Personnel news

Heathrow Country Club, a private club in Orlando, Fla., promoted assistant golf course superintendent Brandon Sims to golf course superintendent.

Sims replaces Gary Cotton, who retired from the industry. Sims will oversee the club’s golf course maintenance operation. Additionally, Sims will manage a staff of more than 15 maintenance and landscape professionals, create and maintain budgets, and supervise maintenance employee safety and training.

William G. Fielder, retired CGCS, and Tommy D. Witt, CGCS at Northmoor Country Club in Highland Park, Ill., were selected as recipients of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America’s Distinguished Service Award. They will be acknowledged at the opening session of the 2005 GCSAA education conference and Golf Industry Show in Orlando. The GCSAA board of directors selects award winners from nominations submitted by affiliated chapters and/or association members. The award is given to individuals who have made an outstanding, substantive and enduring contribution to the advancement of the golf course superintendent profession.

Clay Putnam, a certified golf course superintendent, is the director of maintenance operations at Servi-Scape, a golf course operations and maintenance management company.

Putnam returns to the company after five years with ValleyCrest Golf Course Maintenance were he was the operations and business development manager.

Shawn Keller was promoted to golf course superintendent at Indian Wells Golf Club by the Classic Golf Group. His responsibilities include maintaining the golf course, supervising the greens maintenance staff and serving as a club liaison.

Mike Brown, CGCS at Starmount Forest Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., is the new president of the 1,700-member Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association. Brown takes over the presidency from Bob Warner, a certified golf course superintendent at Whispering Pines Golf Course in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The Georgia Golf Course Super-intendent’s Association elected new officers and directors. The officers for the coming year are:
President, Mark Snyder, CGCS at Berkeley Hills Country Club in Duluth;
Vice president, Richard Staughton, CGCS at Towne Lake Hills Golf Club in Woodstock;
Past president, Phillip (Wade) Thomas at Idle Hour Club in Macon
 New board members are:
Barry Bennett at Valdosta Country Club in Valdosta;
Craig Conner at Summit Chase Country Club in Snellville;
Michael Crawford, CGCS at the TPC at Sugarloaf in Duluth;
Tim Cunningham, CGCS at Coosa Country Club in Rome;
Lane Ferguson at Creekside Golf & Country Club in Hiram;
Harold Franklin at Fields Ferry Golf Club in Calhoun;
Ray Meredith at Follow Me Golf Course in Fort Benning;
Brad Owen at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta; and
Anthony Williams, CGCS at Renaissance PineIsle Resort in Lake Lanier
Island.

Hank Johnson, director of instruction at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort’s Hank Johnson School of Golf, was named “National Teacher of the Year” by the Professional Golfers’ Association. Sandestin is in Destin, Fla.

David F. Zoldoske, director of the Center for Irrigation Technology,

is the new president of the Irrigation Association. Zoldoske officially took leadership at the Irrigation Association’s Keynote breakfast Nov. 15 during the International Irrigation Show in Tampa, Fla. He replaces Brian Vinchesi, president of Irrigation Consulting.

Ken Mills, vice president of Rain Bird Corp., is the new president-elect of the Irrigation Association. Doug York, president of Ewing Irrigation Products, is on the board of directors executive committee as treasurer. Other new board members are Jeffrey Carowitz of Hunter Industries, Mark Huntley of T-Systems International and Mike Grundvig of Western Division of Rain for Rent.

M.G. Orender, PGA of America honorary president,

was given the 2004 Graffis Award by the National Golf Foundation. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the game and business of golf. It is named for Herb and Joe Graffis, the brothers who co-founded the NGF in 1936 and worked diligently to promote the growth of the game.

Fred Eckert is BASF’s new turf and ornamental sales

specialist for Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Based in Southern California, Eckert will work with distributors, golf course superintendents and lawn care operators.

George Raymond was named western sales representative for Bayer Environmental Science, covering northern California for the golf team and coordinating lawn/landscape activities in the western states.

Dan Johnston is the new equipment territory manager for

San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties from North to South for Golf Ventures West. Johnston is a former golf course superintendent with more than 15 years experience in the golf course industry.

Otterbine Barebo, a manufacturer of aerators and fountains in the pond and lake management industry, hired Emery “Bud” Laidlaw as the new western regional sales manager. Laidlaw will be responsible for the sales and support of Otterbine’s distribution network in the western region of the country.

Brad Helcoski is the application engineer for the southeast region for Rain Bird. Helcoski will be responsible for providing technical on-site service and support for all Rain Bird Golf customers located in the Southeast region of the country. He also will provide technical training to company distributors, employees and customers to help develop and grow new and existing business.

TourTurf by FieldTurf, a company that sells and installs synthetic turf, hired Jim Lawrence as its southwest regional manager. Lawrence will oversee the company’s commercial, residential and golf business in Southern California. He also will coordinate the company’s sales, maintain and install its commercial, residential and golf products and manage its residential affiliates.

Brian Pearlman was named vice president of human resources for Textron E-Z-GO.

The Turfgrass Producers International’s board of directors appointed Kirk Hunter to the TPI executive director. Hunter served as the primary liaison between the TPI staff and the board of trustees members and participated on a range of committees and task forces.

Wellmark International appointed Mark Taylor business manager for its starbar, apairy and greenhouse/nursery markets. Taylor will be responsible for developing and supervising the execution of marketing and business development strategies for a variety of products including; Altosid IGR Feed-Thru, Extinguish, Extinguish Plus, QuikStrike, Golden Malrin, Prolate/Lintox, Apistan, Mavrik Aquaflow and Enstar II. GCN