2006 Environmental Leaders in Golf awards presented

Anthony Williams, CGCS

In recognition of their commitment to environmental stewardship, Stone Mountain Golf Club in Stone Mountain, Ga., and its superintendent, Anthony L. Williams, CGCS, the overall winner of the 2006 GCSAA/Golf Digest Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards were honored last night at the GCSAA President's Celebration.

Williams and Stone Mountain Golf Club will be featured in an upcoming issue of Golf Digest magazine and the February issue of GCSAA's Golf Course Management magazine. Syngenta Professional Products and Rain Bird Corp., Golf Division are the presenting partners of the award.

Judges selected winners in three national categories (public, private and resort courses), and an international winner, with an overall winner being selected from those four. Additional recognition was given to the top entry from each GCSAA affiliated chapter, and merit honors were awarded to those who did not earn national or chapter honors, but deserved special recognition in the opinion of the judges.

Michael Perham, CGCS

The national winners include (facility, location, chapter):

• National Public & Overall: Anthony L. Williams, CGCS, Stone Mountain Golf Club, Stone Mountain, Ga.; Georgia GCSA
• National Private: Michael Perham, CGCS, The Landings Club, Savannah, Ga. ; Georgia GCSA
• National Resort: Ryan J. Bancroft, Salishan Spa & Golf Resort, Gleneden Beach, Ore. ; Oregon GCSA
• International: James Beebe, Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club, Priddis, Alberta, Canada

"Our 2006 award winners are truly leaders,” said GCSAA President Sean A. Hoolehan, CGCS. "They, along with their facilities, have demonstrated that golf courses are environmental assets to their communities."

Ryan Bancroft

"Golf Digest has been an active participant in generating discussion regarding golf and its relationship with the environment, dating back 10 years ago to the Golf and the Environment Initiative," said Roger Schiffman, managing editor of Golf Digest. "We are pleased to share the good story that golf is indeed achieving positive results.”

Williams, won the overall award in his first year at Stone Mountain Golf Club and he's the first back-to-back national award winner, having won the 2005 national resort ELGA at Renaissance PineIsle Resort and Golf Club in Sugar Hill, Ga. He also and was a 2004 ELGA chapter winner.

His environmental leadership efforts at Stone Mountain are built around water management. Filing a Best Management Practices for water management with the state of Georgia, Williams worked with the University of Georgia to develop a detailed water-quality testing program. A Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, Stone Mountain Golf Club is a 36-hole public facility located 16 miles from Atlanta.

James Beebe

Perham oversees golf course maintenance operations at The Landings Club, which consists of six championship golf courses on Skidaway Island in Savannah, Ga. All six golf courses are certified Audubon sanctuaries and The Landings won Best Overall and Best of the Atlantic Flyway in the 2006 North American Birdwatching Open sponsored by Audubon International.

Bancroft is a four-time ELGA chapter winner at Salishan Spa and Golf Resort, located on the Oregon coast. He collaborated with the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife to install a fish ladder at the outlet of the irrigation lake to aid the passage of migratory salmon from Siletz Bay to the upper reaches of the Sijota Creek watershed.

Beebe won the 2005 Canadian Golf Superintendents Association Environmental Achievement Award. In addition to operating with a precise water management plan, Beebe and staff employ an extensive recycling program.

The Environmental Leaders in Golf Award recognizes golf course superintendents and their courses for overall course management excellence in the areas of resource conservation, water quality management, integrated pest management, wildlife/habitat management and education/outreach. In addition, these categories are judged on sustainability, criticality, originality and technology implementation/use.

In addition to the national winners, 12 chapter winners as well as 11 merit winners were selected from GCSAA's 104 affiliated chapters. For a more on the chapter and merit winners, click here.