Spawns second event to be held in Northern California on December 7

The Southern California Golf & Water Summit was held on August 18 at Los Serranos Golf Club in Chino Hills, CA.  Over 220 golf course superintendents, golf professionals, general managers, allied industry professionals, vendors, policymakers, and golfers were in attendance to learn about golf industry water management and conservation as well as the current and future water situation in California and the greater Southwest. 

Hosted by longtime golf writer and design consultant Geoff Shackelford, the summit was kicked off by Deven Upadhyay who serves as the Assistant General Manager and Chief Operating Officer for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  Deven spoke about the water situation in California and set the tone for an amazing day of water policy and education. 

Other speakers included Dr. Bryan Unruh from the University of Florida; Justin Mandon, Superintendent at Pasatiempo Golf Club; Josh Heptig, Director of Golf Course Operations with San Luis Obispo County Parks & Recreation; and Dr. Cole Thompson with the USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research program. 

Additionally, two panel discussions were held:

The first was moderated by Shackelford and featured Brian Whitlark, USGA; Matt Muhlenbruch, Hillcrest Country Club; Dr. Marta Pudzianowska, UC Riverside; Dr. Jim Baird, UC Riverside; and Dr. Matteo Serena, USGA.  The panel focused on unpacking the facility toolbox for golf facility water savings. 

The second panel featured staff members from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) as well as Parker Cohn from Performance Resource Management.  Moderated by Suresh Radhakrishnan from the MWD, speakers included Bruce Chalmers, Krista Guerrero, Gary Tilkian and Cohn.  The panel focused on rebate and incentive programs through the MWD as well as the ICP Program.

Thank you to all of our Summit organizers for both their financial support and volunteer time and a special shout-out to the Southern California Golf Association Marketing Department who put in so much time to make this event a success.  To view the presentations in their entirety, visit the landing page at  https://scga.org/water-summit. 

If you didn’t get a chance to join us at Los Serranos, please make plans to attend a second event being held in Northern California on December 7 at Boundary Oak Golf Course in Walnut Creek.  More information will be available shortly.