When it comes to professional development, John Cunningham and Scott Abernathy see the big picture associated with devoting resources to staying abreast of the latest information available. Both know that continuing education, networking with peers and learning their tricks are tools that can help produce the best possible playing conditions on the home front."Continuous education is really important," said Abernathy, superintendent at the TPC Four Seasons in Irving, Texas, home of the PGA Tour's HP Byron Nelson Championship. "Our industry is only getting more and more technical."
Said Cunningham, superintendent at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, site of the 2013 Senior PGA Championship: "It's only going to filter down and ultimately make the golf course better."
Oh, and by the way, they are talking about professional development for equipment managers, not superintendents.
By supporting their respective technicians and their need for ongoing education, both played a key role in helping develop the International Golf Course Equipment Managers Association's first-ever regional meeting. Held May 27 at Bellerive, the meeting was held in conjunction with the Mississippi Valley GCSA chapter and was the result of eight months of planning by equipment managers Chris Rapp of Bellerive and Cunningham. It provided nearby equipment managers with an opportunity to convene for a day filled with education by industry leaders and networking opportunities in which they were able to learn from each other.
A total of 32 equipment managers attended the event that was supported by a host of industry vendors.
"The attendance and interaction at the first MVGCSA Technicians Meeting held at Bellerive Country Club obviously uncovered a need in our industry," said Ed Eschbacher of MTI Distributing, a Toro distributor with seven outlets across four Midwestern states. "Providing pertinent education, information, and exposure to new equipment technology was certainly a successful format."
It was so successful that organizers are hoping to conduct the meetings twice a year with a second slated for this fall at Sunset Country Club in St. Louis. IGCEMA founder Stephen Tucker also believes the meeting provides a blueprint for equipment managers in other parts of the country.
"It's been a long process, but we wanted to make sure we got it right the first time," Tucker said.
"The idea is to make a model that can be moved to other superintendent chapters. Our goal is to see more meetings start up over the next few years. We wanted to make sure this first one sticks so the model can be transferred to other chapters around the country."
And Bellerive proved to be a perfect location given Cunningham's long record of support for equipment managers. Cunningham was superintendent at the Four Seasons in Texas when his equipment manager there, Doug Johnson, won the 2009 TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by Toro. The event would not have been possible without Cunningham organizational skills and support as well as support from other superintendents throughout the Mississippi Valley GCSA.
"His support has been awesome," Rapp said. "He's very analytical and has great communications skills with members and people on his staff. That is the key to making this work. I've been in this business for 30 years, and I remember when you couldn't get a superintendent and a technician in the same room together. That's changed, and it's because of people like John."
Mobilizing equipment managers in the past has been a labor of love for Tucker, who started IGCEMA in 2006. And combining the meeting with a superintendents chapter event makes the most sense logistically, at least for now.
"There are just a few key people that keep (IGCEMA chapters) running, and when that guy loses interest or changes jobs, often the chapter falls apart," Tucker said. "We've seen that in Florida. Some years it does well, some years it struggles, some years it just falls apart."
That wasn't a concern at this inaugural meeting as nearly three-dozen equipment managers gathered at Bellerive to pick each other's ideas and listen to seminars on Tier 4 regulations.
Rapp said the session was especially helpful because Boyd Montgomery of Toro tailored the presentation to technicians, not superintendents.
"I've heard a lot of Tier 4 talks over the past year," said Rapp, also an IGCEMA board member. "But this was the first one that was directed to me as a technician."