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President's message |
A unified voice
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A few years ago GCSAA leadership invited a variety of individuals inside and outside the golf industry to a series of strategic discussions that have shaped GCSAA business planning and development of programs, services and communications.
One discussion focused on the golf facility itself and the role GCSAA members play in its success. It quickly became obvious that employers were asking golf course superintendents to be more than turf managers. They needed superintendents to be actively involved in the facility’s total operations.
From these discussions, GCSAA developed its mantra “focus on the facility,” which we have employed as a common thread in our programming. This concept has been woven into our education, information, communications, advocacy, career services and other programmatic areas.
Member feedback has been positive. You have embraced this concept because you know that a successful facility benefits superintendents and their staffs.
We see this with Mark Esoda, CGCS at Atlanta Country Club, in his efforts to develop an effective water use policy for facilities in the state. We see this with the GCSA of Northern California and its active involvement in Play Golf America activities each year. We see this with Monroe Miller, GCSAA Class A member at Blackhawk Country Club, who writes a monthly column in Wisconsin Golfer magazine. These members and countless others demonstrate that their value extends beyond traditional job duties.
GCSAA has embraced this concept as well. As you know, in the mid-1990s GCSAA repositioned itself from a turf organization to a golf organization with its focus on golf course management. It signaled that GCSAA would join allied golf associations in advancing the game and the business of golf.
For that reason, on April 16 GCSAA members and staff will join those from allied golf organizations in Washington, D.C., to participate in National Golf Day. The goal of this event is to educate and communicate to legislators, regulators and the media the value of the golf industry. It’s been well documented in golf circles that the industry delivers great value to communities. It’s time that we have a coordinated effort to take that message beyond the choir. Golf is a $76 billion industry that unfortunately has been confronted with regulations and legislation brought forth without benefit of solid data.
Thanks to the diligent efforts of GCSAA members who participated in surveys such as the Golf Course Environmental Profile Project, we now have more information than ever about golf courses to share with lawmakers and regulators. My thanks to those who have participated, and I encourage you to continue that participation with the pesticide-use portion of that project.
We hope that opening the lines of communication in Washington will help key audiences understand golf’s economic, environmental and recreational/social value. This year marks the first National Golf Day, but the intent is to make it an annual event and to extend it to the states. Eight states have conducted economic impact studies that allied golf associations and their members can communicate to government officials and the media.
There is strength in numbers. Having a coordinated effort provides the critical mass to rightly position golf. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but I’m confident progress will be made. I’m also pleased that GCSAA is sitting front and center with the other golf organizations to affect that change.
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