Editor's notebook

Carolinas keeps growing

Attendance breaks records again in 2014.

This year’s Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association’s annual conference and trade show in Myrtle Beach, S.C., continued its growth trend, starting with education. A total of 1,357 attendees filled seats in the seminars from Nov. 17-19, breaking last year’s record of 1,326. Even though the total number of seminars dropped from 28 to 25 this year, attendees still turned out for industry training.

The conference itself saw 2,050 participants in 2014, in line with last year’s total, with 985 attendees including superintendent and assistant superintendent members. The show also surpassed its gross revenue high for last year, coming in at just less than $667,000.

Bill Kennedy, CGCS, from Chechessee Creek Country Club in Okatie, S.C., was named the 43rd CGCSA president, elected at the annual business meeting. Kennedy plans to make the local branches of the association a focus for the upcoming year.

Members also elected Matthew Wharton, CGCS, from Carolina Golf Club in Charlotte, N.C., to the board of directors.

Other show highlights included Mike Fabrizio, CGCS from Daniel Island Club in Charleston, S.C., receiving the Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor the association can bestow. Fabrizio served two terms on the board of directors and was president in 1994.

Steve Agazzi, from the Turtle Point course at Kiawah Island Resort, won his third superintendent golf championship, presented in partnership with Smith Turf and Irrigation and the Toro Company. Agazzi shot a 79 on the Love Course at Barefoot Resort. He also won in 2010 and 2012. Paul Jett, CGCS, of Cardinal Chemicals, a three-time superintendent champion, won the affiliate championship with a 77.

Six retired members were granted life-membership of the association for long service. They were Bill Anderson, CGCS, Johnny Burns, CGCS, Thomas Green, Mickey McCord, John Sheran, CGCS, and Gary Stafford.

More than 500 people attended the annual Carolinas Night at the Beach celebration presented in partnership with Tri-State Pump and Control, moving between adjacent nightclubs Revolutions and Crocodile Rocks at Broadway at the Beach.

A team from Clemson University won the annual Student Turfbowl, presented in partnership with Precision Laboratories, ending Horry-Georgetown Community College’s two-year winning streak.

Paul Corder, from the Country Club of Charleston, won the $5,000 grand prize in the annual 27-Hole Challenge presented in partnership with John Deere Golf, Greenville Turf and Tractor, Revels Turf and Tractor and ShowTurf. Patrick McAnaw, from the Country Club of the Crystal Coast took home an iPad as the major winner of the assistant superintendent drawing. A total of 19 prizes worth about $13,000 were given away.

James Duke, of Cardinal Chemicals, won the annual sporting clay championship presented in partnership with Bayer and Carolina Fresh Farms.
 

Propane-powered initiative

Eight U.S. golf courses are testing alternative fuel turf equipment through an inaugural research program with the Propane Education & Research Council. The 12-month demonstration program will lease propane-powered turf equipment to participating courses chosen for their commitment to environmental practices. The courses include: Stone Mountain (Ga.) Golf Club; Fernandina (Fla.) Beach Golf Club; Marriott Desert Springs (Calif.); Renaissance Vinoy (Fla.); Columbus (Ohio) Municipal Golf Course; Reston National (Va.) Golf Course; George W. Dunne National (Ill.); and Willows Run (Wash.) Golf Course.

Each course will receive four pieces of R&R Products’ propane-powered equipment, including the Reel Max 331LP finish cut reel mower, Reel Max 744LP 5-gang fairway mower, Versa Green 2200 riding greens mower and Sand Max 521LP utility vehicle. R&R Products is the first to manufacture and commercialize propane-powered turf equipment for the golf industry.
 

A new USGA map

The USGA altered its agronomic map, reducing the number of Green Section regions from eight to four effective Dec. 1, 2014. The changes marked the first alterations to the Green Section regions in nearly 20 years.

The Northeast, Southeast, Central and West comprise the new regions. Past regions included the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Florida, North-Central, Mid-Continent, Northwest and Southwest. The changes represent the mergers of regions, with the lone exception being the addition of Louisiana and Arkansas to the Southeast Region.

USGA Green Section managing director Dr. Kimberly Erusha told GCI the regions were altered following an administrative review. “It made a lot of sense administratively to make larger regions, but to also be able to concentrate more people within a region,” she says. “That’s what ultimately led to the choice to take it from eight to four regions.”

Each region will be served by at least four USGA agronomists. The Northeast Region will have five agronomists, the West four, and Southeast and Central three each. Dave Oatis (Northeast), John Foy (Southeast), Keith Happ (Central) and Pat Gross (West) will be regional agronomists.
 

Safe landings

The nation’s largest private equity club offers two inspiring examples of successful co-habituation between wildlife and large-scale golf.

Lodged near the top of a giant tree above the 14th tee of The Landing Club’s Palmetto Course are two cameras. The cameras are pointed toward a large nest. If nature follows its annual patterns, a pair of bald eagles should visit the nest this month, with their activity being shown live on the Internet.

The project, a partnership involving the 108-hole The Landings Club in Savannah, Ga., Skidaway Audubon, Georgia GCSA, Georgia Golf Environmental Foundation, and multiple other community and environmental groups, is called “Eagle Cam.”

“Eagle Cam” adds to The Landings Club’s reputation as a wildlife friendly facility. The club started a Diamondback terrapin hatchery program on its Plantation Course in 2004 as a response to the species’ declining population and penchant for laying eggs in bunkers.

Chris Steigelman, director of golf course maintenance for the Palmetto and Plantation courses, considers the wildlife initiatives an extension of the club’s goals. “The island was intended to be very naturalistic,” he says. The club’s first course opened in 1974, the sixth in 1991. The island includes 4,422 residential lots and around 8,500 residents.

The scope of the club’s golf operations is jarring: the six courses cover 41,270 yards and 110 golf course maintenance employees work out of four shops. Busy days fill the calendar, yet supporting wildlife is a priority. “Wildlife is a big part of what we do as golf course managers,” Steigelman says. “We are responsible for being good stewards of the environment and protecting the land that provides us enjoyment. It’s huge for us. We try to give back wherever we can while still realizing that we maintain six championship golf courses. We like to try to let people know that you can do both. You can have nice golf courses and wildlife at the same time.”

The Diamondback terrapin hatchery is featured on the Georgia GCSA’s “Stewards of the Land” video, which can be viewed by typing bit.ly/1vj3j4M into your web browser. The turtles live in marshes, and the club created the hatchery program after spotting eggs in bunkers following high tide. The areas with eggs were initially marked as ground under repair, but Steigelman says raccoons entered bunkers and killed eggs. A naturalist recommended a hatchery program similar to the ones for sea turtles on Jekyll Island and St. Catherines Island. The program has blossomed. Trained professionals and volunteers moved 2,200 Diamondback terrapin eggs to three hatchery boxes along the course during the last nesting season.

The eagle nest has a shorter history at The Landings Club. Steigelman first spotted the nest when he noticed an eagle carrying a large stick flying above the 14th fairway on Dec. 24, 2012. The eagles returned last December, thus sparking interest in documenting their movements. The cameras were installed this past July, and the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology placed a sensor on the nest. When the sensor detects movement, the cameras are turned on. The nest is a busy spot, with a pair of great horned owls, a hawk and, yes, an eagle making recent visits.

Steigelman joined Superintendent Radio Network to discuss “Eagle Cam” and the terrapin hatchery. The podcast can be accessed by typing bit.ly/1tETfis into your web browser.
 

From the Feed

Neat course, mate! The Australian Masters appeared on prime-time television in the states, giving superintendents and other turfgrass aficionados an opportunity to admire Metropolitan Golf Club. The Melbourne Sandbelt gem featured expansive couch grass fairways, sandy waste areas instead of rough and greens hand-mowed to the edges of bunkers. The Sandbelt style was an immediate Twitter sensation.

TJ Collins @TJCollins8
love it. Would be fun to play courses like those.

Tony Nysse @tonynyssegcs
the coverage has kept me up way past my bedtime the last 4 nights. Incredibly cool designs and maintenance

Jamie Slonis @JamieSlonisCG
Love it. The bunkering that flows right into fairway or green height cut looks great. Better than heavy rough.

Troy Fink @terribleturf
I like it!

Matthew Wharton @CGCGreenkeeper
@terribleturf Same here! Love the overall look, feel & way the bunkers “bite” into the greens!

Jamie Slonis @JamieSlonisCG
Love it. The bunkering that flows right into fairway or green height cut looks great. Better than heavy rough.

Andy O’Haver @andyohaver
love it!

Jeff Whitmire @jeffwcc1_jeff Nov 23
Awesome!

Join the conversation on Twitter @GCIMagazine!