintendent is a difficult
job sometimes When we are in the
middle of the summer season the
pressure is on when its 100 degrees
out in the day with high night time
60 degree temperatures we work a
lot of crazy hours lose lots of sleep
etc Some of us are always con-
nected to the course via cell phones
With working those crazy hours we
sometimes miss out on or are late
to or cannot attend the things that
are most important to us ldquoFAMILY
Stuffrdquo
With the stresses that our
job produces it is very important
that we take care of the things that
matter the most Our families are the
people that help us decompress and
get our minds off our job for a
while ldquoFamily Timerdquo
I have had the pleasure of
working for a few superrsquos in my ca-
reer that have taught me this and a
few other things along the way On
a weekend day off schedule family
time Turn off the phone Spend the
time together doing whatever activ-
ity you all like to do Plan a day trip
The Sacramento region and the Si-
erra Nevada region have lots of
things to offer Most of us love the
outdoors If I had to be stuck inside I
would go crazy
Here is an idea that offers
something for just about everyone
and you can spend just a few hours
to all day doing it The Sacramento
Region has a jewel that is easy to
access and has lots of activities
Most of you know about the Ameri-
can River Parkway The American
River Parkway is 23 miles in length
with paved paths that are designated
as both a State and National Wild
and Scenic River There are 82 miles
+ of other maintained trails in the
American River Parkway that ex-
tend from Folsom Lake to Sacra-
mento These trails include bike
trails equestrian trails hiking trails
and others The Parkway incorpo-
rates four major parks Discovery
Park that is 302-acres in downtown
Sacramento Ancil Hoffman Park
that is 396-acres in Carmichael
River Bend Park which is 444-acres
in Rancho Cordova and William B
Pond Recreation Area at the end of
Arden Way Lake Natomas offers
boating (5 mph max) kayaking etc
Nimbus dam and Nimbus fish hatch-
ery have great events like tours and
the salmon festival Each of these
parks offers numerous activities
The American River is a world class
fishery for steel
head trout
striped bass
and salmon
The bike paths
offer miles of
riding time
(something I
personally use
twice a week)
All the parks
have play-
grounds for the
kids The Effie
Yeaw Nature
Center is great
for all ages and
is very educa-
tional The en-
tire parkway
offers nature
viewing
These
areas within the
parkway I per-
sonally use and
take my family
to anytime I
can Itrsquos where I go to de-stress de-
compress and to have family time
Go and utilize this area with your
family It offers something for eve-
ryone Have Fun and enjoy your
time away from work
Kurtis Wolford
Page 8 Fore Your Information
FROM T HE F I E L D J E F F J E N S E N G C S A A F I E L D S T A F F S O U T H W E S T R E G I O N
As we ap-
proach Novem-
ber and the
start of the
holiday season
I want to re-
mind Sierra
Nevada mem-
bers that next
yearrsquos GCSAA
Education Con-
ference and Golf Industry Show are
going to be hosted by your
neighbor to the south
The 2013 event will take
place at the San Diego Convention
Center The Education Conference
is scheduled for Feb 4-8 with the
Golf Industry Show taking place
Feb 6-7
This yearrsquos Education Con-
ference will feature over 100 semi-
nars providing you the in-depth
education you need to meet todays
challenges and prepare for tomor-
row 16 new seminars have been
added featuring a variety of topics
including turfgrass management
communications finance leader-
ship and technology Led by the
industrys most renowned research-
ers industry experts and superin-
tendents seminars are available in
full-day six-hour half-day and two
-hour formats Education points
are offered for completing the
seminars and enrollment is limited
so register early
The Golf Industry Show
presented by GCSAA and NGCOA
is an innovative trade show de-
signed for owners and operators of
golf facilities and golf course man-
agement professionals Featuring
the largest exhibit floor in the in-
dustry the event combines educa-
tion networking and solutions for
golf course superintendents equip-
ment managers ownersoperators
general managers chief operating
officers and architects and build-
ers
In addition a number of
networking events will be held dur-
ing the conference and show in-
cluding a Welcome Reception
Opening Session General Session
and the19th Annual GCSAA Colle-
giate Turf Bowl
Early conference and show
registration for GCSAA members
begins Nov 1 and can be com-
pleted online at www2gcsaaorg
conferenceregistration We look
(Continued on page 9)
Jeff Jensen
Fore Your Information Page 9
GCSANC 208
SNGCSA 305
CCGCSA (not enough
scores to qualify)
Long Drive Jim Ferrin
CGCS Sun City Roseville
(won a putter)
Closes to Pin Robert Wil-
liams Stockton Country
Club (won a driver)
TPC Stonebrae
Tournament Results
FROM THE FIELD
C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 8
forward to a big turnout from all of our California affiliated chapters and we
appreciate your support of this event as it returns to the West Coast
In closing I would be remiss if I didnrsquot mention the California GCSA
ldquoCalifornia Roomrdquo that will be held Wednesday Feb 6 during conference
and show The annual cocktail party and social will take place this year
aboard the aircraft carrier USS
Midway in San Diego Harbor
The Midway now serves as a na-
val aviation museum and will of-
fer members and guests the oppor-
tunity to tour the carrier and par-
ticipate in flight simulations and
other activities The event was
attended by nearly 600 partici-
pants last year in Las Vegas and this year promises to be even bigger More
information will be forthcoming and registration will be available online at
wwwcaliforniagcsaorg
As always if I can be of any assistance to you please email me at
jjensengcsaaorg and make sure to follow me on Twitter GCSAA_SW
Page 10 Fore Your Information
Russ Mitchell
Boardtronics
Turf Tire Express
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Fore Your Information Page 11
2012 DELEGATES MEETING B Y J E F F C O U W E N H O V E N
The 2012 delegates meet-
ing was a adventurous one from
before I left to the time I got back
from it Those details can be
spared but the experience I re-
ceived from attending to represent
the SNGCSA was paramount to
understanding more about what it
is that the GCSAA is doing to
help promote our profession In
the next few pages I will be ad-
dressing many of the highlights
and important messages sent
home for myself to distribute to
the members of our association
Sandy Queen the sitting GCSAA
president gave an overview and a
ldquoState of the Associationrdquo address
highlighted by a few things
First he shared informa-
tion about golfer perception of our
profession and the results from
the survey taken were rather
shocking but yet exciting Golf
course superintendents according
to the McMahon survey report
indicated that 79 of golfers felt
that Golf Course Superintendents
are the key to economic success
of our facilities That was the
highest amongst all professionals
at our facilities 62 of all golf-
ers polled felt that we were the
key to golfer satisfaction which
was also the highest amongst all
professionals at our facilities
96 of our employers felt that
Golf Course Superintendents were
the key to the economic vitality of
our facilities tops of all profes-
sionals at our facilities Our over-
all ranking tied with the club man-
agers in level of importance at our
facilities
Second Mr Queen dis-
cussed some things the GCSAA
board are trying to do to raise
funding through the EIFG our
5013c organization that helps the
GCSAA operate provide re-
search and scholarships to our
members and students He also
bundled that note with the fact
that the national headquarters is in
need of repairs and updating and
that the headquarters is going to
undergo a facelift of some sorts
The projects range from improv-
ing the exterior infrastructure
Interior infrastructure and land-
scaping updates that will help pre-
sent our profession in a better
manner The whole cost is to be
estimated at 19 million dollars
This seems like a lot but
when you think about it we own
our building and nothing has
been done to update the facility in
twenty years I will be presenting
the details of the update at our
annual meeting
Following Mr Queenrsquos
address CEO Rhett Evans gave us
a status of the industry address
that highlighted many items that
regard the golf industry as a
whole They ranged from ten
year comparisons of Rounds
course opening and closings as
well as the status of our mainte-
nance budgets He emphasized
the importance of the GCSAA
surveys some of us participate in
every year If we donrsquot partici-
pate we arenrsquot represented in the
data and we might not get signifi-
cant data to accurately provide a
true snapshot of our end of the
business Those details will be
shared at the annual meeting in
November as well
Mr Evans also touched
upon how we are funded how we
spend our funding and what they
are looking to do in the near fu-
ture to help promote and serve
our professional organization
from a staff and operational level
Again these details are going to
be provided in more depth at our
annual meeting in November
He finished off with putting the
(Continued on page 12)
Verti Drain
Service
Bruce Christensen
Minden NV 89423
2754 Kayne Ave Christensen
Turf Products
Christensen Turf Products
Tel (775) 450-2761
Fax (775-267-9382
Email becgolfearthlinknet
Page 12 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 1
GCSAA mission The key points
in this segment were as follows
Serve the membership
Advance our profession
Enhance the enjoyment growth
and vitality of golf
Increase revenues and operating
efficiencies
Following Mr Evans Mr Sean
Hoolehan the chair of the Member
Standards committee gave a pres-
entation of the results of a study
that has been analyzing three
things
Determine if the original goals
of the Professional Develop
Initiative have or are being
met
Determine if GCSAA member-
ships standards have had any
unintended consequences for
the association and its members
that should be addressed mov-
ing forward
Make recommendations on a
future course of action for the
GCSAA in regards to member-
ship standards
The committee went through eve-
rything from our bylaws affiliate
chapter agreement to the member-
ship growth and classification data
available In a nutshell they found
some things that have been occur-
ring that the GCSAA did not think
were going to happen when PDI
was initiated and they range from
the loss of Class A members to sal-
ary information regarding the clas-
sifications The detail of the report
will be provided at the annual
meeting in November Their rec-
ommendations will be provided as
well at the annual meeting for our
membership
Mr Bill Maynard chair of
the membership committee went
through the upcoming affiliate
chapter agreement that we approve
here at the SNGCSA every three
years to be a affiliated chapter of
the GCSAA It was announced
following some discussion that
there will be a one year extension
of the current agreement to get
some more data from the current
affiliated chapters to better imple-
ment the new agreement in the
coming year The reason for this is
that there will be some verbiage
change and there were quite a few
chapters that felt it necessary to
need more time to correctly change
their bylaws and get a membership
vote to approve the changes for the
next agreement This will be a
topic for discussion in the coming
year I do not think it will affect
our chapter but I will research this
matter further and discuss it with
our board
Mr Randquist presented a
proposal for the GCSAA to raise
our dues $25 dollars This would
cover a CPI increase as well as
some operating expenses with rela-
tion to our life insurance provided
through the GCSAA membership
Further details will be discussed at
the annual meeting
We then got to meet the candidates
for the upcoming election that will
occur at GIS Everyone got five
minutes at the podium to give us all
a first impression
Mr Pat Finlen gave us a
vision for his Presidency high-
lighted the importance of the EIFG
and strategies for its growth and
future to help sustain its future He
touched upon the growth of the
GCSAA into Asia and other re-
gions of the world He briefly
noted that the applications for certi-
fication for the first time since PDI
are up
Our current secretarytreasurer was
not present at the meeting due to
family medical issues He will be
(Continued on page 13)
Page 13 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 2
the incoming Vice president
There are two candidates for the
Secretary Treasurer position This
will create a little drama on the floor
of the election since one of the can-
didates will not be elected Both are
current sitting Board members and
they both expressed interest to con-
tinue sitting on the board if not
elected The one that is not elected
into the officer position will need to
be nominated on the floor of the an-
nual election to be eligible for one of
the three open BOD positions
There are then five candidates for
three positions if that occurs The
candidates that are running for that
position are Peter Grass CGCS and
John J OrsquoKeefe CGCS Both offer
up a strong message and I will high-
light them at the upcoming annual
meeting
For the three BOD positions open
there are four candidates
John Fulling CGCS from Kala-
mazoo Country Club in
Kalamazoo Michigan
John Walker from Blackhorse
Golf Club in Cypress Texas
Mark Jordan CGCS from West-
field Group Country Club in
Westfield Center Ohio
Darren J Davis from Olde Flor-
ida Golf Club in Naples
Florida
Out of the four candidates
Darren Davis is the only incumbent
sitting on the current board All will
be highlighted more in the upcoming
annual meeting
On Sunday we heard more
about the Environmental Institute for
Golf or the EIFG The focus is be-
ing made on how to get more mem-
ber support to help its marketability
with industry partners Currently the
support saturation is around 19
amongst current active members
The target has been set to get 51 of
current members to donate to the
EIFG So they have a long way to
go Some ideas to boost funding are
the sale of a superintendents life sup-
port bag These backpacks will have
essential tools and other little trin-
kets in them to be up for sale on the
EIFG website to help boost revenue
The other ideas are through the now
launched Rounds for Research pro-
gram from which many of our mem-
bersrsquo clubs have donated to If you
do not know where to look you can
reach the R4R website from the
GCSAA website or look for it on the
actual auction sit at
wwwbiddingforgoodcom
We received a update from
the Board policy Overview commit-
tee all the GCSAA field Staff repre-
sentatives another update from CEO
Rhett Evans and most
importantly from
Chava McKeel and
John OrsquoKeefe with
regards to the Public
Policy committee It is
here that Chava let us
all know the priority
issues that the GCSAA
is focusing on They
are as follows
American with Dis-
abilities Act
Fertilizers
Labor and Immigration
Pesticides
Value of Golf
Water Management
There will be some slides devoted to
what they have been fighting for at
the annual meeting and we will be
seeing what this group has been ac-
tively participating in at the National
level as well as at the State level for
our profession
So as you can see there was
a lot of information divulged for a
one and a half day meeting There
will be even more information
passed along in the upcoming
months I hope as your delegate that
you bring to me any hot button is-
sues and other items for discussion
as time moves on and I will be sure
to communicate these properly Feel
free to contact me at
jeffcouwenhovengmailcom or on
my phone at 559-250-0694
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
Page 6 Fore Your Information
E-mail smithphelenachemicalcom
VM (800) 543-0630
Box2417
Mob (530) 864-6443
Paul K Smith Sales Representative
Pest Control Advisor Western Specialty Division
HELENA CHEMICAL COMPANY
3155 Southgate Lane
Chico Ca 95928
Bus (530) 342-4786
(800) 554-5703
Fax (530) 343-9047
Wilberrsquos Sierra Nevada News by Dave Wilber
Certainly the
passing of Jim
Alwine into the
realm of San
Diego will be
mourned by all
of us who
needed his wit
and wisdom on
a regular basis
However Jim
says that he may
be gone but not forgotten We will
miss Jim and wish him the very best at
Bernardo Heights CC Replacing Jim at Stockton
Golf and C C is a former right hand
of Jims Rob Williams Rob was run-
ning the show at Sunnyside CC in
Fresno prior to his selection
Mat Dunmyer has left Valley
Hi CC in Elk Grove to take a posi-
tion at Monarch Beach GC in Laguna
Nigel (thats So Cal once again)
Theres no truth in the rumor that Mat
just wanted to be neighbors with Al-
wine Mats number 1 Jeremiah
Stumph took the reins of VHCC for a
bit but quickly saw the light and ac-
cepted a position as Mats right hand at
Mats new gig leaving Valley Hi open
at the time of this writing
Changes at Edgewood Tahoe
with Brad Wunderlich taking over
Brad was the Assistant Super at
Montreaux in Reno
David Major is the new super
at Tierra Oaks GC in Redding
Dave comes to us from Shady Canyon
CC in the San Diego area and is a past
president of the San Diego Chapter
Lots of talk about manage-
ment groups and management consult-
ants in our area as lots of distressed
properties are being looked at More
than several supers and affiliates in
our area have received calls from man-
agement consulting types who are
looking for info and may be doing it
behind the current supers back Lets
all remember our ethics in
talking about other peo-
ples situations that we
probably really dont know
anything about
Lastly (and I
wonder why I always get
this job---old age I guess)
lets all remember that our monthly
meetings are places where we gather
network educate and enjoy the fruits
of association membership A monthly
meeting isnt really set up as an excuse
for you to try to become a rockstar and
party like one Leave that for Friday
nights in your hometown We should
never have a situation where we
would ever be embarrassed to bring an
official from our course or club to see
what the SNGCSA is all about after
all they may be approving the expense
of association membership and if it
just looks like an excuse to get silly
expect that line item to be on the cut
list And really isnt it a matter of pro-
fessional courtesy Sure have a good
time but remember who you are and
who we are Its hard enough to get
respect these days without pushing it
Pete Bowman and I are
happy to have the task of being on
point to set up meetings for next year
If youd like the honor to host a meet-
ing we would love to fulfill that
dream for you and can make it worth-
while for the club and the association
with our experience in event planning
In fact if Pete and I ever get tired of
doing what we do Im sure that
a Wedding Planning Service is in our
future
Dave Wilber
R E C R E A T I O N -F A M I LY T I M E B Y K U R T I S W O L F O R D
Fore Your Information Page 7
Lets face it being a golf
course superintendent is a difficult
job sometimes When we are in the
middle of the summer season the
pressure is on when its 100 degrees
out in the day with high night time
60 degree temperatures we work a
lot of crazy hours lose lots of sleep
etc Some of us are always con-
nected to the course via cell phones
With working those crazy hours we
sometimes miss out on or are late
to or cannot attend the things that
are most important to us ldquoFAMILY
Stuffrdquo
With the stresses that our
job produces it is very important
that we take care of the things that
matter the most Our families are the
people that help us decompress and
get our minds off our job for a
while ldquoFamily Timerdquo
I have had the pleasure of
working for a few superrsquos in my ca-
reer that have taught me this and a
few other things along the way On
a weekend day off schedule family
time Turn off the phone Spend the
time together doing whatever activ-
ity you all like to do Plan a day trip
The Sacramento region and the Si-
erra Nevada region have lots of
things to offer Most of us love the
outdoors If I had to be stuck inside I
would go crazy
Here is an idea that offers
something for just about everyone
and you can spend just a few hours
to all day doing it The Sacramento
Region has a jewel that is easy to
access and has lots of activities
Most of you know about the Ameri-
can River Parkway The American
River Parkway is 23 miles in length
with paved paths that are designated
as both a State and National Wild
and Scenic River There are 82 miles
+ of other maintained trails in the
American River Parkway that ex-
tend from Folsom Lake to Sacra-
mento These trails include bike
trails equestrian trails hiking trails
and others The Parkway incorpo-
rates four major parks Discovery
Park that is 302-acres in downtown
Sacramento Ancil Hoffman Park
that is 396-acres in Carmichael
River Bend Park which is 444-acres
in Rancho Cordova and William B
Pond Recreation Area at the end of
Arden Way Lake Natomas offers
boating (5 mph max) kayaking etc
Nimbus dam and Nimbus fish hatch-
ery have great events like tours and
the salmon festival Each of these
parks offers numerous activities
The American River is a world class
fishery for steel
head trout
striped bass
and salmon
The bike paths
offer miles of
riding time
(something I
personally use
twice a week)
All the parks
have play-
grounds for the
kids The Effie
Yeaw Nature
Center is great
for all ages and
is very educa-
tional The en-
tire parkway
offers nature
viewing
These
areas within the
parkway I per-
sonally use and
take my family
to anytime I
can Itrsquos where I go to de-stress de-
compress and to have family time
Go and utilize this area with your
family It offers something for eve-
ryone Have Fun and enjoy your
time away from work
Kurtis Wolford
Page 8 Fore Your Information
FROM T HE F I E L D J E F F J E N S E N G C S A A F I E L D S T A F F S O U T H W E S T R E G I O N
As we ap-
proach Novem-
ber and the
start of the
holiday season
I want to re-
mind Sierra
Nevada mem-
bers that next
yearrsquos GCSAA
Education Con-
ference and Golf Industry Show are
going to be hosted by your
neighbor to the south
The 2013 event will take
place at the San Diego Convention
Center The Education Conference
is scheduled for Feb 4-8 with the
Golf Industry Show taking place
Feb 6-7
This yearrsquos Education Con-
ference will feature over 100 semi-
nars providing you the in-depth
education you need to meet todays
challenges and prepare for tomor-
row 16 new seminars have been
added featuring a variety of topics
including turfgrass management
communications finance leader-
ship and technology Led by the
industrys most renowned research-
ers industry experts and superin-
tendents seminars are available in
full-day six-hour half-day and two
-hour formats Education points
are offered for completing the
seminars and enrollment is limited
so register early
The Golf Industry Show
presented by GCSAA and NGCOA
is an innovative trade show de-
signed for owners and operators of
golf facilities and golf course man-
agement professionals Featuring
the largest exhibit floor in the in-
dustry the event combines educa-
tion networking and solutions for
golf course superintendents equip-
ment managers ownersoperators
general managers chief operating
officers and architects and build-
ers
In addition a number of
networking events will be held dur-
ing the conference and show in-
cluding a Welcome Reception
Opening Session General Session
and the19th Annual GCSAA Colle-
giate Turf Bowl
Early conference and show
registration for GCSAA members
begins Nov 1 and can be com-
pleted online at www2gcsaaorg
conferenceregistration We look
(Continued on page 9)
Jeff Jensen
Fore Your Information Page 9
GCSANC 208
SNGCSA 305
CCGCSA (not enough
scores to qualify)
Long Drive Jim Ferrin
CGCS Sun City Roseville
(won a putter)
Closes to Pin Robert Wil-
liams Stockton Country
Club (won a driver)
TPC Stonebrae
Tournament Results
FROM THE FIELD
C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 8
forward to a big turnout from all of our California affiliated chapters and we
appreciate your support of this event as it returns to the West Coast
In closing I would be remiss if I didnrsquot mention the California GCSA
ldquoCalifornia Roomrdquo that will be held Wednesday Feb 6 during conference
and show The annual cocktail party and social will take place this year
aboard the aircraft carrier USS
Midway in San Diego Harbor
The Midway now serves as a na-
val aviation museum and will of-
fer members and guests the oppor-
tunity to tour the carrier and par-
ticipate in flight simulations and
other activities The event was
attended by nearly 600 partici-
pants last year in Las Vegas and this year promises to be even bigger More
information will be forthcoming and registration will be available online at
wwwcaliforniagcsaorg
As always if I can be of any assistance to you please email me at
jjensengcsaaorg and make sure to follow me on Twitter GCSAA_SW
Page 10 Fore Your Information
Russ Mitchell
Boardtronics
Turf Tire Express
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Fore Your Information Page 11
2012 DELEGATES MEETING B Y J E F F C O U W E N H O V E N
The 2012 delegates meet-
ing was a adventurous one from
before I left to the time I got back
from it Those details can be
spared but the experience I re-
ceived from attending to represent
the SNGCSA was paramount to
understanding more about what it
is that the GCSAA is doing to
help promote our profession In
the next few pages I will be ad-
dressing many of the highlights
and important messages sent
home for myself to distribute to
the members of our association
Sandy Queen the sitting GCSAA
president gave an overview and a
ldquoState of the Associationrdquo address
highlighted by a few things
First he shared informa-
tion about golfer perception of our
profession and the results from
the survey taken were rather
shocking but yet exciting Golf
course superintendents according
to the McMahon survey report
indicated that 79 of golfers felt
that Golf Course Superintendents
are the key to economic success
of our facilities That was the
highest amongst all professionals
at our facilities 62 of all golf-
ers polled felt that we were the
key to golfer satisfaction which
was also the highest amongst all
professionals at our facilities
96 of our employers felt that
Golf Course Superintendents were
the key to the economic vitality of
our facilities tops of all profes-
sionals at our facilities Our over-
all ranking tied with the club man-
agers in level of importance at our
facilities
Second Mr Queen dis-
cussed some things the GCSAA
board are trying to do to raise
funding through the EIFG our
5013c organization that helps the
GCSAA operate provide re-
search and scholarships to our
members and students He also
bundled that note with the fact
that the national headquarters is in
need of repairs and updating and
that the headquarters is going to
undergo a facelift of some sorts
The projects range from improv-
ing the exterior infrastructure
Interior infrastructure and land-
scaping updates that will help pre-
sent our profession in a better
manner The whole cost is to be
estimated at 19 million dollars
This seems like a lot but
when you think about it we own
our building and nothing has
been done to update the facility in
twenty years I will be presenting
the details of the update at our
annual meeting
Following Mr Queenrsquos
address CEO Rhett Evans gave us
a status of the industry address
that highlighted many items that
regard the golf industry as a
whole They ranged from ten
year comparisons of Rounds
course opening and closings as
well as the status of our mainte-
nance budgets He emphasized
the importance of the GCSAA
surveys some of us participate in
every year If we donrsquot partici-
pate we arenrsquot represented in the
data and we might not get signifi-
cant data to accurately provide a
true snapshot of our end of the
business Those details will be
shared at the annual meeting in
November as well
Mr Evans also touched
upon how we are funded how we
spend our funding and what they
are looking to do in the near fu-
ture to help promote and serve
our professional organization
from a staff and operational level
Again these details are going to
be provided in more depth at our
annual meeting in November
He finished off with putting the
(Continued on page 12)
Verti Drain
Service
Bruce Christensen
Minden NV 89423
2754 Kayne Ave Christensen
Turf Products
Christensen Turf Products
Tel (775) 450-2761
Fax (775-267-9382
Email becgolfearthlinknet
Page 12 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 1
GCSAA mission The key points
in this segment were as follows
Serve the membership
Advance our profession
Enhance the enjoyment growth
and vitality of golf
Increase revenues and operating
efficiencies
Following Mr Evans Mr Sean
Hoolehan the chair of the Member
Standards committee gave a pres-
entation of the results of a study
that has been analyzing three
things
Determine if the original goals
of the Professional Develop
Initiative have or are being
met
Determine if GCSAA member-
ships standards have had any
unintended consequences for
the association and its members
that should be addressed mov-
ing forward
Make recommendations on a
future course of action for the
GCSAA in regards to member-
ship standards
The committee went through eve-
rything from our bylaws affiliate
chapter agreement to the member-
ship growth and classification data
available In a nutshell they found
some things that have been occur-
ring that the GCSAA did not think
were going to happen when PDI
was initiated and they range from
the loss of Class A members to sal-
ary information regarding the clas-
sifications The detail of the report
will be provided at the annual
meeting in November Their rec-
ommendations will be provided as
well at the annual meeting for our
membership
Mr Bill Maynard chair of
the membership committee went
through the upcoming affiliate
chapter agreement that we approve
here at the SNGCSA every three
years to be a affiliated chapter of
the GCSAA It was announced
following some discussion that
there will be a one year extension
of the current agreement to get
some more data from the current
affiliated chapters to better imple-
ment the new agreement in the
coming year The reason for this is
that there will be some verbiage
change and there were quite a few
chapters that felt it necessary to
need more time to correctly change
their bylaws and get a membership
vote to approve the changes for the
next agreement This will be a
topic for discussion in the coming
year I do not think it will affect
our chapter but I will research this
matter further and discuss it with
our board
Mr Randquist presented a
proposal for the GCSAA to raise
our dues $25 dollars This would
cover a CPI increase as well as
some operating expenses with rela-
tion to our life insurance provided
through the GCSAA membership
Further details will be discussed at
the annual meeting
We then got to meet the candidates
for the upcoming election that will
occur at GIS Everyone got five
minutes at the podium to give us all
a first impression
Mr Pat Finlen gave us a
vision for his Presidency high-
lighted the importance of the EIFG
and strategies for its growth and
future to help sustain its future He
touched upon the growth of the
GCSAA into Asia and other re-
gions of the world He briefly
noted that the applications for certi-
fication for the first time since PDI
are up
Our current secretarytreasurer was
not present at the meeting due to
family medical issues He will be
(Continued on page 13)
Page 13 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 2
the incoming Vice president
There are two candidates for the
Secretary Treasurer position This
will create a little drama on the floor
of the election since one of the can-
didates will not be elected Both are
current sitting Board members and
they both expressed interest to con-
tinue sitting on the board if not
elected The one that is not elected
into the officer position will need to
be nominated on the floor of the an-
nual election to be eligible for one of
the three open BOD positions
There are then five candidates for
three positions if that occurs The
candidates that are running for that
position are Peter Grass CGCS and
John J OrsquoKeefe CGCS Both offer
up a strong message and I will high-
light them at the upcoming annual
meeting
For the three BOD positions open
there are four candidates
John Fulling CGCS from Kala-
mazoo Country Club in
Kalamazoo Michigan
John Walker from Blackhorse
Golf Club in Cypress Texas
Mark Jordan CGCS from West-
field Group Country Club in
Westfield Center Ohio
Darren J Davis from Olde Flor-
ida Golf Club in Naples
Florida
Out of the four candidates
Darren Davis is the only incumbent
sitting on the current board All will
be highlighted more in the upcoming
annual meeting
On Sunday we heard more
about the Environmental Institute for
Golf or the EIFG The focus is be-
ing made on how to get more mem-
ber support to help its marketability
with industry partners Currently the
support saturation is around 19
amongst current active members
The target has been set to get 51 of
current members to donate to the
EIFG So they have a long way to
go Some ideas to boost funding are
the sale of a superintendents life sup-
port bag These backpacks will have
essential tools and other little trin-
kets in them to be up for sale on the
EIFG website to help boost revenue
The other ideas are through the now
launched Rounds for Research pro-
gram from which many of our mem-
bersrsquo clubs have donated to If you
do not know where to look you can
reach the R4R website from the
GCSAA website or look for it on the
actual auction sit at
wwwbiddingforgoodcom
We received a update from
the Board policy Overview commit-
tee all the GCSAA field Staff repre-
sentatives another update from CEO
Rhett Evans and most
importantly from
Chava McKeel and
John OrsquoKeefe with
regards to the Public
Policy committee It is
here that Chava let us
all know the priority
issues that the GCSAA
is focusing on They
are as follows
American with Dis-
abilities Act
Fertilizers
Labor and Immigration
Pesticides
Value of Golf
Water Management
There will be some slides devoted to
what they have been fighting for at
the annual meeting and we will be
seeing what this group has been ac-
tively participating in at the National
level as well as at the State level for
our profession
So as you can see there was
a lot of information divulged for a
one and a half day meeting There
will be even more information
passed along in the upcoming
months I hope as your delegate that
you bring to me any hot button is-
sues and other items for discussion
as time moves on and I will be sure
to communicate these properly Feel
free to contact me at
jeffcouwenhovengmailcom or on
my phone at 559-250-0694
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
R E C R E A T I O N -F A M I LY T I M E B Y K U R T I S W O L F O R D
Fore Your Information Page 7
Lets face it being a golf
course superintendent is a difficult
job sometimes When we are in the
middle of the summer season the
pressure is on when its 100 degrees
out in the day with high night time
60 degree temperatures we work a
lot of crazy hours lose lots of sleep
etc Some of us are always con-
nected to the course via cell phones
With working those crazy hours we
sometimes miss out on or are late
to or cannot attend the things that
are most important to us ldquoFAMILY
Stuffrdquo
With the stresses that our
job produces it is very important
that we take care of the things that
matter the most Our families are the
people that help us decompress and
get our minds off our job for a
while ldquoFamily Timerdquo
I have had the pleasure of
working for a few superrsquos in my ca-
reer that have taught me this and a
few other things along the way On
a weekend day off schedule family
time Turn off the phone Spend the
time together doing whatever activ-
ity you all like to do Plan a day trip
The Sacramento region and the Si-
erra Nevada region have lots of
things to offer Most of us love the
outdoors If I had to be stuck inside I
would go crazy
Here is an idea that offers
something for just about everyone
and you can spend just a few hours
to all day doing it The Sacramento
Region has a jewel that is easy to
access and has lots of activities
Most of you know about the Ameri-
can River Parkway The American
River Parkway is 23 miles in length
with paved paths that are designated
as both a State and National Wild
and Scenic River There are 82 miles
+ of other maintained trails in the
American River Parkway that ex-
tend from Folsom Lake to Sacra-
mento These trails include bike
trails equestrian trails hiking trails
and others The Parkway incorpo-
rates four major parks Discovery
Park that is 302-acres in downtown
Sacramento Ancil Hoffman Park
that is 396-acres in Carmichael
River Bend Park which is 444-acres
in Rancho Cordova and William B
Pond Recreation Area at the end of
Arden Way Lake Natomas offers
boating (5 mph max) kayaking etc
Nimbus dam and Nimbus fish hatch-
ery have great events like tours and
the salmon festival Each of these
parks offers numerous activities
The American River is a world class
fishery for steel
head trout
striped bass
and salmon
The bike paths
offer miles of
riding time
(something I
personally use
twice a week)
All the parks
have play-
grounds for the
kids The Effie
Yeaw Nature
Center is great
for all ages and
is very educa-
tional The en-
tire parkway
offers nature
viewing
These
areas within the
parkway I per-
sonally use and
take my family
to anytime I
can Itrsquos where I go to de-stress de-
compress and to have family time
Go and utilize this area with your
family It offers something for eve-
ryone Have Fun and enjoy your
time away from work
Kurtis Wolford
Page 8 Fore Your Information
FROM T HE F I E L D J E F F J E N S E N G C S A A F I E L D S T A F F S O U T H W E S T R E G I O N
As we ap-
proach Novem-
ber and the
start of the
holiday season
I want to re-
mind Sierra
Nevada mem-
bers that next
yearrsquos GCSAA
Education Con-
ference and Golf Industry Show are
going to be hosted by your
neighbor to the south
The 2013 event will take
place at the San Diego Convention
Center The Education Conference
is scheduled for Feb 4-8 with the
Golf Industry Show taking place
Feb 6-7
This yearrsquos Education Con-
ference will feature over 100 semi-
nars providing you the in-depth
education you need to meet todays
challenges and prepare for tomor-
row 16 new seminars have been
added featuring a variety of topics
including turfgrass management
communications finance leader-
ship and technology Led by the
industrys most renowned research-
ers industry experts and superin-
tendents seminars are available in
full-day six-hour half-day and two
-hour formats Education points
are offered for completing the
seminars and enrollment is limited
so register early
The Golf Industry Show
presented by GCSAA and NGCOA
is an innovative trade show de-
signed for owners and operators of
golf facilities and golf course man-
agement professionals Featuring
the largest exhibit floor in the in-
dustry the event combines educa-
tion networking and solutions for
golf course superintendents equip-
ment managers ownersoperators
general managers chief operating
officers and architects and build-
ers
In addition a number of
networking events will be held dur-
ing the conference and show in-
cluding a Welcome Reception
Opening Session General Session
and the19th Annual GCSAA Colle-
giate Turf Bowl
Early conference and show
registration for GCSAA members
begins Nov 1 and can be com-
pleted online at www2gcsaaorg
conferenceregistration We look
(Continued on page 9)
Jeff Jensen
Fore Your Information Page 9
GCSANC 208
SNGCSA 305
CCGCSA (not enough
scores to qualify)
Long Drive Jim Ferrin
CGCS Sun City Roseville
(won a putter)
Closes to Pin Robert Wil-
liams Stockton Country
Club (won a driver)
TPC Stonebrae
Tournament Results
FROM THE FIELD
C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 8
forward to a big turnout from all of our California affiliated chapters and we
appreciate your support of this event as it returns to the West Coast
In closing I would be remiss if I didnrsquot mention the California GCSA
ldquoCalifornia Roomrdquo that will be held Wednesday Feb 6 during conference
and show The annual cocktail party and social will take place this year
aboard the aircraft carrier USS
Midway in San Diego Harbor
The Midway now serves as a na-
val aviation museum and will of-
fer members and guests the oppor-
tunity to tour the carrier and par-
ticipate in flight simulations and
other activities The event was
attended by nearly 600 partici-
pants last year in Las Vegas and this year promises to be even bigger More
information will be forthcoming and registration will be available online at
wwwcaliforniagcsaorg
As always if I can be of any assistance to you please email me at
jjensengcsaaorg and make sure to follow me on Twitter GCSAA_SW
Page 10 Fore Your Information
Russ Mitchell
Boardtronics
Turf Tire Express
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Fore Your Information Page 11
2012 DELEGATES MEETING B Y J E F F C O U W E N H O V E N
The 2012 delegates meet-
ing was a adventurous one from
before I left to the time I got back
from it Those details can be
spared but the experience I re-
ceived from attending to represent
the SNGCSA was paramount to
understanding more about what it
is that the GCSAA is doing to
help promote our profession In
the next few pages I will be ad-
dressing many of the highlights
and important messages sent
home for myself to distribute to
the members of our association
Sandy Queen the sitting GCSAA
president gave an overview and a
ldquoState of the Associationrdquo address
highlighted by a few things
First he shared informa-
tion about golfer perception of our
profession and the results from
the survey taken were rather
shocking but yet exciting Golf
course superintendents according
to the McMahon survey report
indicated that 79 of golfers felt
that Golf Course Superintendents
are the key to economic success
of our facilities That was the
highest amongst all professionals
at our facilities 62 of all golf-
ers polled felt that we were the
key to golfer satisfaction which
was also the highest amongst all
professionals at our facilities
96 of our employers felt that
Golf Course Superintendents were
the key to the economic vitality of
our facilities tops of all profes-
sionals at our facilities Our over-
all ranking tied with the club man-
agers in level of importance at our
facilities
Second Mr Queen dis-
cussed some things the GCSAA
board are trying to do to raise
funding through the EIFG our
5013c organization that helps the
GCSAA operate provide re-
search and scholarships to our
members and students He also
bundled that note with the fact
that the national headquarters is in
need of repairs and updating and
that the headquarters is going to
undergo a facelift of some sorts
The projects range from improv-
ing the exterior infrastructure
Interior infrastructure and land-
scaping updates that will help pre-
sent our profession in a better
manner The whole cost is to be
estimated at 19 million dollars
This seems like a lot but
when you think about it we own
our building and nothing has
been done to update the facility in
twenty years I will be presenting
the details of the update at our
annual meeting
Following Mr Queenrsquos
address CEO Rhett Evans gave us
a status of the industry address
that highlighted many items that
regard the golf industry as a
whole They ranged from ten
year comparisons of Rounds
course opening and closings as
well as the status of our mainte-
nance budgets He emphasized
the importance of the GCSAA
surveys some of us participate in
every year If we donrsquot partici-
pate we arenrsquot represented in the
data and we might not get signifi-
cant data to accurately provide a
true snapshot of our end of the
business Those details will be
shared at the annual meeting in
November as well
Mr Evans also touched
upon how we are funded how we
spend our funding and what they
are looking to do in the near fu-
ture to help promote and serve
our professional organization
from a staff and operational level
Again these details are going to
be provided in more depth at our
annual meeting in November
He finished off with putting the
(Continued on page 12)
Verti Drain
Service
Bruce Christensen
Minden NV 89423
2754 Kayne Ave Christensen
Turf Products
Christensen Turf Products
Tel (775) 450-2761
Fax (775-267-9382
Email becgolfearthlinknet
Page 12 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 1
GCSAA mission The key points
in this segment were as follows
Serve the membership
Advance our profession
Enhance the enjoyment growth
and vitality of golf
Increase revenues and operating
efficiencies
Following Mr Evans Mr Sean
Hoolehan the chair of the Member
Standards committee gave a pres-
entation of the results of a study
that has been analyzing three
things
Determine if the original goals
of the Professional Develop
Initiative have or are being
met
Determine if GCSAA member-
ships standards have had any
unintended consequences for
the association and its members
that should be addressed mov-
ing forward
Make recommendations on a
future course of action for the
GCSAA in regards to member-
ship standards
The committee went through eve-
rything from our bylaws affiliate
chapter agreement to the member-
ship growth and classification data
available In a nutshell they found
some things that have been occur-
ring that the GCSAA did not think
were going to happen when PDI
was initiated and they range from
the loss of Class A members to sal-
ary information regarding the clas-
sifications The detail of the report
will be provided at the annual
meeting in November Their rec-
ommendations will be provided as
well at the annual meeting for our
membership
Mr Bill Maynard chair of
the membership committee went
through the upcoming affiliate
chapter agreement that we approve
here at the SNGCSA every three
years to be a affiliated chapter of
the GCSAA It was announced
following some discussion that
there will be a one year extension
of the current agreement to get
some more data from the current
affiliated chapters to better imple-
ment the new agreement in the
coming year The reason for this is
that there will be some verbiage
change and there were quite a few
chapters that felt it necessary to
need more time to correctly change
their bylaws and get a membership
vote to approve the changes for the
next agreement This will be a
topic for discussion in the coming
year I do not think it will affect
our chapter but I will research this
matter further and discuss it with
our board
Mr Randquist presented a
proposal for the GCSAA to raise
our dues $25 dollars This would
cover a CPI increase as well as
some operating expenses with rela-
tion to our life insurance provided
through the GCSAA membership
Further details will be discussed at
the annual meeting
We then got to meet the candidates
for the upcoming election that will
occur at GIS Everyone got five
minutes at the podium to give us all
a first impression
Mr Pat Finlen gave us a
vision for his Presidency high-
lighted the importance of the EIFG
and strategies for its growth and
future to help sustain its future He
touched upon the growth of the
GCSAA into Asia and other re-
gions of the world He briefly
noted that the applications for certi-
fication for the first time since PDI
are up
Our current secretarytreasurer was
not present at the meeting due to
family medical issues He will be
(Continued on page 13)
Page 13 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 2
the incoming Vice president
There are two candidates for the
Secretary Treasurer position This
will create a little drama on the floor
of the election since one of the can-
didates will not be elected Both are
current sitting Board members and
they both expressed interest to con-
tinue sitting on the board if not
elected The one that is not elected
into the officer position will need to
be nominated on the floor of the an-
nual election to be eligible for one of
the three open BOD positions
There are then five candidates for
three positions if that occurs The
candidates that are running for that
position are Peter Grass CGCS and
John J OrsquoKeefe CGCS Both offer
up a strong message and I will high-
light them at the upcoming annual
meeting
For the three BOD positions open
there are four candidates
John Fulling CGCS from Kala-
mazoo Country Club in
Kalamazoo Michigan
John Walker from Blackhorse
Golf Club in Cypress Texas
Mark Jordan CGCS from West-
field Group Country Club in
Westfield Center Ohio
Darren J Davis from Olde Flor-
ida Golf Club in Naples
Florida
Out of the four candidates
Darren Davis is the only incumbent
sitting on the current board All will
be highlighted more in the upcoming
annual meeting
On Sunday we heard more
about the Environmental Institute for
Golf or the EIFG The focus is be-
ing made on how to get more mem-
ber support to help its marketability
with industry partners Currently the
support saturation is around 19
amongst current active members
The target has been set to get 51 of
current members to donate to the
EIFG So they have a long way to
go Some ideas to boost funding are
the sale of a superintendents life sup-
port bag These backpacks will have
essential tools and other little trin-
kets in them to be up for sale on the
EIFG website to help boost revenue
The other ideas are through the now
launched Rounds for Research pro-
gram from which many of our mem-
bersrsquo clubs have donated to If you
do not know where to look you can
reach the R4R website from the
GCSAA website or look for it on the
actual auction sit at
wwwbiddingforgoodcom
We received a update from
the Board policy Overview commit-
tee all the GCSAA field Staff repre-
sentatives another update from CEO
Rhett Evans and most
importantly from
Chava McKeel and
John OrsquoKeefe with
regards to the Public
Policy committee It is
here that Chava let us
all know the priority
issues that the GCSAA
is focusing on They
are as follows
American with Dis-
abilities Act
Fertilizers
Labor and Immigration
Pesticides
Value of Golf
Water Management
There will be some slides devoted to
what they have been fighting for at
the annual meeting and we will be
seeing what this group has been ac-
tively participating in at the National
level as well as at the State level for
our profession
So as you can see there was
a lot of information divulged for a
one and a half day meeting There
will be even more information
passed along in the upcoming
months I hope as your delegate that
you bring to me any hot button is-
sues and other items for discussion
as time moves on and I will be sure
to communicate these properly Feel
free to contact me at
jeffcouwenhovengmailcom or on
my phone at 559-250-0694
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
Page 8 Fore Your Information
FROM T HE F I E L D J E F F J E N S E N G C S A A F I E L D S T A F F S O U T H W E S T R E G I O N
As we ap-
proach Novem-
ber and the
start of the
holiday season
I want to re-
mind Sierra
Nevada mem-
bers that next
yearrsquos GCSAA
Education Con-
ference and Golf Industry Show are
going to be hosted by your
neighbor to the south
The 2013 event will take
place at the San Diego Convention
Center The Education Conference
is scheduled for Feb 4-8 with the
Golf Industry Show taking place
Feb 6-7
This yearrsquos Education Con-
ference will feature over 100 semi-
nars providing you the in-depth
education you need to meet todays
challenges and prepare for tomor-
row 16 new seminars have been
added featuring a variety of topics
including turfgrass management
communications finance leader-
ship and technology Led by the
industrys most renowned research-
ers industry experts and superin-
tendents seminars are available in
full-day six-hour half-day and two
-hour formats Education points
are offered for completing the
seminars and enrollment is limited
so register early
The Golf Industry Show
presented by GCSAA and NGCOA
is an innovative trade show de-
signed for owners and operators of
golf facilities and golf course man-
agement professionals Featuring
the largest exhibit floor in the in-
dustry the event combines educa-
tion networking and solutions for
golf course superintendents equip-
ment managers ownersoperators
general managers chief operating
officers and architects and build-
ers
In addition a number of
networking events will be held dur-
ing the conference and show in-
cluding a Welcome Reception
Opening Session General Session
and the19th Annual GCSAA Colle-
giate Turf Bowl
Early conference and show
registration for GCSAA members
begins Nov 1 and can be com-
pleted online at www2gcsaaorg
conferenceregistration We look
(Continued on page 9)
Jeff Jensen
Fore Your Information Page 9
GCSANC 208
SNGCSA 305
CCGCSA (not enough
scores to qualify)
Long Drive Jim Ferrin
CGCS Sun City Roseville
(won a putter)
Closes to Pin Robert Wil-
liams Stockton Country
Club (won a driver)
TPC Stonebrae
Tournament Results
FROM THE FIELD
C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 8
forward to a big turnout from all of our California affiliated chapters and we
appreciate your support of this event as it returns to the West Coast
In closing I would be remiss if I didnrsquot mention the California GCSA
ldquoCalifornia Roomrdquo that will be held Wednesday Feb 6 during conference
and show The annual cocktail party and social will take place this year
aboard the aircraft carrier USS
Midway in San Diego Harbor
The Midway now serves as a na-
val aviation museum and will of-
fer members and guests the oppor-
tunity to tour the carrier and par-
ticipate in flight simulations and
other activities The event was
attended by nearly 600 partici-
pants last year in Las Vegas and this year promises to be even bigger More
information will be forthcoming and registration will be available online at
wwwcaliforniagcsaorg
As always if I can be of any assistance to you please email me at
jjensengcsaaorg and make sure to follow me on Twitter GCSAA_SW
Page 10 Fore Your Information
Russ Mitchell
Boardtronics
Turf Tire Express
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Fore Your Information Page 11
2012 DELEGATES MEETING B Y J E F F C O U W E N H O V E N
The 2012 delegates meet-
ing was a adventurous one from
before I left to the time I got back
from it Those details can be
spared but the experience I re-
ceived from attending to represent
the SNGCSA was paramount to
understanding more about what it
is that the GCSAA is doing to
help promote our profession In
the next few pages I will be ad-
dressing many of the highlights
and important messages sent
home for myself to distribute to
the members of our association
Sandy Queen the sitting GCSAA
president gave an overview and a
ldquoState of the Associationrdquo address
highlighted by a few things
First he shared informa-
tion about golfer perception of our
profession and the results from
the survey taken were rather
shocking but yet exciting Golf
course superintendents according
to the McMahon survey report
indicated that 79 of golfers felt
that Golf Course Superintendents
are the key to economic success
of our facilities That was the
highest amongst all professionals
at our facilities 62 of all golf-
ers polled felt that we were the
key to golfer satisfaction which
was also the highest amongst all
professionals at our facilities
96 of our employers felt that
Golf Course Superintendents were
the key to the economic vitality of
our facilities tops of all profes-
sionals at our facilities Our over-
all ranking tied with the club man-
agers in level of importance at our
facilities
Second Mr Queen dis-
cussed some things the GCSAA
board are trying to do to raise
funding through the EIFG our
5013c organization that helps the
GCSAA operate provide re-
search and scholarships to our
members and students He also
bundled that note with the fact
that the national headquarters is in
need of repairs and updating and
that the headquarters is going to
undergo a facelift of some sorts
The projects range from improv-
ing the exterior infrastructure
Interior infrastructure and land-
scaping updates that will help pre-
sent our profession in a better
manner The whole cost is to be
estimated at 19 million dollars
This seems like a lot but
when you think about it we own
our building and nothing has
been done to update the facility in
twenty years I will be presenting
the details of the update at our
annual meeting
Following Mr Queenrsquos
address CEO Rhett Evans gave us
a status of the industry address
that highlighted many items that
regard the golf industry as a
whole They ranged from ten
year comparisons of Rounds
course opening and closings as
well as the status of our mainte-
nance budgets He emphasized
the importance of the GCSAA
surveys some of us participate in
every year If we donrsquot partici-
pate we arenrsquot represented in the
data and we might not get signifi-
cant data to accurately provide a
true snapshot of our end of the
business Those details will be
shared at the annual meeting in
November as well
Mr Evans also touched
upon how we are funded how we
spend our funding and what they
are looking to do in the near fu-
ture to help promote and serve
our professional organization
from a staff and operational level
Again these details are going to
be provided in more depth at our
annual meeting in November
He finished off with putting the
(Continued on page 12)
Verti Drain
Service
Bruce Christensen
Minden NV 89423
2754 Kayne Ave Christensen
Turf Products
Christensen Turf Products
Tel (775) 450-2761
Fax (775-267-9382
Email becgolfearthlinknet
Page 12 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 1
GCSAA mission The key points
in this segment were as follows
Serve the membership
Advance our profession
Enhance the enjoyment growth
and vitality of golf
Increase revenues and operating
efficiencies
Following Mr Evans Mr Sean
Hoolehan the chair of the Member
Standards committee gave a pres-
entation of the results of a study
that has been analyzing three
things
Determine if the original goals
of the Professional Develop
Initiative have or are being
met
Determine if GCSAA member-
ships standards have had any
unintended consequences for
the association and its members
that should be addressed mov-
ing forward
Make recommendations on a
future course of action for the
GCSAA in regards to member-
ship standards
The committee went through eve-
rything from our bylaws affiliate
chapter agreement to the member-
ship growth and classification data
available In a nutshell they found
some things that have been occur-
ring that the GCSAA did not think
were going to happen when PDI
was initiated and they range from
the loss of Class A members to sal-
ary information regarding the clas-
sifications The detail of the report
will be provided at the annual
meeting in November Their rec-
ommendations will be provided as
well at the annual meeting for our
membership
Mr Bill Maynard chair of
the membership committee went
through the upcoming affiliate
chapter agreement that we approve
here at the SNGCSA every three
years to be a affiliated chapter of
the GCSAA It was announced
following some discussion that
there will be a one year extension
of the current agreement to get
some more data from the current
affiliated chapters to better imple-
ment the new agreement in the
coming year The reason for this is
that there will be some verbiage
change and there were quite a few
chapters that felt it necessary to
need more time to correctly change
their bylaws and get a membership
vote to approve the changes for the
next agreement This will be a
topic for discussion in the coming
year I do not think it will affect
our chapter but I will research this
matter further and discuss it with
our board
Mr Randquist presented a
proposal for the GCSAA to raise
our dues $25 dollars This would
cover a CPI increase as well as
some operating expenses with rela-
tion to our life insurance provided
through the GCSAA membership
Further details will be discussed at
the annual meeting
We then got to meet the candidates
for the upcoming election that will
occur at GIS Everyone got five
minutes at the podium to give us all
a first impression
Mr Pat Finlen gave us a
vision for his Presidency high-
lighted the importance of the EIFG
and strategies for its growth and
future to help sustain its future He
touched upon the growth of the
GCSAA into Asia and other re-
gions of the world He briefly
noted that the applications for certi-
fication for the first time since PDI
are up
Our current secretarytreasurer was
not present at the meeting due to
family medical issues He will be
(Continued on page 13)
Page 13 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 2
the incoming Vice president
There are two candidates for the
Secretary Treasurer position This
will create a little drama on the floor
of the election since one of the can-
didates will not be elected Both are
current sitting Board members and
they both expressed interest to con-
tinue sitting on the board if not
elected The one that is not elected
into the officer position will need to
be nominated on the floor of the an-
nual election to be eligible for one of
the three open BOD positions
There are then five candidates for
three positions if that occurs The
candidates that are running for that
position are Peter Grass CGCS and
John J OrsquoKeefe CGCS Both offer
up a strong message and I will high-
light them at the upcoming annual
meeting
For the three BOD positions open
there are four candidates
John Fulling CGCS from Kala-
mazoo Country Club in
Kalamazoo Michigan
John Walker from Blackhorse
Golf Club in Cypress Texas
Mark Jordan CGCS from West-
field Group Country Club in
Westfield Center Ohio
Darren J Davis from Olde Flor-
ida Golf Club in Naples
Florida
Out of the four candidates
Darren Davis is the only incumbent
sitting on the current board All will
be highlighted more in the upcoming
annual meeting
On Sunday we heard more
about the Environmental Institute for
Golf or the EIFG The focus is be-
ing made on how to get more mem-
ber support to help its marketability
with industry partners Currently the
support saturation is around 19
amongst current active members
The target has been set to get 51 of
current members to donate to the
EIFG So they have a long way to
go Some ideas to boost funding are
the sale of a superintendents life sup-
port bag These backpacks will have
essential tools and other little trin-
kets in them to be up for sale on the
EIFG website to help boost revenue
The other ideas are through the now
launched Rounds for Research pro-
gram from which many of our mem-
bersrsquo clubs have donated to If you
do not know where to look you can
reach the R4R website from the
GCSAA website or look for it on the
actual auction sit at
wwwbiddingforgoodcom
We received a update from
the Board policy Overview commit-
tee all the GCSAA field Staff repre-
sentatives another update from CEO
Rhett Evans and most
importantly from
Chava McKeel and
John OrsquoKeefe with
regards to the Public
Policy committee It is
here that Chava let us
all know the priority
issues that the GCSAA
is focusing on They
are as follows
American with Dis-
abilities Act
Fertilizers
Labor and Immigration
Pesticides
Value of Golf
Water Management
There will be some slides devoted to
what they have been fighting for at
the annual meeting and we will be
seeing what this group has been ac-
tively participating in at the National
level as well as at the State level for
our profession
So as you can see there was
a lot of information divulged for a
one and a half day meeting There
will be even more information
passed along in the upcoming
months I hope as your delegate that
you bring to me any hot button is-
sues and other items for discussion
as time moves on and I will be sure
to communicate these properly Feel
free to contact me at
jeffcouwenhovengmailcom or on
my phone at 559-250-0694
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
Fore Your Information Page 9
GCSANC 208
SNGCSA 305
CCGCSA (not enough
scores to qualify)
Long Drive Jim Ferrin
CGCS Sun City Roseville
(won a putter)
Closes to Pin Robert Wil-
liams Stockton Country
Club (won a driver)
TPC Stonebrae
Tournament Results
FROM THE FIELD
C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 8
forward to a big turnout from all of our California affiliated chapters and we
appreciate your support of this event as it returns to the West Coast
In closing I would be remiss if I didnrsquot mention the California GCSA
ldquoCalifornia Roomrdquo that will be held Wednesday Feb 6 during conference
and show The annual cocktail party and social will take place this year
aboard the aircraft carrier USS
Midway in San Diego Harbor
The Midway now serves as a na-
val aviation museum and will of-
fer members and guests the oppor-
tunity to tour the carrier and par-
ticipate in flight simulations and
other activities The event was
attended by nearly 600 partici-
pants last year in Las Vegas and this year promises to be even bigger More
information will be forthcoming and registration will be available online at
wwwcaliforniagcsaorg
As always if I can be of any assistance to you please email me at
jjensengcsaaorg and make sure to follow me on Twitter GCSAA_SW
Page 10 Fore Your Information
Russ Mitchell
Boardtronics
Turf Tire Express
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Fore Your Information Page 11
2012 DELEGATES MEETING B Y J E F F C O U W E N H O V E N
The 2012 delegates meet-
ing was a adventurous one from
before I left to the time I got back
from it Those details can be
spared but the experience I re-
ceived from attending to represent
the SNGCSA was paramount to
understanding more about what it
is that the GCSAA is doing to
help promote our profession In
the next few pages I will be ad-
dressing many of the highlights
and important messages sent
home for myself to distribute to
the members of our association
Sandy Queen the sitting GCSAA
president gave an overview and a
ldquoState of the Associationrdquo address
highlighted by a few things
First he shared informa-
tion about golfer perception of our
profession and the results from
the survey taken were rather
shocking but yet exciting Golf
course superintendents according
to the McMahon survey report
indicated that 79 of golfers felt
that Golf Course Superintendents
are the key to economic success
of our facilities That was the
highest amongst all professionals
at our facilities 62 of all golf-
ers polled felt that we were the
key to golfer satisfaction which
was also the highest amongst all
professionals at our facilities
96 of our employers felt that
Golf Course Superintendents were
the key to the economic vitality of
our facilities tops of all profes-
sionals at our facilities Our over-
all ranking tied with the club man-
agers in level of importance at our
facilities
Second Mr Queen dis-
cussed some things the GCSAA
board are trying to do to raise
funding through the EIFG our
5013c organization that helps the
GCSAA operate provide re-
search and scholarships to our
members and students He also
bundled that note with the fact
that the national headquarters is in
need of repairs and updating and
that the headquarters is going to
undergo a facelift of some sorts
The projects range from improv-
ing the exterior infrastructure
Interior infrastructure and land-
scaping updates that will help pre-
sent our profession in a better
manner The whole cost is to be
estimated at 19 million dollars
This seems like a lot but
when you think about it we own
our building and nothing has
been done to update the facility in
twenty years I will be presenting
the details of the update at our
annual meeting
Following Mr Queenrsquos
address CEO Rhett Evans gave us
a status of the industry address
that highlighted many items that
regard the golf industry as a
whole They ranged from ten
year comparisons of Rounds
course opening and closings as
well as the status of our mainte-
nance budgets He emphasized
the importance of the GCSAA
surveys some of us participate in
every year If we donrsquot partici-
pate we arenrsquot represented in the
data and we might not get signifi-
cant data to accurately provide a
true snapshot of our end of the
business Those details will be
shared at the annual meeting in
November as well
Mr Evans also touched
upon how we are funded how we
spend our funding and what they
are looking to do in the near fu-
ture to help promote and serve
our professional organization
from a staff and operational level
Again these details are going to
be provided in more depth at our
annual meeting in November
He finished off with putting the
(Continued on page 12)
Verti Drain
Service
Bruce Christensen
Minden NV 89423
2754 Kayne Ave Christensen
Turf Products
Christensen Turf Products
Tel (775) 450-2761
Fax (775-267-9382
Email becgolfearthlinknet
Page 12 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 1
GCSAA mission The key points
in this segment were as follows
Serve the membership
Advance our profession
Enhance the enjoyment growth
and vitality of golf
Increase revenues and operating
efficiencies
Following Mr Evans Mr Sean
Hoolehan the chair of the Member
Standards committee gave a pres-
entation of the results of a study
that has been analyzing three
things
Determine if the original goals
of the Professional Develop
Initiative have or are being
met
Determine if GCSAA member-
ships standards have had any
unintended consequences for
the association and its members
that should be addressed mov-
ing forward
Make recommendations on a
future course of action for the
GCSAA in regards to member-
ship standards
The committee went through eve-
rything from our bylaws affiliate
chapter agreement to the member-
ship growth and classification data
available In a nutshell they found
some things that have been occur-
ring that the GCSAA did not think
were going to happen when PDI
was initiated and they range from
the loss of Class A members to sal-
ary information regarding the clas-
sifications The detail of the report
will be provided at the annual
meeting in November Their rec-
ommendations will be provided as
well at the annual meeting for our
membership
Mr Bill Maynard chair of
the membership committee went
through the upcoming affiliate
chapter agreement that we approve
here at the SNGCSA every three
years to be a affiliated chapter of
the GCSAA It was announced
following some discussion that
there will be a one year extension
of the current agreement to get
some more data from the current
affiliated chapters to better imple-
ment the new agreement in the
coming year The reason for this is
that there will be some verbiage
change and there were quite a few
chapters that felt it necessary to
need more time to correctly change
their bylaws and get a membership
vote to approve the changes for the
next agreement This will be a
topic for discussion in the coming
year I do not think it will affect
our chapter but I will research this
matter further and discuss it with
our board
Mr Randquist presented a
proposal for the GCSAA to raise
our dues $25 dollars This would
cover a CPI increase as well as
some operating expenses with rela-
tion to our life insurance provided
through the GCSAA membership
Further details will be discussed at
the annual meeting
We then got to meet the candidates
for the upcoming election that will
occur at GIS Everyone got five
minutes at the podium to give us all
a first impression
Mr Pat Finlen gave us a
vision for his Presidency high-
lighted the importance of the EIFG
and strategies for its growth and
future to help sustain its future He
touched upon the growth of the
GCSAA into Asia and other re-
gions of the world He briefly
noted that the applications for certi-
fication for the first time since PDI
are up
Our current secretarytreasurer was
not present at the meeting due to
family medical issues He will be
(Continued on page 13)
Page 13 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 2
the incoming Vice president
There are two candidates for the
Secretary Treasurer position This
will create a little drama on the floor
of the election since one of the can-
didates will not be elected Both are
current sitting Board members and
they both expressed interest to con-
tinue sitting on the board if not
elected The one that is not elected
into the officer position will need to
be nominated on the floor of the an-
nual election to be eligible for one of
the three open BOD positions
There are then five candidates for
three positions if that occurs The
candidates that are running for that
position are Peter Grass CGCS and
John J OrsquoKeefe CGCS Both offer
up a strong message and I will high-
light them at the upcoming annual
meeting
For the three BOD positions open
there are four candidates
John Fulling CGCS from Kala-
mazoo Country Club in
Kalamazoo Michigan
John Walker from Blackhorse
Golf Club in Cypress Texas
Mark Jordan CGCS from West-
field Group Country Club in
Westfield Center Ohio
Darren J Davis from Olde Flor-
ida Golf Club in Naples
Florida
Out of the four candidates
Darren Davis is the only incumbent
sitting on the current board All will
be highlighted more in the upcoming
annual meeting
On Sunday we heard more
about the Environmental Institute for
Golf or the EIFG The focus is be-
ing made on how to get more mem-
ber support to help its marketability
with industry partners Currently the
support saturation is around 19
amongst current active members
The target has been set to get 51 of
current members to donate to the
EIFG So they have a long way to
go Some ideas to boost funding are
the sale of a superintendents life sup-
port bag These backpacks will have
essential tools and other little trin-
kets in them to be up for sale on the
EIFG website to help boost revenue
The other ideas are through the now
launched Rounds for Research pro-
gram from which many of our mem-
bersrsquo clubs have donated to If you
do not know where to look you can
reach the R4R website from the
GCSAA website or look for it on the
actual auction sit at
wwwbiddingforgoodcom
We received a update from
the Board policy Overview commit-
tee all the GCSAA field Staff repre-
sentatives another update from CEO
Rhett Evans and most
importantly from
Chava McKeel and
John OrsquoKeefe with
regards to the Public
Policy committee It is
here that Chava let us
all know the priority
issues that the GCSAA
is focusing on They
are as follows
American with Dis-
abilities Act
Fertilizers
Labor and Immigration
Pesticides
Value of Golf
Water Management
There will be some slides devoted to
what they have been fighting for at
the annual meeting and we will be
seeing what this group has been ac-
tively participating in at the National
level as well as at the State level for
our profession
So as you can see there was
a lot of information divulged for a
one and a half day meeting There
will be even more information
passed along in the upcoming
months I hope as your delegate that
you bring to me any hot button is-
sues and other items for discussion
as time moves on and I will be sure
to communicate these properly Feel
free to contact me at
jeffcouwenhovengmailcom or on
my phone at 559-250-0694
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
Page 10 Fore Your Information
Russ Mitchell
Boardtronics
Turf Tire Express
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Fore Your Information Page 11
2012 DELEGATES MEETING B Y J E F F C O U W E N H O V E N
The 2012 delegates meet-
ing was a adventurous one from
before I left to the time I got back
from it Those details can be
spared but the experience I re-
ceived from attending to represent
the SNGCSA was paramount to
understanding more about what it
is that the GCSAA is doing to
help promote our profession In
the next few pages I will be ad-
dressing many of the highlights
and important messages sent
home for myself to distribute to
the members of our association
Sandy Queen the sitting GCSAA
president gave an overview and a
ldquoState of the Associationrdquo address
highlighted by a few things
First he shared informa-
tion about golfer perception of our
profession and the results from
the survey taken were rather
shocking but yet exciting Golf
course superintendents according
to the McMahon survey report
indicated that 79 of golfers felt
that Golf Course Superintendents
are the key to economic success
of our facilities That was the
highest amongst all professionals
at our facilities 62 of all golf-
ers polled felt that we were the
key to golfer satisfaction which
was also the highest amongst all
professionals at our facilities
96 of our employers felt that
Golf Course Superintendents were
the key to the economic vitality of
our facilities tops of all profes-
sionals at our facilities Our over-
all ranking tied with the club man-
agers in level of importance at our
facilities
Second Mr Queen dis-
cussed some things the GCSAA
board are trying to do to raise
funding through the EIFG our
5013c organization that helps the
GCSAA operate provide re-
search and scholarships to our
members and students He also
bundled that note with the fact
that the national headquarters is in
need of repairs and updating and
that the headquarters is going to
undergo a facelift of some sorts
The projects range from improv-
ing the exterior infrastructure
Interior infrastructure and land-
scaping updates that will help pre-
sent our profession in a better
manner The whole cost is to be
estimated at 19 million dollars
This seems like a lot but
when you think about it we own
our building and nothing has
been done to update the facility in
twenty years I will be presenting
the details of the update at our
annual meeting
Following Mr Queenrsquos
address CEO Rhett Evans gave us
a status of the industry address
that highlighted many items that
regard the golf industry as a
whole They ranged from ten
year comparisons of Rounds
course opening and closings as
well as the status of our mainte-
nance budgets He emphasized
the importance of the GCSAA
surveys some of us participate in
every year If we donrsquot partici-
pate we arenrsquot represented in the
data and we might not get signifi-
cant data to accurately provide a
true snapshot of our end of the
business Those details will be
shared at the annual meeting in
November as well
Mr Evans also touched
upon how we are funded how we
spend our funding and what they
are looking to do in the near fu-
ture to help promote and serve
our professional organization
from a staff and operational level
Again these details are going to
be provided in more depth at our
annual meeting in November
He finished off with putting the
(Continued on page 12)
Verti Drain
Service
Bruce Christensen
Minden NV 89423
2754 Kayne Ave Christensen
Turf Products
Christensen Turf Products
Tel (775) 450-2761
Fax (775-267-9382
Email becgolfearthlinknet
Page 12 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 1
GCSAA mission The key points
in this segment were as follows
Serve the membership
Advance our profession
Enhance the enjoyment growth
and vitality of golf
Increase revenues and operating
efficiencies
Following Mr Evans Mr Sean
Hoolehan the chair of the Member
Standards committee gave a pres-
entation of the results of a study
that has been analyzing three
things
Determine if the original goals
of the Professional Develop
Initiative have or are being
met
Determine if GCSAA member-
ships standards have had any
unintended consequences for
the association and its members
that should be addressed mov-
ing forward
Make recommendations on a
future course of action for the
GCSAA in regards to member-
ship standards
The committee went through eve-
rything from our bylaws affiliate
chapter agreement to the member-
ship growth and classification data
available In a nutshell they found
some things that have been occur-
ring that the GCSAA did not think
were going to happen when PDI
was initiated and they range from
the loss of Class A members to sal-
ary information regarding the clas-
sifications The detail of the report
will be provided at the annual
meeting in November Their rec-
ommendations will be provided as
well at the annual meeting for our
membership
Mr Bill Maynard chair of
the membership committee went
through the upcoming affiliate
chapter agreement that we approve
here at the SNGCSA every three
years to be a affiliated chapter of
the GCSAA It was announced
following some discussion that
there will be a one year extension
of the current agreement to get
some more data from the current
affiliated chapters to better imple-
ment the new agreement in the
coming year The reason for this is
that there will be some verbiage
change and there were quite a few
chapters that felt it necessary to
need more time to correctly change
their bylaws and get a membership
vote to approve the changes for the
next agreement This will be a
topic for discussion in the coming
year I do not think it will affect
our chapter but I will research this
matter further and discuss it with
our board
Mr Randquist presented a
proposal for the GCSAA to raise
our dues $25 dollars This would
cover a CPI increase as well as
some operating expenses with rela-
tion to our life insurance provided
through the GCSAA membership
Further details will be discussed at
the annual meeting
We then got to meet the candidates
for the upcoming election that will
occur at GIS Everyone got five
minutes at the podium to give us all
a first impression
Mr Pat Finlen gave us a
vision for his Presidency high-
lighted the importance of the EIFG
and strategies for its growth and
future to help sustain its future He
touched upon the growth of the
GCSAA into Asia and other re-
gions of the world He briefly
noted that the applications for certi-
fication for the first time since PDI
are up
Our current secretarytreasurer was
not present at the meeting due to
family medical issues He will be
(Continued on page 13)
Page 13 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 2
the incoming Vice president
There are two candidates for the
Secretary Treasurer position This
will create a little drama on the floor
of the election since one of the can-
didates will not be elected Both are
current sitting Board members and
they both expressed interest to con-
tinue sitting on the board if not
elected The one that is not elected
into the officer position will need to
be nominated on the floor of the an-
nual election to be eligible for one of
the three open BOD positions
There are then five candidates for
three positions if that occurs The
candidates that are running for that
position are Peter Grass CGCS and
John J OrsquoKeefe CGCS Both offer
up a strong message and I will high-
light them at the upcoming annual
meeting
For the three BOD positions open
there are four candidates
John Fulling CGCS from Kala-
mazoo Country Club in
Kalamazoo Michigan
John Walker from Blackhorse
Golf Club in Cypress Texas
Mark Jordan CGCS from West-
field Group Country Club in
Westfield Center Ohio
Darren J Davis from Olde Flor-
ida Golf Club in Naples
Florida
Out of the four candidates
Darren Davis is the only incumbent
sitting on the current board All will
be highlighted more in the upcoming
annual meeting
On Sunday we heard more
about the Environmental Institute for
Golf or the EIFG The focus is be-
ing made on how to get more mem-
ber support to help its marketability
with industry partners Currently the
support saturation is around 19
amongst current active members
The target has been set to get 51 of
current members to donate to the
EIFG So they have a long way to
go Some ideas to boost funding are
the sale of a superintendents life sup-
port bag These backpacks will have
essential tools and other little trin-
kets in them to be up for sale on the
EIFG website to help boost revenue
The other ideas are through the now
launched Rounds for Research pro-
gram from which many of our mem-
bersrsquo clubs have donated to If you
do not know where to look you can
reach the R4R website from the
GCSAA website or look for it on the
actual auction sit at
wwwbiddingforgoodcom
We received a update from
the Board policy Overview commit-
tee all the GCSAA field Staff repre-
sentatives another update from CEO
Rhett Evans and most
importantly from
Chava McKeel and
John OrsquoKeefe with
regards to the Public
Policy committee It is
here that Chava let us
all know the priority
issues that the GCSAA
is focusing on They
are as follows
American with Dis-
abilities Act
Fertilizers
Labor and Immigration
Pesticides
Value of Golf
Water Management
There will be some slides devoted to
what they have been fighting for at
the annual meeting and we will be
seeing what this group has been ac-
tively participating in at the National
level as well as at the State level for
our profession
So as you can see there was
a lot of information divulged for a
one and a half day meeting There
will be even more information
passed along in the upcoming
months I hope as your delegate that
you bring to me any hot button is-
sues and other items for discussion
as time moves on and I will be sure
to communicate these properly Feel
free to contact me at
jeffcouwenhovengmailcom or on
my phone at 559-250-0694
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
Fore Your Information Page 11
2012 DELEGATES MEETING B Y J E F F C O U W E N H O V E N
The 2012 delegates meet-
ing was a adventurous one from
before I left to the time I got back
from it Those details can be
spared but the experience I re-
ceived from attending to represent
the SNGCSA was paramount to
understanding more about what it
is that the GCSAA is doing to
help promote our profession In
the next few pages I will be ad-
dressing many of the highlights
and important messages sent
home for myself to distribute to
the members of our association
Sandy Queen the sitting GCSAA
president gave an overview and a
ldquoState of the Associationrdquo address
highlighted by a few things
First he shared informa-
tion about golfer perception of our
profession and the results from
the survey taken were rather
shocking but yet exciting Golf
course superintendents according
to the McMahon survey report
indicated that 79 of golfers felt
that Golf Course Superintendents
are the key to economic success
of our facilities That was the
highest amongst all professionals
at our facilities 62 of all golf-
ers polled felt that we were the
key to golfer satisfaction which
was also the highest amongst all
professionals at our facilities
96 of our employers felt that
Golf Course Superintendents were
the key to the economic vitality of
our facilities tops of all profes-
sionals at our facilities Our over-
all ranking tied with the club man-
agers in level of importance at our
facilities
Second Mr Queen dis-
cussed some things the GCSAA
board are trying to do to raise
funding through the EIFG our
5013c organization that helps the
GCSAA operate provide re-
search and scholarships to our
members and students He also
bundled that note with the fact
that the national headquarters is in
need of repairs and updating and
that the headquarters is going to
undergo a facelift of some sorts
The projects range from improv-
ing the exterior infrastructure
Interior infrastructure and land-
scaping updates that will help pre-
sent our profession in a better
manner The whole cost is to be
estimated at 19 million dollars
This seems like a lot but
when you think about it we own
our building and nothing has
been done to update the facility in
twenty years I will be presenting
the details of the update at our
annual meeting
Following Mr Queenrsquos
address CEO Rhett Evans gave us
a status of the industry address
that highlighted many items that
regard the golf industry as a
whole They ranged from ten
year comparisons of Rounds
course opening and closings as
well as the status of our mainte-
nance budgets He emphasized
the importance of the GCSAA
surveys some of us participate in
every year If we donrsquot partici-
pate we arenrsquot represented in the
data and we might not get signifi-
cant data to accurately provide a
true snapshot of our end of the
business Those details will be
shared at the annual meeting in
November as well
Mr Evans also touched
upon how we are funded how we
spend our funding and what they
are looking to do in the near fu-
ture to help promote and serve
our professional organization
from a staff and operational level
Again these details are going to
be provided in more depth at our
annual meeting in November
He finished off with putting the
(Continued on page 12)
Verti Drain
Service
Bruce Christensen
Minden NV 89423
2754 Kayne Ave Christensen
Turf Products
Christensen Turf Products
Tel (775) 450-2761
Fax (775-267-9382
Email becgolfearthlinknet
Page 12 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 1
GCSAA mission The key points
in this segment were as follows
Serve the membership
Advance our profession
Enhance the enjoyment growth
and vitality of golf
Increase revenues and operating
efficiencies
Following Mr Evans Mr Sean
Hoolehan the chair of the Member
Standards committee gave a pres-
entation of the results of a study
that has been analyzing three
things
Determine if the original goals
of the Professional Develop
Initiative have or are being
met
Determine if GCSAA member-
ships standards have had any
unintended consequences for
the association and its members
that should be addressed mov-
ing forward
Make recommendations on a
future course of action for the
GCSAA in regards to member-
ship standards
The committee went through eve-
rything from our bylaws affiliate
chapter agreement to the member-
ship growth and classification data
available In a nutshell they found
some things that have been occur-
ring that the GCSAA did not think
were going to happen when PDI
was initiated and they range from
the loss of Class A members to sal-
ary information regarding the clas-
sifications The detail of the report
will be provided at the annual
meeting in November Their rec-
ommendations will be provided as
well at the annual meeting for our
membership
Mr Bill Maynard chair of
the membership committee went
through the upcoming affiliate
chapter agreement that we approve
here at the SNGCSA every three
years to be a affiliated chapter of
the GCSAA It was announced
following some discussion that
there will be a one year extension
of the current agreement to get
some more data from the current
affiliated chapters to better imple-
ment the new agreement in the
coming year The reason for this is
that there will be some verbiage
change and there were quite a few
chapters that felt it necessary to
need more time to correctly change
their bylaws and get a membership
vote to approve the changes for the
next agreement This will be a
topic for discussion in the coming
year I do not think it will affect
our chapter but I will research this
matter further and discuss it with
our board
Mr Randquist presented a
proposal for the GCSAA to raise
our dues $25 dollars This would
cover a CPI increase as well as
some operating expenses with rela-
tion to our life insurance provided
through the GCSAA membership
Further details will be discussed at
the annual meeting
We then got to meet the candidates
for the upcoming election that will
occur at GIS Everyone got five
minutes at the podium to give us all
a first impression
Mr Pat Finlen gave us a
vision for his Presidency high-
lighted the importance of the EIFG
and strategies for its growth and
future to help sustain its future He
touched upon the growth of the
GCSAA into Asia and other re-
gions of the world He briefly
noted that the applications for certi-
fication for the first time since PDI
are up
Our current secretarytreasurer was
not present at the meeting due to
family medical issues He will be
(Continued on page 13)
Page 13 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 2
the incoming Vice president
There are two candidates for the
Secretary Treasurer position This
will create a little drama on the floor
of the election since one of the can-
didates will not be elected Both are
current sitting Board members and
they both expressed interest to con-
tinue sitting on the board if not
elected The one that is not elected
into the officer position will need to
be nominated on the floor of the an-
nual election to be eligible for one of
the three open BOD positions
There are then five candidates for
three positions if that occurs The
candidates that are running for that
position are Peter Grass CGCS and
John J OrsquoKeefe CGCS Both offer
up a strong message and I will high-
light them at the upcoming annual
meeting
For the three BOD positions open
there are four candidates
John Fulling CGCS from Kala-
mazoo Country Club in
Kalamazoo Michigan
John Walker from Blackhorse
Golf Club in Cypress Texas
Mark Jordan CGCS from West-
field Group Country Club in
Westfield Center Ohio
Darren J Davis from Olde Flor-
ida Golf Club in Naples
Florida
Out of the four candidates
Darren Davis is the only incumbent
sitting on the current board All will
be highlighted more in the upcoming
annual meeting
On Sunday we heard more
about the Environmental Institute for
Golf or the EIFG The focus is be-
ing made on how to get more mem-
ber support to help its marketability
with industry partners Currently the
support saturation is around 19
amongst current active members
The target has been set to get 51 of
current members to donate to the
EIFG So they have a long way to
go Some ideas to boost funding are
the sale of a superintendents life sup-
port bag These backpacks will have
essential tools and other little trin-
kets in them to be up for sale on the
EIFG website to help boost revenue
The other ideas are through the now
launched Rounds for Research pro-
gram from which many of our mem-
bersrsquo clubs have donated to If you
do not know where to look you can
reach the R4R website from the
GCSAA website or look for it on the
actual auction sit at
wwwbiddingforgoodcom
We received a update from
the Board policy Overview commit-
tee all the GCSAA field Staff repre-
sentatives another update from CEO
Rhett Evans and most
importantly from
Chava McKeel and
John OrsquoKeefe with
regards to the Public
Policy committee It is
here that Chava let us
all know the priority
issues that the GCSAA
is focusing on They
are as follows
American with Dis-
abilities Act
Fertilizers
Labor and Immigration
Pesticides
Value of Golf
Water Management
There will be some slides devoted to
what they have been fighting for at
the annual meeting and we will be
seeing what this group has been ac-
tively participating in at the National
level as well as at the State level for
our profession
So as you can see there was
a lot of information divulged for a
one and a half day meeting There
will be even more information
passed along in the upcoming
months I hope as your delegate that
you bring to me any hot button is-
sues and other items for discussion
as time moves on and I will be sure
to communicate these properly Feel
free to contact me at
jeffcouwenhovengmailcom or on
my phone at 559-250-0694
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
Verti Drain
Service
Bruce Christensen
Minden NV 89423
2754 Kayne Ave Christensen
Turf Products
Christensen Turf Products
Tel (775) 450-2761
Fax (775-267-9382
Email becgolfearthlinknet
Page 12 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 1
GCSAA mission The key points
in this segment were as follows
Serve the membership
Advance our profession
Enhance the enjoyment growth
and vitality of golf
Increase revenues and operating
efficiencies
Following Mr Evans Mr Sean
Hoolehan the chair of the Member
Standards committee gave a pres-
entation of the results of a study
that has been analyzing three
things
Determine if the original goals
of the Professional Develop
Initiative have or are being
met
Determine if GCSAA member-
ships standards have had any
unintended consequences for
the association and its members
that should be addressed mov-
ing forward
Make recommendations on a
future course of action for the
GCSAA in regards to member-
ship standards
The committee went through eve-
rything from our bylaws affiliate
chapter agreement to the member-
ship growth and classification data
available In a nutshell they found
some things that have been occur-
ring that the GCSAA did not think
were going to happen when PDI
was initiated and they range from
the loss of Class A members to sal-
ary information regarding the clas-
sifications The detail of the report
will be provided at the annual
meeting in November Their rec-
ommendations will be provided as
well at the annual meeting for our
membership
Mr Bill Maynard chair of
the membership committee went
through the upcoming affiliate
chapter agreement that we approve
here at the SNGCSA every three
years to be a affiliated chapter of
the GCSAA It was announced
following some discussion that
there will be a one year extension
of the current agreement to get
some more data from the current
affiliated chapters to better imple-
ment the new agreement in the
coming year The reason for this is
that there will be some verbiage
change and there were quite a few
chapters that felt it necessary to
need more time to correctly change
their bylaws and get a membership
vote to approve the changes for the
next agreement This will be a
topic for discussion in the coming
year I do not think it will affect
our chapter but I will research this
matter further and discuss it with
our board
Mr Randquist presented a
proposal for the GCSAA to raise
our dues $25 dollars This would
cover a CPI increase as well as
some operating expenses with rela-
tion to our life insurance provided
through the GCSAA membership
Further details will be discussed at
the annual meeting
We then got to meet the candidates
for the upcoming election that will
occur at GIS Everyone got five
minutes at the podium to give us all
a first impression
Mr Pat Finlen gave us a
vision for his Presidency high-
lighted the importance of the EIFG
and strategies for its growth and
future to help sustain its future He
touched upon the growth of the
GCSAA into Asia and other re-
gions of the world He briefly
noted that the applications for certi-
fication for the first time since PDI
are up
Our current secretarytreasurer was
not present at the meeting due to
family medical issues He will be
(Continued on page 13)
Page 13 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 2
the incoming Vice president
There are two candidates for the
Secretary Treasurer position This
will create a little drama on the floor
of the election since one of the can-
didates will not be elected Both are
current sitting Board members and
they both expressed interest to con-
tinue sitting on the board if not
elected The one that is not elected
into the officer position will need to
be nominated on the floor of the an-
nual election to be eligible for one of
the three open BOD positions
There are then five candidates for
three positions if that occurs The
candidates that are running for that
position are Peter Grass CGCS and
John J OrsquoKeefe CGCS Both offer
up a strong message and I will high-
light them at the upcoming annual
meeting
For the three BOD positions open
there are four candidates
John Fulling CGCS from Kala-
mazoo Country Club in
Kalamazoo Michigan
John Walker from Blackhorse
Golf Club in Cypress Texas
Mark Jordan CGCS from West-
field Group Country Club in
Westfield Center Ohio
Darren J Davis from Olde Flor-
ida Golf Club in Naples
Florida
Out of the four candidates
Darren Davis is the only incumbent
sitting on the current board All will
be highlighted more in the upcoming
annual meeting
On Sunday we heard more
about the Environmental Institute for
Golf or the EIFG The focus is be-
ing made on how to get more mem-
ber support to help its marketability
with industry partners Currently the
support saturation is around 19
amongst current active members
The target has been set to get 51 of
current members to donate to the
EIFG So they have a long way to
go Some ideas to boost funding are
the sale of a superintendents life sup-
port bag These backpacks will have
essential tools and other little trin-
kets in them to be up for sale on the
EIFG website to help boost revenue
The other ideas are through the now
launched Rounds for Research pro-
gram from which many of our mem-
bersrsquo clubs have donated to If you
do not know where to look you can
reach the R4R website from the
GCSAA website or look for it on the
actual auction sit at
wwwbiddingforgoodcom
We received a update from
the Board policy Overview commit-
tee all the GCSAA field Staff repre-
sentatives another update from CEO
Rhett Evans and most
importantly from
Chava McKeel and
John OrsquoKeefe with
regards to the Public
Policy committee It is
here that Chava let us
all know the priority
issues that the GCSAA
is focusing on They
are as follows
American with Dis-
abilities Act
Fertilizers
Labor and Immigration
Pesticides
Value of Golf
Water Management
There will be some slides devoted to
what they have been fighting for at
the annual meeting and we will be
seeing what this group has been ac-
tively participating in at the National
level as well as at the State level for
our profession
So as you can see there was
a lot of information divulged for a
one and a half day meeting There
will be even more information
passed along in the upcoming
months I hope as your delegate that
you bring to me any hot button is-
sues and other items for discussion
as time moves on and I will be sure
to communicate these properly Feel
free to contact me at
jeffcouwenhovengmailcom or on
my phone at 559-250-0694
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
Page 13 Fore Your Information
2012 DE LEG AT E S MEE T I NG C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 2
the incoming Vice president
There are two candidates for the
Secretary Treasurer position This
will create a little drama on the floor
of the election since one of the can-
didates will not be elected Both are
current sitting Board members and
they both expressed interest to con-
tinue sitting on the board if not
elected The one that is not elected
into the officer position will need to
be nominated on the floor of the an-
nual election to be eligible for one of
the three open BOD positions
There are then five candidates for
three positions if that occurs The
candidates that are running for that
position are Peter Grass CGCS and
John J OrsquoKeefe CGCS Both offer
up a strong message and I will high-
light them at the upcoming annual
meeting
For the three BOD positions open
there are four candidates
John Fulling CGCS from Kala-
mazoo Country Club in
Kalamazoo Michigan
John Walker from Blackhorse
Golf Club in Cypress Texas
Mark Jordan CGCS from West-
field Group Country Club in
Westfield Center Ohio
Darren J Davis from Olde Flor-
ida Golf Club in Naples
Florida
Out of the four candidates
Darren Davis is the only incumbent
sitting on the current board All will
be highlighted more in the upcoming
annual meeting
On Sunday we heard more
about the Environmental Institute for
Golf or the EIFG The focus is be-
ing made on how to get more mem-
ber support to help its marketability
with industry partners Currently the
support saturation is around 19
amongst current active members
The target has been set to get 51 of
current members to donate to the
EIFG So they have a long way to
go Some ideas to boost funding are
the sale of a superintendents life sup-
port bag These backpacks will have
essential tools and other little trin-
kets in them to be up for sale on the
EIFG website to help boost revenue
The other ideas are through the now
launched Rounds for Research pro-
gram from which many of our mem-
bersrsquo clubs have donated to If you
do not know where to look you can
reach the R4R website from the
GCSAA website or look for it on the
actual auction sit at
wwwbiddingforgoodcom
We received a update from
the Board policy Overview commit-
tee all the GCSAA field Staff repre-
sentatives another update from CEO
Rhett Evans and most
importantly from
Chava McKeel and
John OrsquoKeefe with
regards to the Public
Policy committee It is
here that Chava let us
all know the priority
issues that the GCSAA
is focusing on They
are as follows
American with Dis-
abilities Act
Fertilizers
Labor and Immigration
Pesticides
Value of Golf
Water Management
There will be some slides devoted to
what they have been fighting for at
the annual meeting and we will be
seeing what this group has been ac-
tively participating in at the National
level as well as at the State level for
our profession
So as you can see there was
a lot of information divulged for a
one and a half day meeting There
will be even more information
passed along in the upcoming
months I hope as your delegate that
you bring to me any hot button is-
sues and other items for discussion
as time moves on and I will be sure
to communicate these properly Feel
free to contact me at
jeffcouwenhovengmailcom or on
my phone at 559-250-0694
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
Page 14 Fore Your Information
GR I ZZ LY RAN CH H I GH L I G HT S
Pictured above hamming it up are Jeff Cou-
wenhoven with Scott Kotrc Ernesto Ibarra
and Nate Weber at right is Joe Kurung
James Slater Jason DeHerrera and Jason
Collins
The day was perfect and
friends had a time to
share and catch up on
things At right are
SNGCSA President Jeff
Couwenhoven and Host
Superintendent Mike
Baty
Pictured below are Sean Christensen
Bruce Christensen Terry Williams and
Craig Heitman
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts
Page 15 Fore Your Information
2012 PRE S ID E NT rsquoS CUP CH AM PION S
2012 President Cup
Winner
Wes Leith
Tournament Winners
Closest to the Pin 2
Terry Smith (Above right)
Longest Drive Pat Smyth
(Above)
Most Accurate Drive
Steve Byrne (left)
(Above) Terry Williams
with Jeff Couwenhoven
(Below) Christina Bolsko Paul Watts