Conference Field Trips
Monday, Feb. 8
Environmental Check-up: How Sustainable is Your Facility? (332-01)
Instructors: Debra Swartz and Kathy Antaya, CGCS
Location: Steele Canyon Golf Course
How does your facility measure up to rising environmental expectations and requirements? This seminar will sharpen your environmental focus by helping you:
- Identify, then minimize or eliminate potential environmental risks
- Implement sustainable management practices
- Evaluate your maintenance facility and establish practices that conserve energy, reduce waste, and protect and conserve natural resources
- Create an action plan for improving regulatory compliance
An on-site tour of Steele Canyon Golf Course and its maintenance facility will provide you with a first-hand look at proactive ways to handle and store pesticides and fertilizers, wash your equipment, store fuel and oils, prepare for emergencies, protect and conserve water resources, reduce waste and conserve energy.
Steele Canyon Golf Club’s 27-hole championship golf course was designed by Gary Player, one of history’s greatest golfers, with a respect and appreciation for the natural beauty of the terrain.
Hosted by GCSAA Class A superintendent Phil Fitzgerald.
Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 8 and 9
Golf Irrigation Auditor (GIA) Program (289-01)
Location TBD
This one-and-a-half-day management-level program, facilitated by the Irrigation Association and held in part at a local golf course, provides a unique opportunity to gain valuable information that can help you become a certified golf irrigation auditor. Learn how to gather appropriate irrigation water-use data and test the performance of golf irrigation systems. After completing this course, you will be able to assess system performance, determine irrigation water requirements, estimate potential dollar and water savings, develop an appropriate irrigation schedule and much more.
Please note: Taking the GIA course prior to taking the exam is recommended, it is not required.
Tuesday, Feb. 9
Gadgets and Gizmos: How to Best Use Measurement Technology
(541-01)
Instructors: Douglas Karcher, Ph.D. and Mike Richardson, Ph.D.
Location: Bonita Golf Club
In this seminar, you'll examine several soil, plant and environmental measurement devices. Discussion of each will include specific turf management problem-diagnosis capabilities, underlying technology, shortcomings and cost. Transportation to and from the course will be provided and attendees will leave from and return to the convention center.
Bonita Golf Club, nestled in the serene Bonita Valley, has been at its current location for over 25 years.
Hosted by GCSAA Class A superintendent Brendon Reaksecker.
Turfgrass Field Seminar (106-01)
Instructors: Wendy Gelernter, Ph.D., Larry Stowell, Ph.D. and Frank Wong, Ph.D.
Locations: Torrey Pines Golf Course, Fairbanks Ranch Country Club, Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club and Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres baseball team.
Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit three of Southern California’s premier golf facilities along with the home of Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres where superintendents from each location will discuss the agronomic and practical expertise that go into managing these diverse venues. Tour leaders will provide additional information on recent research and innovations in southern California turf management.
Torrey Pines, a world-famous municipal golf course known for its spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and for its successful hosting of the 2008 U.S. Open, copes with its cool coastal location with kikuyugrass fairways and Poa annua greens. Farther inland, and with water quality challenges, Fairbanks Ranch Country Club is one of the most imaginative courses created by architect Ted Robinson. It is famous as one of the earliest adopters of seashore paspalum for use on fairways and roughs. With 27 holes, Fairbanks has 18 Poa annua greens, and nine greens are Dominant Plus bentgrass that are purposely being transitioned to Poa annua. Farther inland still, the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club, which first opened in 1929 and is one of the oldest courses in Southern California, is a Scottish links-style course. It has non-overseeded bermudagrass fairways and roughs, and Poa annua greens. And last, but certainly not least, Petco Park, which opened in 2004, combines the best sight lines in baseball with breathtaking views of downtown San Diego. To manage the demands of consistent surface firmness, heavy traffic and continuous televised events, Petco Park's Bullseye bermudagrass is overseeded with ryegrass.