With the exception of two years during the height of the Covid pandemic, the GCSAA Conference and Show has been relatively consistent for the past eight years in its appeal to golf course superintendents.
Attendance at this year's show, which was the last in San Diego for several years, was, according to the GCSAA, "more than 11,000," a number that has been the norm since the 2018 show in San Antonio. The only outlier in that time was 2022 in San Diego, when a Covid-plagued show drew 6,500 attendees. The 2021 show was held virtually due to the pandemic.
Last year's Phoenix show attracted "nearly 11,000" and the 2023 show in Orlando drew "about 11,000."
For the first time since 2009, the show will return to New Orleans in 2027, and it will not be coming back to San Diego until 2029.
More than 6,700 educational seminar seats were filled this year, the most since the 2008 mega show in Orlando that also set records for attendance and number of vendors renting exhibit space.
On the trade show floor, 464 vendors rented 154,100 square feet of exhibit space in what seemed (and felt) like a long and narrow San Diego Convention Center. That is down slightly from 470 exhibitors last year in Phoenix and up from 450 two years ago in Orlando.
Awards bestowed during the week were:
- Col. John Morley Award — Pat Finlen, CGCS, executive vice president, Denehy Club Thinking Partners.
- President’s Award for Environmental Stewardship — Matt Gourlay, CGCS, MG, AGS, superintendent, Hillcrest Country Club, Boise, Idaho.
- Outstanding Contribution Award — Wendy Gelernter, Ph.D., and Larry Stowell, Ph.D., founders of PACE Turf.
- Old Tom Morris Award — Ozzie Smith, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals.
- Emerging Leader Award — Chad Allen, superintendent, The Club at Chatham Hills, Westfield, Indiana.
- Edwin Budding Award — Skip Heinz, CTEM, equipment and facilities manager, Royal Poinciana Golf Club, Naples, Florida.
Next year's show is scheduled for Jan. 30-Feb. 5 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. The 2027 show will return to New Orleans for the first time since 2009. Citing the cost of hotel accommodations and other costs of exhibiting on the West Coast, the show will not return to San Diego until 2029. Because the show has contracted in size during the past two decades, destinations such as Austin, Phoenix and Las Vegas, according to GCSAA, are under consideration for future dates.
