TeeOff News July/August 2014

Monarch Dunes Golf Club 2014 Annual Meeting

Tom Elliott, CGCS Host Superintendent

Page 2 TEE-OFF News

Presidents Message 4

Around the Green 2014 Annual Meeting

6 7

From the Field 8

Tri Chapter Meeting Highlights 10

Tri Chapter Meeting Highlights 11

Inside this issue:

Page 3 TEE-OFF News

September 16, 2014 “Tuesday Meeting”

Annual Election Meeting

Monarch Dunes Golf Course

Host Superintendent

Tom Elliott, CGCS

November 3, 2014

Annual Charity Event

Fort Washington Country Club

Host Superintendent

Jose Alvarez

December 6, 2014

Holiday Event

“Windows on the Water”

Morro Bay

January 26, 2015

Winter Symposium

Rancho San Marcus Golf Club

Host Superintendent

Tennessee McBroom

April 23, 2015

Spring Symposium

Rio Bravo Country Club

Host Superintendent

Trini Hernandez

June 2015

Al Glaze Memorial Scholarship &

Research Tournament

Morro Bay Golf Course

Host Superintendent

Josh Heptig

Save The Dates

2013/2014 GCSACC BOARD OF DIRECTORS

BOARD MEMBERS

STEVEN SHOWERS

AIRWAYS G. C.

TRINI HERNANDEZ

RIO BRAVO C. C.

ANDY CORDOVA

CYPRESS RIDGE G.C..

PAST PRESIDENT

MICHAEL SWING, CGCS

VALLEY OAKS GOLF COURSE

MICHAEL CLINE

WILBUR ELLIS COMPANY

JEFF KOLLENKARK

WEEDMAN

SECRETARY/TREASURER BRIAN DAUM

VALLEY CREST/PALO ALTO G.C

VICE PRESIDENT TENNESSEE MCBROOM

SANDPIPER GOLF CLUB

PRESIDENT

JOSH HEPTIG

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY

As I exit as the Presi-

dent of our chapter and enter

into past presidency, I want to

thank all of you for your support

and camaraderie during the past

two years. Serving as your

President has been a true pleas-

ure. I have met so many great

people and learned many things

that have and will continue to

assist me in my professional and personal growth as a

husband, father, leader, and supervisor.

Reviewing my past President messages makes me

realize that I have often discussed the benefits of the in-

volvement with the GCSAA. This stems from my pas-

sion for our profession, the brotherhood that binds us to-

gether, and the organization that has given us all so much

throughout our careers. It is because of those that have

managed the turfs before us that we have the respect of

our customers and the other organizations involved in the

golf industry.

My career has led me down the path to a position

resembling more that of a General Manager than a turf

manager, but it is difficult for a leopard to change his

spots. I relish every moment I get to spend with my

crews on the turf at our three courses and the opportuni-

ties that abound to talk shop with our customers to pro-

vide a little insight into the methods of our madness.

More often than not it is answering the question, “Why

the heck do you guys have to punch holes in the greens

just when they are in perfect condition?” Sometimes I

cannot help but reply, “Because I like watching you miss

two footers!” I became a superintendent because of my

love for the game and those people that I have met during

my visits to golf courses across the globe that share that

same passion. The GCSAA is full of these individuals

and that is blatantly obvious each time I attend a GCSAA

event.

I would be remiss if I did not thank the Board of

Directors, Officers, Jeff Jensen (GCSAA Southwest Re-

gional Representative), Irene, and Kim for their guidance

and support throughout the past 24 months. These indi-

Page 4 TEE-OFF News

President’s Message

Josh Heptig

The GCSA of Central California is

now on Facebook and Twitter.

Check it out!

You will find all the association in-

formation on our website

CentralCaliforniaGCSA.com

President’s Message Continued from page 4

Page 5 TEE-OFF News

viduals are full of passion and are

driven to provide us, the members,

with the best learning and career op-

portunities possible. If you have an

interest or desire to get involved and

give back to your profession, I would

encourage you to reach out to any of

these individuals or myself to discuss

these opportunities. We have a great

board that is committed to serving

our members with our budget and

values in mind. With election time

upon us, we are in need of a few indi-

viduals to assist our current Board to

carry on and navigate the waters

ahead. There are a number of na-

tional decisions on the horizon that

require our attention. Just like having

kids, there is no right time to start and

now is as good as any. Serving on

your local Chapter Board is a com-

mitment that will require your time

and energy to help our fellow mem-

bers and the future of our association,

but it is worth the opportunity to “pay

it forward.”

My final thought is a remem-

brance of my grandpa as I spent

many days and evenings helping him

with his dairy and hog farm in Kan-

sas where I grew up. First, he always

said to find a profession that you en-

joy and you never have to go to work

and second, don’t become a farmer.

When I graduated with a de-

gree in golf course management I

told him, “I guess I didn’t listen to all

of your advice.” He asked, “How

so?” My reply was, “I am now a low

yield farmer, but I think I have found

something that will allow me to never

have to go to work.” He told me he

always secretly wished I would be-

come a farmer, but I had to make my

own choices and he needed me to

know that it was ok if I did not follow

his calling. He passed away 11 years

ago this past June, but he still shows

up to my office every now and again

when I need his help. I am glad to

call myself a superintendent and I am

even more glad that you do too!

Have fun out there because

this is not a practice life, it’s the only

one you get!

Around The Green By Mike Cline

Page 6 TEE-OFF News

Strange summer so far,

very hot one day and very cool the

next, and then July hit and we went

for days upon days of 100 degree

weather. Hard to get a beat on any-

thing and all we know is that we are

still in drought mode and it’s going

to get worse before it gets better.

Some of the things going

on around the chapter will get you

scratching your head in both

amazement and bewilderment.

Jason Pautsch at Hunter

Ranch Golf Course gave me a tour

of the new hybrid Bermuda stolo-

nizing taking place at the course.

The course hired a contractor to cut

in several truckloads of Santa Ana

Hybrid sod stolons into the peren-

nial rye fairways. This operation

took about 2 weeks for the 18 hole

course and requires about a year to

really begin the move to a total Ber-

muda stand on the fairway cut of

the course. This will be fun to

watch and Jason said he is available

as an educational speaker for chap-

ter meeting and weekend BBQ’s.

Stopped by Marshallia

Ranch Golf Course at Vandenberg

Air Force Base in Lompoc recently,

only to hear that Superintendent

Alan Goethe had departed in Janu-

ary for a course in Missouri. The

individual I spoke with was not

sure where Alan went only that it

was Missouri. I was also told that

the Air Force was going to contract

out the course to a management

company with a 50 year lease. No

other details were available to me at

this time.

Superintendent Albert

Nunes reported that the Men’s Pe-

nal Colony had recently finished

their facilities up-grade and reduced

water usage from over 500,000 gal-

lons per night down to around

150,000 gallons per night. That

water was primarily used at Dairy

Creek Golf Course, along with

other County properties and left the

course scrambling on how to fill the

void.

Riverbend

Golf Course is in

the news again with

a ton of things hap-

pening at this

Fresno/Madera

based course. In no

particular order;

Riverbend has

changed their name

to Dragon Fly Golf

Course, setting a

new image for the course along

with its new ownership.

Superintendent Adric Ryan, only

on board for about 6 months has

resigned to take on the reins of

Bayonet/Blackhorse Golf Course in

Monterey. Adric was the assistant

at Bayonet during the remodel a

few years back and when the head

job became open, Adric was high

on the list and will oversee both

courses. Adric will assist the

course in the transition to a new

superintendent.

Replacing Adric at Dragon Fly is

long time GCSACC member Kevin

Friesen who returns to the golf

game after several years managing

the grounds of an estate in the Mo-

desto area. Glad to have you back

Kevin.

If you haven’t seen Dragon

Fly in a while, you might want to

stop by and take a look. They’ve

come a long way and they have

plans to go a lot farther.

If you see Superintendents

Tom Elliott, Michael Scott, or Jon

Christensen, ask them about Pine-

hurst North Carolina and their tour

of Pinehurst # 2 and the remodel

that’s going on since the two U.S.

Opens. I’m sure they have lots of

tales to tell of their trip back as

guests of BASF and sales rep Fred

Eckert.

Keep your eye on the ball,

we hit the magic August 15th date

where your over the hill, at least

that’s what the old time superinten-

dents use to say. Nights are getting

longer; more cooling, daytime

highs don’t get up as early and

don’t last as long.

The flip side of that is, this

is the time we start to see scalping

for those very reasons, so stay alert.

Help, in the form of cooler weather

is not too far off, and we can say

we survived another summer.

See you around the green.

Pictured at Pinehurst #2 is from left Jon Christensen, Mike Scott,

CGCS, and Tom Elliott, CGCS

Page 7 TEE-OFF News

2014 Annual Meeting Monarch Dunes Hosted by Tom Elliott, CGCS

Tom Elliott,

CGCS has been a golf

course superintendent

for more than 26

years. He is our host

this year for the 2014

Annual Election Meet-

ing at Monarch

Dunes Golf Course.

Monarch has 18

championship holes and a 12 hole par-

3 course.

The game of golf has always

been Tom’s life and he is attempting to

rekindle the fun and enthusiasm for the

game at Monarch Dunes for future

generations to come. Tom loves see-

ing a busy, successful golf facility.

The business side of the game interests

him and he likes to pitch in with mar-

keting ideas, often on the crazy side to

say the least.

The courses were designed by

architect Damian Pascuzzo & PGA

Tour Pro Steve Pate. Both courses

were uniquely created to test your

skills and tempt your senses. Tom and

the GCSAC Tournament Committee

have set up a truly unique tournament

for all attendees so be prepared for this

when you attend the meeting.

This is annual meeting and

election for the association. We have

some fine candidates this year who are

all new to the GCSACC board.

Running this year for the

board are Glenn Matthews, CGCS,

Visalia C.C., Craig Johnson, Belmont

C.C., Jose Alvarez, Fort Washington

C.C., and Simon Herrera, Santa Bar-

bara Muni. Be sure to get your regis-

trations in for this meeting and if you

can’t attend get your Absentee Ballots

returned to the Association office so

that your vote can be counted.

The Board Members will be

making their committee reports on the

State of the Association so again,

Don’t Miss This Event!

Tom Elliott, CGCS

Page 8 TEE-OFF News

Golf Course Materials

Topdressing Sand - Bunker Sand

Decomposed Granite - Drain Rock

1/8” Minus Turf & Tee Bulk Humus

Brush Removal Call for competitive rates

David Knott, Inc. (559) 449-8935 or (559) 760-5387

From the Field Jeff Jensen, GCSAA Field Staff, Southwest Region

Where has sum-

mer gone? Labor

Day is quickly

approaching and

GCSAA staffers

are starting to pre-

pare for the 2015

Golf Industry

Show and GCSAA

Golf Champion-

ships scheduled for Feb. 21-26, 2015

in San Antonio.

I am making a pre-convention

visit to San Antonio in late September

to preview the Henry B. Gonzalez

Convention Center, the surrounding

River Walk and hopefully make a few

visits to some of the host golf courses

for the GCSAA Golf Championships.

Housing is now open for GIS and our

partner Travel Planners features 14

properties all located within an 11

minute walk of the convention center.

The Grand Hyatt San Antonio will

serve as GCSAA Headquarters for the

week and other featured chains in-

clude Hilton, Holiday Inn, Marriott,

Omni and Westin. Travel Planners

offers a low rate guarantee, no book-

ing fees and online service 24 hours a

day. Reservations can be booked at

tphousing.com.

Early registration for GIS will begin

in November and we hope to have a

large turnout from our California

members in San Antonio. More in-

formation is available at

www.gcsaa.org and

www.golfindustryshow.com.

In the world of technology,

GCSAA recently launched the

GCSAA + app for iPhone and An-

droid. GCSAA+ is the next evolu-

tionary step in the GCSAA smart-

phone app roadmap. This builds on

the current app by adding basic mem-

bership functions. Now members can

use their web login to access and up-

date their member profiles and search

the member directory from their mo-

bile phones or tablets. GCSAA + still

provides news and the same great

resources as the previous app. Links

to download the app are available at

http://www.gcsaa.org/newsroom/new

s/gcsaa/2014/gcsaa-app-launches.

Last but not least, if you have

changed jobs, relocated or updated

your email address, please remember

Jeff Jensen

Page 9 TEE-OFF News

From the Field Continued from page 8

to login into your member account at gcsaa.org to up-

date your member profile. We want to make sure that

you are receiving your member materials in a timely

manner and are able to communicate with you as

needed.

Thank you for all of your support and please contact

me at jjensen@gcsaa.org if I can be of any assistance.

You may also follow me on Twitter @GCSAA_SW

and make sure to visit the Southwest Regional web-

page at

http://www.gcsaa.org/community/regions/southwest/.

The second phase of the 2014 Rounds 4 Research fund-

raising program for turfgrass studies, run by the EIFG,

sold more than 200 rounds of golf and yielded $30,891 in

the seven-day online auction that closed Aug. 10. The

total for the June and August auctions was $145,339.

The Central California GCSA would like your assistance

in helping us become a bigger part of this worthwhile

program. It isn’t too late to start thinking about 2015.

Contact the association office if you want to become a

part of this program.

Page 10 TEE-OFF News

Highlights 2014 Tri Chapter Meeting & Tournament

The theme for the event was “Honoring a Legend”. The “Legend” Cliff

Wagoner, CGCS is pictured above center with Rafael Barajas, CGCS,

CGSACC Members and GCSAA Director. At right is Host Dave Bermudez

Del Rio Country Club hosted several retired members

of the three associations in honor of Cliff. Pictured

above is Emil Yappert, GCSACC retired member.

It was a great honor to have the opportu-

nity to see all our retired members that

came out for this meeting. Pictured from

left are Jim Bantrup, Sierra Nevada/NorCal

Member, Steve Carlton, Nor Cal Member,

Cliff Wagoner, Jose Rodriquez, Nor Cal,

Member, Corey Eastwood, Central Califor-

nia, Sierra Nevada, & Nor Cal Member,

Rod Kilcoyne, Nor Cal Member, and Emil

Yappert, Central California Member.

Page 11 TEE-OFF News

Highlights 2014 Tri Chapter Meeting & Tournament

For over 80 years the

specialty seed source for:

-Native Grasses and

Wildflowers

-Kikuyu, Paspalum,

Hybrid Bermuda

-Bentgrasses, Fine

Fescues, Ryegrasses

Golf Course Representatives:

Jim Culley 213-268-3193

Don Lewis 213-247-3266

Home Office: 800-621-0315

www.stoverseed.com

Pictured below is Host Superintendent Dave Bermudez

along with his celebrity course dog, Lance. Lance was

chosen for the “Dog Day of Golf” 2014 Calendar spon-

sored by LebononTurf. Lance is Mr. August.

Nor Cal took the Tri Chapter Cup this year posting the best

scores. Pictured from left are Jeff Arneson, Steve Byrne, Michael

Garvale, and Tyler Gillette.

Sharing in the fun on the

course was Jeff Jenson,

GCSAA Field Staff, Rafael

Barajas, CGCS, and Reggie

Pomicpic of Brown Sand.

Below the BelKorp crew

was very popular. They

hosted the beverages for the

day. Thanks to Sal Sorbello

and Tom Corralez for work-

ing hard that day.

Official Publication of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Central California. The purpose of this publication is information and education for the membership.

Published bi-monthly by

GCSACC, 5322 N. Leonard Clovis, CA 93619

Phone (559) 298-4853 Fax (559) 298-6957 Email gcsacc@aol.com

Newsletter Chairman & Newsletter Editor Tennessee McBroom

Executive Directors Irene Cline & Kimberly Milne

2014 Annual Sponsor 2014 Annual Sponsor 2014 Annual Sponsor

Thank You Sponsor for the 2014 Tri Chapter Event