For the first time in nearly two decades, major changers are underway at the USGA Green Section.
Among the changes is a realignment that reduces the current eight regions to four.
The current Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regions will combine to form the new Northeast Region. Dave Oatis will serve as the Regional Director. Elliott Dowling, Adam Moeller, and Jim Skorulski are the agronomists available to the golf courses in the Northeast Region. Another agronomist position, to be based in the Glen Mills, Pennsylvania office, will be added.
The new Southeast Region will be a combination of the states within the current Southeast and Florida Regions and the addition of Louisiana and Arkansas. John Foy will handle the Regional Director duties with the support of agronomists Todd Lowe and Patrick O'Brien.
The current North-Central and Mid-Continent Regions will combine to form the new Central Region. Regional Director Keith Happ will be joined by John Daniels and Bob Vavrek as agronomists providing expertise to golf courses in the Central Region.
The current Southwest and Northwest Regions will combine to form the new West Region. Pat Gross will serve as the Regional Director. Larry Gilhuly, Ty McClellan, and Brian Whitlark are agronomists in the West Region. Early in his USGA career, Ty worked as an agronomist in the Mid-Continent Region and in recent years focused his efforts in the Green Section's Education Program. Ty will relocate to the Southern California regional office, joining Pat Gross.
In other changes, Darin Bevard has been promoted to Director, Championship Agronomy. He will be the lead agronomist for the U.S. Open, U.S. Women's Open, U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women's Amateur. In addition to his work for these specific championships, he will oversee the Green Section agronomy staff as it continues its involvement with the agronomic preparations of the other USGA championships. Bevard has a wide breadth of expertise in his new role as he has been a staff agronomist in the Mid-Atlantic Region since 1996 and director of the region since 2012.
The second departmental change is the promotion of Chris Hartwiger to Director, Course Consulting Service. Chris' duties will involve overseeing the planning, direction and execution of the USGA Course Consulting Service. He will work directly with Green Section agronomists on the development and dissemination of science-based and practical sustainable management practices solutions to help golf facilities. Hartwiger has been an agronomist in the Southeast Region since 1995. He will continue to conduct some CCS visits in the Southeast while guiding the business plan for the overall program.