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A recent golf event for kids earned superintendents two local television broadcasts and coverage from a local radio station. The Piedmont GCSA pioneered the annual Give a Kid a Club campaign, which garnered dozens of kids, parents and grandparents to participate in instruction from golf professionals and spend time on the driving range and practice green at Winding Creek GC in High Point, N.C. Members of the Piedmont GCSA collect clubs throughout the year to distribute to children free of charge at the event. Two television stations ran interviews with Allen Crockett, CGCS at Winding Creek and president of the Piedmont GCSA, and a local radio station aired live updates from the three-hour event.
Play Golf America’s PGA Free Lesson Month promotion set a record in 2006, with more than 147,000 free lessons given nationwide, a 21 percent increase over 2005. Initiated among The PGA of America, Golf Digest, The Golf Channel and Golf for Women, and sponsored by Nike Golf, the program is designed to reach new golfers and help existing golfers improve their game with free, 10-minute golf instruction sessions from PGA professionals. This year, PGA pros gave an average of 20 lessons each, with each lesson lasting an average 19 minutes. They devoted 46,655 hours to the free lessons. Of the participating golfers, 23 percent were new or beginners, and 31 percent were women. Additionally, 11 percent of PGA pros gave lessons to individuals with disabilities, the association says.
The World Golf Hall of Fame welcomed five new members at its annual induction ceremony. Larry Nelson, Vijay Singh, Marilynn Smith, and the late Mark McCormack and Henry Picard bring the Hall of Fame’s membership to 114. McCormack, who founded IMG, received the lifetime achievement distinction. Nelson was elected to the Hall of Fame’s 2006 PGA Tour ballot, Picard was selected in the veteran’s category and Singh was chosen on the 2005 PGA Tour ballot. Smith also is a lifetime achievement inductee.
Thirteen high school student golfers on Canton (Miss.) High School’s golf team recently got a hands-on idea of what it takes to host a PGA event, courtesy of Al Osteen, Class A superintendent at Annandale GC in Madison, Miss. The students joined the course’s grounds maintenance crew for the Southern Farm Bureau Classic tournament to help maintain the turf and to learn about professional careers in golf plus basic course maintenance and agronomy.
Randy Allen, CGCS and director of golf course operations for The Burroughs and Chapin Co. near Myrtle Beach, S.C., has been awarded the Carolinas GCSA’s Distinguished Service Award. Allen led the association as president in 1989 and has continued serving on its committee of past presidents. He hosted the Champions Tour’s Tour Championship four times while serving as superintendent at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club, among other achievements. Allen is regarded as having helped improve the image and public perception of the golf course superintendent, particularly through the superintendent image campaign he spearheaded in the 1980s.
More than 20,000 women participated in the 2006 American Express Women’s Golf Week, raising more than $30,000 for the Go Red for Women movement of the American Heart Association. Participants received free golf lessons and were invited to attend networking and social activities at hundreds of golf facilities nationwide. The initiative, led by Golf 20/20, is aimed at increasing the number of women involved in the sport. Since the program’s inception in 2005, participation has doubled and the number of host facilities increased by 160 percent, the group says.
Golf Environment Europe has paired with the Sports Turf Research Institute to coordinate a pan-European network for environmental issues in golf. The partnership’s innovation and technology network will focus on the exchange of research, development and information on technical environmental issues, including turfgrass management, water resource management, golf course ecology, waste management and energy efficiency. The network will also provide the golf industry’s manufacturers and suppliers with opportunities to fund research projects.
In response to the cancellation of the U.S. Pro Golf Tour’s stop at Barton Creek Resort & Spa, which deprived beneficiary The First Tee of Greater Austin of a promised $10,000 donation from the event, the resort took action to make up for the non-profit organization’s loss. Brian Dees, the resort’s director of golf, decided that all the open tee times for the date of the canceled event would be sold at one-third the regular price with all proceeds going toward The First Tee of Greater Austin. Monies raised through the impromptu fundraiser totaled around $13,000.
SavATree Co. announces that each of its 18 branches has officially become accredited by the Tree Care Industry Association. The accomplishment makes SavATree the first large tree care company to achieve company-wide accreditation, it says.
GCSAA Legacy Awards
GCSAA has awarded 20 $1,500 college scholarships as part of its Legacy Awards program, which is administered by The Environmental Institute for Golf and supported by Syngenta Professional Products.
To be eligible, applicants must be a child or grandchild of a GCSAA member. The awards are based on academic achievement, community involvement, extracurricular activities and leadership skills. Applicants must be enrolled full time at an accredited institution of higher learning, or for high school seniors, be accepted at such an institution for the next academic year.
College
Johanna Whitmer, Converse College
Father: Tony L. Whitmer, CGCS, Crosswinds GC, Bowling Green, Ky.
Double Major: Interior Design, Art History
Emily Long, Clemson University
Father: Randall A. Long, Thornblade Club, Greenville, S.C.
Major: Accounting
Rachel Lange, Montana State-Bozeman University
Father: Richard M. Lange, CGCS, Meadowbrook CC, Racine, Wis.
Double Major: Environmental Biology, Geology
Elizabeth Buchen, Georgia Institute of Technology
Father: R. Terry Buchen, CGCS, MG, retired, Williamsburg, Va.
Major: Aerospace Engineering
Tracy Evans, South Dakota State University
Father: M. Tedd Evans III, CGCS, Brookings CC, Brookings, S.D.
Major: Dietetics/Health Promotions
Katelyn Ritter, Pennsylvania State University
Father: Thomas J. Ritter, CGCS, Hampshire Greens GC, Silver Spring, Md.
Major: Architectural Engineering
Elizabeth Weber, University of Alabama
Father: Dennis J. Weber, CGCS, Wynlakes CC, Montgomery, Ala.
Major: Spanish and International Relations
Waianuhea Dooge, Chapman University
Father: B. Russell Dooge, CGCS, King Kamehameha GC, Wailuku, Hawaii
Major: Psychology
Collin M. Vickers, Baldwin-Wallace College
Father: Brian D. Vickers, Pine Hills GC, Valley City, Ohio
Double Major: Finance, Economics
High School
Rachel Ann Roth, University of North Florida
Father: Richard M. Roth, Cocoa Beach CC, Merritt Island, Fla.
Major: Psychology
Mitchell McIntyre, Dartmouth College
Father: Daniel E. McIntyre, CGCS, Creekside GC, Oakdale, Calif.
Major: Economics/Business
Brett Richstone, Mercer University
Father: Jeffrey J. Heggen, Hilaman Park GC, Tallahassee, Fla.
Major: Engineering
Sean M. Morris, University of Michigan
Father: Michael D. Morris, CGCS, Crystal Downs CC, Frankfort, Mich.
Major: LSA/Pre-medicine
Rebecca Moore, Grand Rapids Community College
Father: James T. Moore, FlintGC, Davison, Mich.
Major: Undecided
Mary Agnew, University of Alabama
Father: Charles C. Agnew, CGCS, retired, Falkville, Ala.
Major: Business
Sara Steinhurst, University of Michigan
Father: Robert Steinhurst Jr., West Branch CC, West Branch, Mich.
Major: Chemistry/Pre-medicine
Brittany McNamara, Eckerd College
Father: Michael E. McNamara, Grossinger Resort, Liberty, N.Y.
Elisabeth McAvoy, Barnard College
Father: Thomas O. McAvoy, CGCS, Old Westbury G&CC, West Hempstead, N.Y.
Major: Science Research
Megan Sullivan, University of California-Los Angeles
Father: Brian T. Sullivan, CGCS, MG, Bel Air CC, Los Angeles, Calif.
Major: Art History
Stephen Manning, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Father: Craig F. Manning, Highland CC, Fayetteville, N.C.
Major: Undecided
GCSAA Scholars Program
Funded by The Environmental Institute for Golf
(Robert Trent Jones Endowment)
First Place – Mendenhall Award ($6,000)
Aaron Johnsen, Woodbury, Minn.
Senior, University of Minnesota
Environmental Horticulture
Second Place – Allan MacCurrach Award ($5,000)
Jason Oliver, Portland, Ore.
December Graduate, Oregon State University
Horticulture/Golf Course Turf Management
$1,500-$2,500 Winners
Stephen Hicks, University of Massachusetts
Bradley Sladek, Texas Tech
Tim Christian, SUNY Cobleskill
William Overly, Kansas State
Corey Heasley, Rutgers
David Golembeski, Connecticut
Scott Martell, Penn State
Christopher Skvir, Rutgers
Blake Hertzog, Penn State
Ian Gallagher, Ohio State
$500 Merit Winners
Wesley Crompton, North Carolina State
David Camuso, Rhode Island
Michael Hardin, Clemson
Jon Trappe, Purdue
Adam Bogucki, Maryland
Jon Cancel, Cal Poly Pomona
Eric David, Michigan State
Anna Farre, Michigan State
Concepcion Moreno Mena, Michigan State
$2,000 Ambassador Scholarship
Joaquin Berjano, Madrid, Spain
Turfgrass Management Program, Michigan State
2006 Musser International Foundation
Award of Excellence
Kurt Steinke, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Turfgrass Ecology
Texas A&M University
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