Industry News

GCSANC to distribute free ball mark repair tools

Members of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Northern California will distribute free ball mark repair tools at the Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship, a Nationwide Tour Event slated March 31 through April 6 at The Course at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, Calif. 

Thursday through Sunday of the event, GCSANC members will be stationed at the NCGA-Poppy Ridge GC booth, personally handing out tools and demonstrating how to properly repair a ball mark. Spectators will have a chance to ask questions and practice the technique in the presence of a golf course superintendent.

 "Our association members enjoy spreading the word on the importance of proper ball mark repair," said Chris Mains, vice president, "and the Nationwide event at Wente is an ideal venue to share this news with golf enthusiasts."

According to GCSANC Association Manager Barbara Mikel, more than 20,000 repair tools have been distributed through community outreach efforts, and many in conjunction with Play Golf America’s growth of the game initiatives.

Army Corps and EPA improve wetland and stream mitigation

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA have released a new rule to clarify how to provide compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impacts to the nation's wetlands and streams. The rule will enable the agencies to promote greater consistency, predictability and ecological success of mitigation projects under the Clean Water Act.

"This rule greatly improves implementation, monitoring, and performance, and will help us ensure that unavoidable losses of aquatic resources and functions are replaced for the benefit of the nation," said John Paul Woodley Jr., assistant secretary of the Army.

Benefits of the compensatory mitigation rule include:

• Fostering greater predictability, increased transparency and improved performance of compensatory mitigation projects
• Establishing equivalent standards for all forms of mitigation
• Responding to recommendations of the National Research Council to improve the success of wetland restoration and replacement projects
• Setting clear science-based and results-oriented standards nationwide while allowing for regional variations
• Increasing and expanding public participation
• Encouraging watershed-based decisions
• Emphasizing the "mitigation sequence" requiring that proposed projects avoid and minimize potential impacts to wetlands and streams before proceeding to compensatory mitigation

Each year thousands of property owners undertake projects that affect the nation's aquatic resources. Proposed projects that are determined to impact jurisdictional waters are first subject to review under the Clean Water Act. The Corps of Engineers reviews these projects to ensure environmental impacts to aquatic resources are avoided or minimized as much as possible.

According to the Golf Course Environmental Profile, the water bodies account for an average of about 11 acres on an 18-hole golf courses. Of that, 12 percent is in wetlands, and 10 percent is in streams or rivers.

Consistent with the administration's goal of "no net loss of wetlands" a Corps permit may require a property owner to restore, establish, enhance or preserve other aquatic resources in order to replace those impacted by the proposed project. This compensatory mitigation process seeks to replace the loss of existing aquatic resource functions and area.

Property owners required to complete mitigation are encouraged to use a watershed approach and watershed planning information. The new rule establishes performance standards, sets timeframes for decision making, and to the extent possible, establishes equivalent requirements and standards for the three sources of compensatory mitigation: permittee-responsible mitigation, mitigation banks and in-lieu-fee programs.

The new rule changes where and how mitigation is to be completed, but maintains existing requirements on when mitigation is required. The rule also preserves the requirement for applicants to avoid or minimize impacts to aquatic resources before proposing compensatory mitigation projects to offset permitted impacts.

Wetlands and streams provide important environmental functions including protecting and improving water quality and providing habitat to fish and wildlife. Successful compensatory mitigation projects will replace environmental functions that are lost as a result of permitted activities. For more information on the compensatory mitigation rule visit http://www.epa.gov/wetlandsmitigation.

Andersons attains GCSAA Silver Partner status

Andersons Golf Products has pledged to support GCSAA and its members by committing to participate in the association's Partner Recognition Program at the Silver level.

"We are proud to welcome Andersons Golf Products to the GCSAA Partner Recognition Program," said GCSAA President David S. Downing II, CGCS. "These resources are invested for the benefit of GCSAA's stakeholders -- member superintendents, their facilities and the golf course management profession. They are put to work to develop education programs, conduct research, offer career resources, create information resources and develop tools to assist our members.

Andersons Golf Products is a long-time supporter of GCSAA and The Environmental Institute for Golf. Andersons Golf Products is also recognized at the Statesman's Club level through The Institute's cumulative giving program for organizations that have contributed between $10,000 and $24,999 since 1987.

"Andersons Golf Products is pleased to be working with GCSAA on several marketing initiatives," said Mike Bandy, marketing manager. "We believe it to be a 'win-win' situation and appreciate the opportunity to work with and assist the association, its stakeholders and particularly the superintendents themselves."

BASF Turf Talk launches

BASF Turf & Ornamentals today announced it has launched BASF Turf Talk, a blog developed to provide an online forum on industry issues, trends and regional happenings for BASF T&O, and the turf community it serves. 

"The immediate nature of blogging gives us an opportunity to address turf professionals’ latest issues and successes," said Toni Bucci, Ph.D., BASF Turf & Ornamentals business manager. "This innovative forum also helps show both the personality and the depth of our diverse team. We’re hopeful it facilitates peer-to-peer discussions about industry challenges and opportunities."

Turf professionals can now visit the blog to read and react to sales specialists’ field reports nationwide, Bucci’s outlook for 2008, and tips on reading a product label, among other entries. Regular content will cover industry news, events, people and solutions, as well as technical expertise to help mitigate turf issues.

For more information about BASF Turf & Ornamentals visit www.betterturf.com and www.betterplants.com.

Phoenix pops some bubbles at GIS

Armed with their weapons of choice – Bazooka, Double Bubble or Bubble Yum – visitors to the Phoenix Environmental Care booth at the 2008 Golf Industry Show were bursting with excitement.

The NexGen Bubble Blowing Contest invited attendees "Discover Something Xtra" and to learn about NexGen, the company’s new line of enhanced products. And each bubble blown made a donation to either GCSAA, CMAA or NGCOA.

It also entered superintendents into a drawing for a pre-paid Discover gift card.

Winners of $100 gift cards were Bill Tyde, Mission Valley Golf Course, Tim Kirsch, Elkhorn Valley Golf Club and Lawrence Flament, Stonewall Golf Club each won a $100 pre-paid card.

Joe Burke, Indianola Country Club; Reed Rivers, Texas A&M; Brian Aaron, Azalea City Golf Course and Don Petrey, Twin Warriors Golf Club, each took home a $50 gift card.

The contest also pitted members of the GCSAA, the CMAA and the NGCOA against one another for bragging rights and for  special donation from Phoenix. Christian Thom, manager, career services, with the CMAA blew the competition away with a gargantuan bubble.  Mike Tinkey, deputy CEO representated NGCOA, and Greg Lyman, director of environmental programs, competed for GCSAA.  The winner was presented a silver bubble-gum machine – but all three organizations received a $300 check from Phoenix Environmental Care.

A media contest included Golfdom’s Larry Aylward, Golf Course Management’s Seth Jones and Ken Moum and Golf Course Industry’s Russ Warner and Heather Wood. Moum was the winner, taking home a bubble gum machine trophy.