Industry news

Panel examines conservation
Pasadena, Calif. – Environmental and water conservation experts examined landscape irrigation conservation initiatives and strategies at the second annual Intelligent Use of Water Summit, which was hosted by Rain Bird Corp. The symposium panel focused on the relationship among water conservation and landscape water use, water conservation policies and legislation, and potential programs and initiatives to increase awareness of the need to conserve water.

Experts say water conservation awareness needs to increase.

Taking place after a recent release of a United Nations report predicting an eminent and devastating global water shortage by the year 2025, the summit provided a venue for panelists to encourage civic and business leaders to promote water conservation. Panelists urged leaders to abide by current water-conservation policies and impose more strict water-regulation policies on their organizations.

The panelists included:
• Eric Klotz, water conservation and education section chief, Utah Division of Water Resources;
• Stuart Styles, director, Irrigation Training and Research Center;
• Robert Glennon, professor, University of Arizona, Rogers College of Law
• David Minner, professor, Iowa State University;
• John Neylan, manager, AGCSA Tech, Australian Golf Course Superintendent Association;
• Mark Welterlen, publisher, Grounds Maintenance; and
• Tim Blair, program manager, Water Use Efficiency, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Panelists’ written submissions can be downloaded at www.rainbird.com.

PACE launches Super Journal
San Diego – Unpublished technical data generated by golf course superintendents, turf managers and researchers, and interns have a home in Super Journal, an online turf research journal published by the PACE Turfgrass Research Institute and accessible for free at www.paceturf.org.

Super Journal’s submission requirements aren’t as rigorous as an academic journal’s, but PACE requires the basic principles of experimental design and data recording and summary be followed. A research guide has been provided on the Web site.

Super Journal includes reports by researchers such as Mary W. Olsen, Ph.D. and Michele J. Kohout, Ph.D., University of Arizona plant pathologists. Olsen and Kohout discovered Bermudagrass is a reservoir for the inoculum of the cool-season turfgrass disease, rapid blight.

Other articles are about insect management, reclaimed water management, conducting research projects and photographing turf diseases.

Super Journal seeks to provide a venue for:
• Superintendents to publish the results of their turf research projects and to share their conclusions with fellow turf managers;
• Turf researchers to rapidly publish and disseminate their experimental results; and
• Superintendents who want help designing, carrying out, interpreting and/or summarizing turf research experiments.

Golf weather improves in 2005
Buffalo Grove, Ill. – 2005 closed with net favorable weather at the national level compared with 2004, according to Pellucid Corp. Golf playable hours in December was 4.6 percent higher than December 2004, which ensured the full-year weather comparison to remain positive – GPHs increased 1.6 percent in 2005.

Weather for golf in 2005 was better than weather in 2004.

National rounds in November outperformed weather for the first time in 2005 with a 10.4-percent increase, creating a weather-adjusted rounds index of 204 for the month.

“With half the country shut down for the winter, the weather information is now heavily influenced by the Sunbelt states where we saw double-digit gains in GPH across all three of the California reporting regions,” says Pellucid president Jim Koppenhaver. “Florida and Texas also had positive Decembers, which added to their year-to-date increases. Positive results for 2005 were widespread with the breadth indicator showing 12 regions finishing with higher GPHs versus 2004 against six decliners producing a breadth ratio of exactly 2:1.”

For key state geographies where direct comparisons between GPH and rounds changes can be made, rounds generally have followed weather, but there’s no linear correlation between the weather and rounds results.

“For every negative influence, there’s generally an unheralded corresponding positive influence somewhere reducing the volatility of the weather variable across annual periods,” Koppenhaver says. “By studying both local and macro results, we can paint a more accurate picture for serious business people regarding which direction and to what extent variances in weather helped or hurt them throughout the year.”

Winners selected for environment
Lawrence, Kan. – Recognizing their commitment to environmental stewardship, Los Lagos Golf Course in San Jose, Calif., and its certified golf course superintendent, Alan R. Andreasen, were named the overall winners of the 2005 Golf Course Superintendents Association of America/Golf Digest Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards.

Syngenta Professional Products and Rain Bird Corp., Golf Division are the presenting partners of the award.

Judges selected winners in three national categories (public, private and resort courses), and an international winner, with an overall winner being selected from the group. The other national winners are (facility and chapter):
• National Private: David J. Faucher, CGCS, TPC at River’s Bend, Maineville, Ohio; Greater Cincinnati GCSA.
• National Resort (tie): Troy E. Russell, Bandon (Ore.) Dunes Golf Resort; Oregon GCSA; and Anthony L. Williams, CGCS, Renaissance PineIsle Resort & Golf Club, Sugar Hill, Ga.; Georgia GCSA.
• International: Ben J. Marshall, Club Pelican Golf Course, Golden Beach, Queensland, Australia; Australian GCSA.

The winners were recognized Feb. 10, during the Golf Industry Show. Additionally, program sponsors will make donations to The Environmental Institute for Golf, the philanthropic organization of the GCSAA, in the names of all national and chapter winners.

The Environmental Leaders in Golf Award recognizes golf course superintendents and their courses for overall course management excellence in the areas of resource conservation, water quality management, integrated pest management, wildlife/habitat management and education/outreach. Additionally, these categories are judged on sustainability, criticality, originality and technology implementation/use.

Timeline extended for handicap index
Far Hills, N.J. – The U.S. Golf Association extended a grace period for golf clubs using the USGA Handicap System to be licensed to continue to provide a USGA Handicap Index until July 1. The original deadline was Jan. 1.

Licensing requires clubs to provide information demonstrating their compliance with the USGA Handicap System. Approvals can be issued directly from the USGA or from an authorized state or regional golf association. All clubs must contact an authorized golf association to initiate the licensing process, even if they’re not member clubs of such an association. Visit the USGA Web site at www.usga.org for more information.

Survey reveals PGA perceptions
Palm Beach Gardens – A survey commissioned by The PGA of America shows America’s perceptions aren’t reality and being a local PGA professional means more than just teaching.

Survey results show almost 90 percent of respondents think local PGA professionals spend as much as half their day giving golf lessons. Additionally, more than half of all respondents think local PGA professionals play more than four 18-hole rounds of golf in a typical week.

The PGA professional position has evolved, becoming more challenging and demanding. Results from PGA professionals show they rarely spend more than a quarter of their day giving golf lessons. Almost a third don’t play an 18-hole round of golf in a typical week. PGA pros spend more time daily dealing with business matters in the clubhouse compared with giving lessons and working on their own game.

Additional results:
• 75 percent of PGA professionals surveyed work more than 50 hours a week.
• 15 percent spend more than a quarter of their day giving lessons, and 21 percent don’t give lessons at all.
• Almost 60 percent of those who give lessons work with four or fewer students on an average day.
• Almost 90 percent of PGA professionals have played golf for more than 15 years.
• 68 percent took three or more years to become a PGA professional.
• 54 percent have a bachelor’s degree.