Divot Mix

Golf is the only game in which a precise knowledge of the rules can earn one a reputation for bad sportsmanship.  -- Patrick Campbell

Norman to receive Old Tom Morris Award

Greg Norman has been selected to receive the 2008 Old Tom Morris Award by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

The award will be presented at the Opening Session of the 2008 GCSAA Education Conference, Jan. 31, 2008. The conference (Jan. 28-Feb. 1) will be held in conjunction with the Golf Industry Show (Jan. 31-Feb. 2) at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

"I have always had the utmost respect for the GCSAA and I believe its members are truly the unsung heroes of our sport," Norman said. "It is a distinct honor to be selected for the Old Tom Morris Award and to join this distinguished list of past recipients."

GCSAA’s most prestigious honor, the Old Tom Morris Award is presented each year to an individual who "through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf has helped to mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris."

A longtime supporter of the golf course superintendent profession, Norman is a vocal leader in the movement to make the game of golf more compatible with the environment. He became a trustee of The Environmental Institute for Golf in 2003 and has served as chairman of The Institute's Advisory Council since its inception that year. For more on Norman, and a list of past Old Tom Morris Award winners, click here.

Record number of courses join Take Your Daughter to the Course

Host course participation in the U.S. and Canada increased 11 percent for the 2007 "Take Your Daughter to the Course Week" program, a joint promotion of the NGCOA and the PGA of America. GCSAA also supported the event throuhg a communications effort to its members enlisting their participation.

Nearly 1,400 courses offered free green fees and clinics to young girls who were accompanied by a paying adult during the July 9-15 promotion period. The 1,396 participating courses represented an 11 percent increase over the 2006 total of 1,242, also a record. 

Take Your Daughter to the Course Week is part of the Play Golf America program designed to provide opportunities for individuals and families to learn the game of golf. Golfing enthusiasts and Grammy award winners Vince Gill and Amy Grant, along with their six-year-old daughter, Corrina Grant Gill, were spokespersons for this year’s program.

There are approximately three million junior golfers between the ages of 12 and 17 in the U.S., but of that number only about 17 percent are girls.

Project EverGreen seeks wheelbarrow art

Project EverGreen has announced a unique new artistic challenge for the upcoming Green Industry and Equipment Expo.

"This will be the year of the wheelbarrows' at G.I.E.," said Den Gardner, executive director of Project EverGreen, "Everyone who participates in this special event will be given a child-size wheelbarrow, courtesy of John Deere, and challenged to decorate it in a way which depicts their company's efforts to enhance green spaces at home, work and play."

Gardner said that the challenge is designed to parallel Project EverGreen's Shovels event which gained major attention at the 2006 G.I.E. "Last year, some 27 green industry manufacturers, distributors and service providers accepted our Shovels challenge," he said. "This year we are looking for even wider participation. It's an opportunity to create unique art that conveys the positive role the green industry plays in our environment, lifestyles and economy."

To make the display possible, participants are asked to donate $1,000 toProject EverGreen.

To provide a showcase for wheelbarrows, Gardner said Project EverGreen will mount a special display at the show Thursday, Oct. 26. On Friday, it will become the centerpiece of an invitation-only reception from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Galt House.

Anyone involved in the green industry is eligible to participate in the challenge. To obtain more information visit http://www.projectevergreen.com. 

Atlantic hurricane outlook updated

The NOAA Climate Prediction Center has updated its 2007 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook, and is maintaining the expectation of an above-normal season.

During the peak months (August through October) of the Atlantic hurricane season, NOAA scientists are predicting an 85 percent chance of an above-normal season, with the likelihood of 13 to 16 named storms, with seven to nine becoming hurricanes, of which three to five could become Category 3 or higher.
 
Key climate factors through early August have increased the scientist's confidence in an above-normal season.  The patterns responsible for projection continue to be the oceanic and atmospheric conditions that have spawned increased Atlantic hurricane activity since 1995, warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in key areas of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and the El Niño/La Niña cycle.

NOAA’s seasonal outlooks do not specify where and when tropical storms and hurricanes could strike. Nevertheless, during above-normal seasons many of the storms form over the tropical Atlantic Ocean. These systems generally track westward, towards the United States and the Caribbean Sea, thereby posing an increased threat to these regions.
So far this season, there have been three Atlantic named storms which is slightly above average. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. For the complete updated 2007 Atlantic Hurricane outlook, visit http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml.

Golf courses: Good wildlife sanctuaries?

It won't come as a surprise to golf course superintendents or most golfers, but a University of Missouri-Columbia scientist says that golf courses, if managed properly, might also be important wildlife sanctuaries.

"There are more than 17,000 golf courses in the United States, and approximately 70 percent of that land is not used for playing," said Ray Semlitsch, curators' professor of biological sciences. "These managed green spaces aren't surrogates for protected land and ecosystems, but they can include suitable habitat for species native to the area. Golf courses could act as nature sanctuaries if managed properly."

Semlitsch, along with Michelle Boone, an assistant professor at Miami University in Ohio and former MU graduate student, and J. Russell Bodie, senior scientist for Audubon International, outlined recommendations that would improve golf course habitats for amphibian populations in a paper published in USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Online in January.

A recent study by Semlitsch, Boone and Cory Mosby, a senior at MU, built on these suggestions. They found that completely drying golf course ponds in the late summer or early fall would benefit amphibian populations and biodiversity.

"It's a hard concept for people to understand, but non-permanent wetlands are more natural than permanent wetlands. Most natural wetlands dry for some periods of time, and the species that live in them are well-adapted for this. The natural drying process benefits amphibians and releases nutrients from the soil. Maintaining permanent ponds actually harms biodiversity," Semlitsch said.

Semlitsch, Boone and Mosby's study will be published later this year in Conservation Biology. It was supported by the USGA and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.