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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    After being held in a virtual format last year, the Texas A&M Turfgrass Short Course returns this year as an in-person event.
    Scheduled for Feb. 28-March 3 at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas, the four-day event is built specifically for turfgrass professionals who want to grow their knowledge of turfgrass systems and how to manage them.
    The course moves in progression from site preparation and turf selection to establishment and management. 
    The curriculum is approved for 5 GCSAA credits, and topics to be presented by industry experts: Principles of Soil Science; Soil and Water Testing; Introductory Turfgrass Physiology; Turfgrass Identification and Selection; Turfgrass Planting and Establishment; Turfgrass Nutrient Management; Fertilizer Calculations and Calibrations; Water Quality Management; Turfgrass Cultivation Practices; Integrated Pest Management; Weed Management for Turf and Herbicide Resistance; Insect Identification and Management; Disease Identification and Management; Field Scouting and Diagnostic Sampling; Sprayer Calculations and Calibrations for Fertilizer and Pesticide Applications.
    The event also will include tours of local turfgrass facilities, including PGA Frisco and FC Dallas.
    Cost for the program is $600 per person. Breakfast, lunch and snacks are included.
  • Assembly Bill 672, which took aim at public golf courses in California, is dead - for now. Proposed legislation that would pave the way to convert publicly owned golf courses in California to low-income housing units died in committee Thursday, Jan. 20, just a few days after passing its first test in the state assembly.
    Known as the Public Golf Endangerment Act, Assembly Bill 672 passed through two California Assembly hearings on Jan. 12, but failed Jan. 20 to get the necessary support in the Appropriations Committee.
    Authored by Cristina Garcia, the bill was amended twice in the first two weeks of January before being presented to the Committee on Housing and Community Development, which voted 6-2 in favor of the measure, and the Committee on Local Government, where it passed with a 5-2 vote and one abstention. 
    The bill proposes providing public relief in the way of developer subsidies to redevelop California's municipal golf courses into low-incoming housing and green space. According to the Southern California Golf Association, municipal golf courses comprise 22 percent of the state's supply and host 45 percent of all play throughout California. 
    Click here to read the full text of the proposed bill.
    According to the Southern California Golf Association, AB 672, as a two-year bill, had to pass its House of Assembly before the end of January, which is not possible after being held up in the Appropriations Committee. Garcia can choose to refile the proposal. The deadline for filing 2022 bills in the California Assembly is Feb. 18.
    The news met with some stiff opposition from within the golf industry in California and others in California, as many took to social media to voice their disagreement with the proposed legislation.
  • The line of people who have spoken more often than Bruce Williams on the subject of career development for golf course superintendents is a pretty short one. He has helped superintendents prepare for job interviews and he has assisted clubs in the search to fill vacancies. So, you listen when Williams, a second-generation superintendent with nearly 50 years of industry experience, says every challenge facing greenkeepers today is a veiled opportunity.
    "I would have in capital letters on my resume PROBLEM SOLVER," said Williams, pictured at right. "When people are hiring you, they want to know how you can solve their problems. They want to know how you can make their golf course better. They want to know how you can do better with less. Problem solvers get the jobs."
    Make no mistake, Williams, who works today as a consultant, headhunter and international business manager for Brandt, knows full well the challenges facing superintendents today are many: wage and labor issues, increasing demands from golfers on course conditioning with a shrinking pool of resources, job security, rising costs of goods and resources just to name a few.
    "The greatest skill of successful superintendents is they are problem-solvers," said Williams. "When I say that, I mean they find a way to make things work. They find a way to get things done. And this is no different with the pandemic. Because of my tenure in the business and my family's heritage in the business, I would say this: This business has been through World War II, this business has been through recessions and economic downturns and other things that have created the need to think outside of the box. The people who are successful do not throw their arms up in the air and say 'What am I going to do? How am I going to survive this?' They find a way to get it done."
    Although the Covid era has revealed cracks in the labor market across several industries, including golf, the struggle to find enough help is not necessarily anything new, and finding enough help has been a challenge for a long time. Williams recalls a similar situation in the 1970s when he worked for Frank Dobie at Sharon Golf Club in Ohio.
    The club pieced together a crew, the club employed people from other vocations looking for additional part-time hours, such as farmers and school bus drivers.

    Bruce Williams says the golf industry could benefit from a training program that helps hourly employees move up through the golf organization. File photo by John Reitman "Our best employees were farmers. We knew we could not get them during harvest or planting, and we knew they were not available during deer hunting season," Williams said. "We also had a lot of women on the crew, and some were school bus drivers. None of these people were interested in 40 hours, but they all wanted 20.
    "When I grew up working on a golf course, you were up at 4:30 in the morning, worked until 2:30 in the afternoon, and your boss didn't have any problem with you working overtime, and you worked seven days a week. And if you didn't want that job, there was someone else who did. If you were late to work, it meant you were fired. While I am not a fan of people being late, you don't have the luxury of firing people for that today.
    "With something specific like Covid, people are having a hard time finding people to work on their golf courses, so it's time to get creative." 
    For example, not all jobs have to be done - or even started - before the first group goes off in the morning. Staggered start times by staff that include completing some jobs later in the day, can help expand the talent pool and reduce the number of manhours associated with some tasks.
    The other side of the labor shortage is that interns, recent turf school graduates and aspiring assistants can be choosy when deciding which positions to accept, and that is not a bad thing.
    "Students can make $15 or $20 an hour, and they can get housing. And now, people have five or six offers to pick from," he said. "One man's challenge presents opportunities for others."
    Williams believes among the factors influencing the labor issues in the turf business is the lack of upward mobility for hourly employees. 
    "We lack, in the golf industry, a qualified training program. We lack a system to move people up through the ranks," he said. "If you show up for work and they tell you 'Eddie is going to teach you how to rake bunkers,' that is like sending your kid to school and having them taught by another kid. That is a superintendent's job. Then if they put you on a weed eater for 10 years, and there is nothing else for you, the word gets out on you. We have to develop plans and programs to move people up through the system. We haven't had that. We need to look at entry level employees as mid-level, so they can advance their skills and compensation. People want more out of a job today than they did 30 years ago."
  • The ever-changing Union League of Philadelphia will host its first career-development program for superintendents, assistants and mechanics Jan. 18-19. Photo by Scott Bordner via Twitter Since its inception during the early days of the Civil War, The Union League of Philadelphia has been all about improving the lives of others.
    More than 150 years later, Union League director of agronomy Scott Bordner is upholding that tradition by implementing a career-development program that will help provide turf-specific education to dozens of superintendents, assistants and mechanics in what is called Union League University.
    "We're just doing it to add something extra for their education," Bordner said. "We have 40 Union League employees that will be here for the event. We can't pay to send them somewhere else. We can't put them on a plane and put them in a hotel, so we're going to bring the conference to us."
    The event is scheduled for Jan. 18-19 at The Lodge at Union League Liberty Hill in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania. The Union League, a downtown Philadelphia social club founded in 1862 on the principles of Abraham Lincoln, bought the former Ace Club complete with a hotel last year. 
    "Once we had a hotel available and conference space, I decided we have to utilize this," Bordner said. "That's when we decided to have something educational for assistants and mechanics, because that is where our industry is lacking most."
    Topics to be addressed will include sprayer calibration and nozzle selection, effects of abiotic stress, roundtable discussion on irrigation system issues, staying current in a changing industry, financial management, interviewing tips, mower reel set-up and lessons learned in 2021. Vendors who are helping sponsor the program that runs attendees $150 for two days of education, plus room and board in the Liberty Hill hotel including Genesis Turfgrass, Turf Equipment and Supply Co., Pocono Turf, Turf Disease Solutions, Noble Turf and Finch Turf.
    The Union League has undergone a great deal of growth since it got into the golf business in 2014 with the purchase of what is now Union League Golf Club Torresdale and since Bordner arrived there in 2019 after a successful run at Chicago Golf Club. Founded in 1862 as a patriotic society that upholds the principles of Lincoln and the Union, the club has hosted U.S. presidents, foreign heads of state, business leaders and entertainers from around the world.
    The club now owns three golf facilities, including Liberty Hill and Union League National Golf Club, the former 27-hole Sand Barrens Golf Club in Swainton, New Jersey that is set to reopen this year after a Fry-Straka renovation. Bordner oversees conditions at all three properties as director of agronomy.
    Union League superintendents Pat Haughey (Union League National), Andrew Dooley (Union League Torresdale) and John Canavan, the longtime superintendent at Liberty Hill, will help with the upcoming ULU program as will equipment manager Mike Elliott, who Bordner hired from Pine Valley to oversee equipment maintenance at all three courses. 
    Bordner, who plans to continue ULU in the future, said he carefully handpicked invitees to avoid having a room filled with people who already know each other. He will do the same for future events, and with good reason.
    "I'm trying to bring in people who don't know each other," he said. "When they know each other, they get into their own cliques and they don't get out of them. I want to force the networking end of it, too."
    Bordner also has worked with consultant Tyler Bloom to establish an apprenticeship program throughout the Union League operation. 
    Bordner, Haughey and Dooley worked together at Merion under Matt Shaffer, and Bloom interned there early in his career.
    "He has helped us with hiring people and setting up a training program," Bordner said. "He is helping us give young people a career in turf or mechanics."
    When Bloom had a chance to help Bordner develop his team at the Union League he jumped at the opportunity.
    "The first time I walked into the Union League, I said to myself 'I don't belong here,' but if I ever had a chance to be associated with it, I would do anything," Bloom said. "Now, to be associated with Scott, those guys are as close to being my turf brothers as you could find.
    "What they do as a company is aligned with everything I am doing. They are all about professional development. They are doing everything I try to emulate in my business, and that is important to me. To go there and talk to young people and launch them into their careers, that's not work, that's fun. And it's fun to work with people who share that philosophy and want to share that information."
  • In the wake of a successful year culminating with a strong education conference and trade show, the Carolinas GCSA is donating more than $150,000 to research projects at Clemson and North Carolina State universities.
    The 1,800-member chapter awarded $165,000 grants to three projects using money raised in the Rounds 4 Research annual online auction of golf rounds.
     
    To date, the Carolinas GCSA has donated more than $565,000 to research projects at both universities.
     
    The first of two projects being funded at Clemson focuses on the rising incidence of off-types in ultradwarf putting greens. Different turf types within putting produce different responses to ball traffic, and respond differently to maintenance practices. Researchers at Clemson hope to discover ways to help superintendents better manage these mutations without negatively affecting the predominant turf type.
     
    The second project at Clemson delves into a potential relationship between mini-ring and nematodes. The research could lead to more effective and economical management strategies for both problems for superintendents.
     
    At North Carolina State, researchers are embarking on a three-year study to understand the effectiveness of inputs. Researchers want to learn how soil properties that affect organisms as well as previous applications influence pesticide efficacy. Research in cropping systems has shown that repeated use of certain products can lead to pesticide resistance. This project will be one of the first to explore that phenomenon in a golf setting.
     
    This year's Rounds 4 Research auction, which includes thousands of rounds up for bid at various golf facilities nationwide, runs April 25-May 1.
  • The good news continues to pour in at Inverness Club.
    Four months removed from staging a successful Solheim Cup in the midst of a global health crisis, the 1919 Donald Ross design in Toledo, Ohio, will be the host site of the 2027 U.S. Women’s Open, the USGA announced. The news comes on the heels of the news that the purse for the Women’s Open will increase from $5 million in 2021 to $10 million this year and eventually to $12 million.
    The increase in prize money is thanks to the addition of ProMedica, a Toledo-based healthcare system, as the tournament’s presenting sponsor beginning this year at Pine Needles in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
    It has been a whirlwind of activity at Inverness since superintendent John Zimmers arrived there in 2017. Since then, the course has undergone a restoration by architect Andrew Green that was completed in 2018, and was the site of the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2019 and the LPGA Drive On Championship in 2020 before hosting the Solheim Cup last year.
    Other future sites of the Women’s Open are Pebble Beach (2023); Lancaster Country Club, Lancaster, Pennsylvania (2024); Erin Hills, Erin, Wisconsin (2025); and Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California (2026).
  • In response to rising Covid cases fueled by the Omicron variant, California has extended its mask mandate one month until Feb. 15.
    Scheduled for Feb. 5-10, this year's GCSAA Conference and Trade Show falls within that window. 
    The state requires masks for everyone regardless of vaccination status in all indoor spaces, such as bars, restaurants, retail outlets and convention centers. That applies to large indoor events of more than 500 people, such as the GCSAA show, scheduled for the San Diego Convention Center. 
    All attendees, exhibitors, speakers and instructors also will be required to present either proof of full vaccination or a negative PCR test 48 hours before an event or a negative antigen test 24 hours prior to an event.
  • The Topgolf facility in El Segundo, California, will be the first to open with an adjoining golf course when it opens in April. Photos courtesy of Patrick Gertner After contracted growth in the game for much of the past two decades, it now is generally accepted that it will take some innovative thinking if the positive momentum golf has enjoyed since the onset of the pandemic is going to continue into the future.
    That includes taking steps to grow the game at the grassroots level and competing head-to-head with other leisure and entertainment activities.
    The City of El Segundo, California and Topgolf are teaming up to accomplish just that by building a beginner-friendly golf course and entertainment complex next to each other in Los Angeles County.
    The renovated municipal Lakes Course at El Segundo and the adjacent Topgolf facility are scheduled to  open in April about a mile south of Los Angeles International Airport. The 10-hole course will stretch just 950 yards, with the longest hole coming in at about 150 yards. Multiple teeing areas ensure the facility will accommodate players of all skill levels, said new Lakes Course superintendent Patrick Gertner.
    "Every level of golfer and non-golfer can have fun here," Gertner said. "You can tee the ball at almost 50 yards out on every hole and almost nudge it up there with a putter."
    Gertner is a longtime industry veteran, who cut his teeth at clubs on the East Coast before following his kids to the West Coast five years ago in the latter half of his career.
    "I was an East Coast guy," he said. "Then, all my kids moved west, so I followed them."
    A 1984 graduate of Penn State's two-year turf program, Gertner prepped at Pine Valley before spending the next 28 years at clubs in New York and Rhode Island. If Penn State professor Joe Duich, Ph.D., had told him he would spend the end of his career managing a 25-acre short course tied to a golf entertainment complex, well, the response would have been predictable.
    "I never would have believed it. No way," Gertner said. "I thought I would take over a private club in my 20s or 30s and stay until retirement, but it never works out that way. My career has taken many turns. You have to be flexible, because you never know what's coming next."
    The new Lakes Course and the Topgolf facility will have more in common than proximity. 

    The Lakes at El Segundo will feature Pure Distinction creeping bentgrass greens when it opens in April. "We're a mile from the airport, and there is a surfer atmosphere in El Segundo," Gertner said. "Music will be piped through all the time. There will be parking for 480 cars. I expect it will be a popular place to bring friends, girlfriends, wife and kids, eat chicken wings and have fun.
    "We don't expect a stream of low handicappers in line at the first tee, but hopefully the people we do attract turn into regular golfers in due time."
    According to the City of El Segundo website, The Lakes opened in 1994. The new course will have holes ranging from 60 to 150 yards. New, regulation-size greens were seeded in August with Pure Distinction creeping bentgrass and will be maintained at about a tenth of an inch. Tees and fairways will be maintained at about a half-inch and only 11 bunkers dot the layout. Both sides of the facility are scheduled to open in April.
    "We were a little behind. We should have seeded a week earlier," Gertner said. "We could open now. It's ready.
    "This is a fun job, and this should be a lot of fun when we open."
    For the past two years, golf courses everywhere have been busy. Really busy. But for most of the previous two decades, the game's popularity has been on a steep decline. The hope is that a short golf course that is fun and fast to play coupled with a state-of-the-art golf entertainment complex will complement each other and bring more people into the game. Golfers on the last hole will see their shot on the Toptracer shot-tracking system, just like the pros on tour. And guests at Topgolf will be able to watch players come in on the 10th hole courtesy of a camera on the tee.
    "It's going to be fun, and it's different," Gertner said. "We just want people to come and have fun. It's going to be a different experience than an 18-hole municipal golf course. This will be music, short holes, you'll have a putter in your hand much of the time. It will be dramatic."
    The project has not been without its challenges. The labor crunch has made it difficult to find help, supply chain issues have made finding equipment and parts a problem, and proximity to the airport has been a cause for extreme oversight. The site has many utilities run through it. There is a fuel line to LAX and there is an adjacent recycled water plant. 
    "We are the first customer off their pipeline," Gertner said. "There are a lot of easements running through the property. When we were digging, if we had hit that fuel line that goes to LAX, the whole world would have heard about this project by now."
  • The GCSAA Conference and Trade Show is scheduled for Feb. 5-10 at the San Diego Convention Center. Photo courtesy of San Diego Convention Center The GCSAA Conference and Trade Show is not the only mega-event in Southern California in the next few weeks. While the GCSAA show is scheduled for Feb. 5-10 in San Diego, the NFL is tentatively scheduled to bring its circus to Southern California on Feb. 13 when the Super Bowl comes to Los Angeles, or more exactly Inglewood.
    You might ask how something as grandiose as the Super Bowl can be "tentatively" scheduled when it is only five weeks out. The answer is because the NFL makes a habit of having a Plan B (or C, D and E) for the Super Bowl in place every year. It's just that the NFL's preparedness plan never has been of public interest - until now.
    According to the league office, the NFL is in talks with several teams about stadium availability should spiking Covid numbers and constricting protocols in Los Angeles County threaten the event. 
    The NFL deserves credit for doing what is necessary to ensure the world's largest sporting event goes off without a hitch, or at least with as few hitches as possible.
    "We plan on playing Super Bowl LVI as scheduled at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 13," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement released by the league. "As part of our standard contingency planning process that we conduct for all regular and postseason games, we have contacted several clubs to inquire about stadium availability in the event we cannot play the Super Bowl as scheduled due to weather-related issues or unforeseen circumstances. Our planning process for the Super Bowl in Los Angeles is ahead of schedule and we look forward to hosting the Super Bowl there to culminate another fantastic NFL season for our fans and clubs."
    There has been a spike in Covid cases across California, including Los Angeles County, due mostly to the Omicron variant. Other noteworthy events in the L.A. area, including the Grammy Awards, scheduled for Jan. 16, and the Critics Choice Awards (Jan. 9) already have been postponed.
    Among the alternate sites being discussed is AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The stadium last hosted a Super Bowl in 2011, but was the site of the 2021 Rose Bowl that was moved from its traditional home in Pasadena due to Covid restrictions in Los Angeles County.
    Current Covid restrictions in California require attendees to show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for entry into any indoor event of 1,000 people or more. Masks are required of everyone at such events regardless of vaccination status. Those restrictions were extended this week through Feb. 15 at which time they can be relaxed or extended.
    The GCSAA already has said there is no contingency to bring its show to an alternative site, meaning the show will go on as scheduled in-person in San Diego, or it will be shelved in place of a virtual event that already is scheduled for later in February. The association deserves credit for having a back-up plan should the show be canceled due to Covid as well as serving the needs of those who are unable or unwilling to meet in person. But if the NFL can bring its three-ring circus to an alternate location at the 11th hour, a decision that would include re-ticketing for more than 70,000 attendees, the GCSAA should be able to do something similar.
    According to the association, the show is too large for a Plan B and any alternative site that is large enough for its event already is booked. The fact is, however, the show is a shadow of the record-setting 2008 Golf Industry Show that attracted more than 25,000 attendees to Orlando. Although the show has been evolving since 2008 when the owners and club managers were part of the mix, the overall trend has been a downward turn that includes fewer attendees, vendors and floor space. 
    Attendance in Orlando in 2020 - just as Covid was entering the vernacular - was less than 12,000, and rented booth space has declined by about one-third since 2008. 
    There are many cities and venues we all would have scoffed at years ago that today probably would make suitable stand-ins for the GCSAA show, and maintaining communications with several of them on an annual basis likely could help alleviate some of the uncertainty surrounding this year's show and might lead to newfound locations for a regular or rotational host.
    If the NFL is ready to move the Super Bowl at a moment's notice, doing the same with a trade show, while difficult, cannot be impossible.
  • The Golf Preservations team loads a trailer with donated goods to be delivered to tornado survivors in western Kentucky. Photos courtesy of Samson Bailey The worst of times can bring out the best in people.
    That has never been more evident than in the days following a series of tornadoes that ripped through western Kentucky on Dec. 10, destroying hopes, lives and entire communities on a 200-plus-mile path of destruction that is blamed for more than 70 deaths and billions in damage. 
    Within days of the tornado touching down, Samson Bailey, owner of Golf Preservations, and his wife, DeAnna, got busy at their company's eastern Kentucky headquarters in Middlesboro, collecting donations for folks in places like Mayfield and Bowling Green more than 350 miles away. They parked a company trailer at Middlesboro High School, where DeAnna teaches children with special needs. Pretty soon, that trailer was filled to the doors with everything from bottled water, soap, cleaning products and diapers to canned goods and clothing.
    "It was more than 10,000 pounds," Bailey said. "We weighed it on the (weigh station) scales on the way over, and we were almost over the limit."
    Eastern Kentucky is hardly an affluent place, but wealth in these parts often is measured more by how much one gives rather than how much one has. Many of the donations Bailey hauled six hours across the state literally came off the backs of their donors. Others gave what little cash they could afford. In all, Golf Preservations collected more than $1,000 in cash donations.

    Don Carrol (center) helps unload the trailer after arriving in western Kentucky. "People were donating clothes out of their closets. For some people, that is easier than giving money," Bailey said. "We had people come up on bicycles and give us $5 then go on about their day. It was probably the only $5 they had in their pockets. One girl had a spare tire on her car, and she brought supplies five times in two days. That gives you an idea of how much people here wanted to help."
    In the months preceding the tornadoes in western Kentucky, Bailey had spent several months in the Northeast working on more than a half-dozen golf course drainage projects before returning home on Dec. 10. He awoke the following morning to several text messages from friends and clients from out of state asking if he was OK. "I had just come home, and didn't even know what they were talking about until I looked it up on my phone," Bailey said. 
    When he saw the devastation, he knew his family had to help. DeAnna put a notice on Facebook on Dec. 11 telling people their trailer was at the high school, and the donations soon started coming in.
    "We knew with it being so close to Christmas that nothing was going to happen quickly for these people," he said.
    Bailey assigned two employees to help manage the collection process, and DeAnna's grandfather, Don Carrol, also volunteered, helping pack the trailer and unload it again after the six-hour drive across the state.
    After making the drive, Bailey found some areas inaccessible and other areas where volunteers were overwhelmed. School gymnasiums and churches had been set up with folding tables flush with donated items.
    "It was like a department store," Bailey said. "Everything was on tables and people just went up and down the aisles taking whatever they needed."

    The haul from donations in Middlesboro weighed in at about 10,000 pounds. Bailey and his team made three stops, finally settling on a church in Sharpe, Kentucky, to unload their haul.
    There two volunteers put out a call for help, and soon there were another 10 people to unload the trailer. Other Good Samaritans dropping off donations stepped in to help unload, too.
    "It was packed tight," Bailey said. "We had no room to spare. When the doors opened stuff started falling out. We brought more in that delivery than that church had received in several days. There were people helping unload from age 4 to age 85. It was neat that so many people were willing to help."
    Much of Golf Preservations' heavy equipment is still out on job sites where it is being used on drainage projects. Bailey said he plans to return to western Kentucky for some heavy lifting when that equipment returns home over the winter. 
    The true heroes, he said, are folks like those in Middlesboro who had little or nothing to give, but still managed to help others in their time of need.
    "There are still a lot of good people out there," he said. "A lot of people wanted to give, but didn't know how to get it out there."
  • As Covid cases climb thanks to a new variant of the virus, one golf course superintendents association has postponed its show until spring while another has pulled the plug entirely and will transition to a virtual conference.
    Originally scheduled for January, the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association's BTME show has been postponed until March 20-24. BTME 2022 will be March 22-24, with Continue to Learn taking place from March 20-23.
    Attendees who have signed up for the show automatically will be registered for the new dates. Continue to Learn bookings will also be carried over and BIGGA will be in contact with everyone who has booked a place on the education program to discuss arrangements further.
    While BIGGA hopes its show makes a comeback in the spring, the Canadian Golf Course Management Conference will pivot to a virtual event due to concerns around Covid.
    The virtual event will be held Feb. 22-24, and will include a trade show where attendees will be able to browse the "booths" and chat with exhibitors in real time. 
    More details with an updated schedule and registration information will be available soon.
    All hotel reservations made as part of the room block at The Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel will be canceled without penalty by the hotel in the coming days and the hotel will send out email notifications. Refunds also are being processed for all exhibitors.
  • Even an ongoing global health crisis in the middle of December cannot dampen thoughts of the upcoming holidays. But anyone who believes it feels more like Groundhog Day than Christmas, well, they're not alone.
    In the 1993 film of the same name, TV weatherman Phil Connors (played by Bill Murray) is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover Groundhog Day (right), and relives the day repeatedly after becoming entangled in a time loop. After nearly two years of a seemingly endless pandemic, new virus variants, varying protocols, a virtual Golf Industry Show in 2021 and the news of vaccine cards and now a mandatory masking policy in California that could extend into the upcoming GCSAA Conference and Trade Show, it feels like 2020 is coming around again on New Year's Day.
    With Covid outbreaks on the rise across the state and concerns surrounding the new Omicron variant, the California Department of Public Health announced a statewide indoor mask mandate that went into effect Dec. 15 and will run at least through Jan. 15. It could be discontinued at that time, or extended if cases continue to climb. Several counties across the state, such as Los Angeles and many in the San Francisco Bay area, already had mask mandates in place. San Diego did not. 
    Statewide protocols already require proof of vaccination for large indoor events of more than 1,000 people, or a negative Covid test and masking for the unvaccinated. That includes the upcoming GCSAA conference, set for Feb. 5-10 at the San Diego Convention Center. If the indoor mask mandate that went into effect Dec. 15 is continued beyond the January expiration date, conference attendees also will be required to wear masks at the conference, regardless of vaccination status.

    A statewide indoor mask mandate in California went into effect Dec. 15, including at the convention center (background), site of the 2022 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show. Photo courtesy of San Diego Convention Center In light of California's new protocols, the GCSAA's plans still include an in-person show, which already include proof of a vaccination or negative test, said GCSAA media relations manager Mike Strauss. It also will mean masks indoors if the latest order remains in place, according to convention center staff.
    "On an ongoing basis, our San Diego Convention Center team monitors public health guidance, provides updates to meeting planners and communicates requirements via our website," said Maran Dougherty, executive director of marketing and communications for the San Diego Convention Center Corp. "Meeting planners then communicate applicable protocols to exhibitors, attendees and contractors for their licensed areas of the building. Our Convention Center team monitors compliance among our employees and business partners, and we work collaboratively with meeting planners to help identify ways of implementing protocols for their events."
    The news brought mixed reviews from many superintendents.
    Brian Boyer, superintendent at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club in San Jose, California, plans to attend, but is concerned about the recent spike in Covid cases in Southern California.
    "I'm not opposed to wearing masks, it's a safety concern," Boyer said. "We're seeing an uptick, mostly in Southern California, so I'm a little nervous."
    Fred Gehrisch, superintendent at Highland Falls Country Club in Highlands, North Carolina, checked off several reasons for electing to stay home rather than attend the 2022 show, including Covid concerns and a growing homeless situation across downtown San Diego.
    He noted the success of the recent Carolinas GCSA Conference and Trade Show in Myrtle Beach and how despite the overall absence of masks there appears to be no outbreaks linked to the event.
    "The minute (HFCC assistant superintendent) Josh (Cantrell) told me I would be required to show vaccine cards everywhere I go is when I decided I wasn't going," Gehrisch said. 
    "I'm not anti-vax, and my decision has nothing to do with the GCSAA other than location. If it stays like this I might never go back (to San Diego). If the show was in Orlando? I'd be on my way."
    Paul Hallock, superintendent at SaddleBrooke in Tucson, Arizona, plans to attend the conference in San Diego, but understands those who decide not to.
    "I have not booked a hotel or flight, but I plan on going," Hallock said. "I don't see anything negative about being asked for a vaccination card or wearing a mask, but I get it that some people are against that."
  • Water coolers are gone for good at Heritage Oaks Golf Course in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Covid might have been an impetus to remove some accessories from golf courses, but economics and other factors provided an excuse to keep some off forever, or at least for the foreseeable future.
    Nearly two decades later, the tragic story of Nils Beeman has not been forgotten. Beeman was the 15-year-old Phoenix high school golfer whose death in 2003 was linked to contaminated water in a golf course water cooler.
    Back then, Charlie Fultz was a golf course superintendent in Virginia more than 2,000 miles away, but he still remembers when that tragedy rocked the golf world. So, it is understandable that Fultz was pretty happy when water coolers disappeared from municipal Heritage Oaks Golf Course in Harrisonburg, Virginia in 2020 as many superintendents were told to limit golfer touch points in response to the pandemic. 
    He was even happier when water coolers did not make the cut as some of those accessories started to come back into play.
    "When we reopened, a hotbed discussion was water coolers," said Fultz, director of golf course operations at Heritage Oaks. "That (Beeman) story always scared me. I can't believe that has not happened more. As acting general manager and superintendent, the city came to me and said 'tell us what you want and what you don't. 
    "We sell bottled water in the pro shop. That eliminates cross contamination, so water coolers went away."
    Golf cars at Heritage Oaks have ball washers already attached arrived at Heritage Oaks, the washers that once were on every hole also never came back.

    Ball washers are a thing of the past at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club in San Jose, California. Although bunker rakes were reintroduced for golfer use, it was not in pre-covid numbers.
    "We must have had five in each bunker. It was absurd," Fultz said. "We put one in each bunker. It's not like golfers use them anyway. Our rakes even say on the handle to put them back in the bunker. They never do it, and we all laugh at it."
    Paul Hallock also removed ball washers from the SaddleBrooke Golf Course in Tucson, Arizona. The next new armada of golf cars will have ball washers attached, so washers on the course are a thing of the past. Their long-term demise is due more to economics than a virus.
    "They were trash anway," Hallock said. "We're not going to spend $16,000 to replace them. They are staying off, and there is no plan to bring them back. We didn't make that decision because of Covid, but Covid put us over the edge."
    Brian Boyer, superintendent at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club in San Jose, California also put the ball washers away permanently. He also has adopted a new view toward bunker rakes.
    "We removed the ball washers for good," Boyer said. "What's the point? They are gone permanently.
    "Bunker rakes are back, and that has been a plus for us. If I have a rake out there, I don't feel guilty about us not (raking bunkers). They had the option, and there's about a 50-50 chance of them raking."
    Although ball ejectors and pool noodles are pretty much gone from many golf courses, several superintendents reported that golfers still are putting with the flags in.
    "More than 50 percent of our golfers leave them in," Boyer said. "I was surprised to see that."
  • The new GSV Series plastic and brass valves from Rain Bird include numerous advanced features designed to enhance durability and provide an additional option for golf course superintendents in lightning-prone regions, those who use reclaimed water and those who need water pressure regulation.
     
    The GSV Series valves can withstand up to 25kV of surge. A pre-installed PRS-DIAL regulates and maintains constant outlet pressure between 15 and 100 psi while reducing the effects of water hammer. A waterproof dial cartridge eliminates fogging and binding.
     
    Three plastic models with NPT or BSP thread options and one red brass model with BSP threads only are available. All GSV models feature a chlorine-resistant diaphragm that protects the valves against harsh chemicals and reclaimed water.
     
    "Valves are the heart of any irrigation system," said Altan Tolan, product manager for Rain Bird Golf. "On a golf course, a valve failure can have significant repercussions and require additional money and labor to repair. That's why we built our new GSV Series Valves with a collection of upgrades that ensure optimum reliability, performance and peace of mind."
     
    The Scrubber mechanism on plastic models encapsulates a stainless steel screen to dislodge grit and plant material protecting the valve from debris. Built-in filtration on the GBS25 solenoid and the adapter offer two additional levels of debris protection. An extra purple flow-control handle (handle cover for brass model) is included for use with non-potable water.
  • At The Alotian Club in Roland, Arkansas, Justin Sims is having difficulty securing rental equipment for course-improvement projects. Photo by The Alotian Club A shortage of parts and equipment as a result of supply chain disruptions, a volatile fertilizer market that is blowing up budgets, record play, labor challenges and no slowing down of golfer demands have combined to create a perfect storm for the golf industry and have left many superintendents scrambling for answers 
    "There is real volatility in the market." said Chris Reverie, superintendent at Allentown Municipal Golf Course in Pennsylvania. "I'm seeing shortages in 30-gallon drums, totes and even plastic container caps for case product. Even better, the glue to apply the product label. 
    "Where will we stand in 2022? We're seeing weekly price increases, products not available and timelines for orders placed now could arrive somewhere between late summer to fall next year."
    A recent story in The New York Times as well as a post on the Lebanon Turf blog by Chris Gray, golf channel manager for Lebanon's fertilizer segment, went a long way in explaining the upheaval in the fertilizer market. Among the many issues facing that industry are disruptions to urea supplies by manufacturers in Russia and China. It should come as no shock that manufacturers in those countries, according to the Times, have scaled back exports to meet the needs for their own growers. As a result, according to Lebanon, prices have nearly tripled for some urea products just since last year.
    China has done the same with phosphate, limiting exports to ensure growers there have enough supply. The communist dictatorship is the world's leading producer of phosphate and so many other products on which the U.S. and world economies have become so reliant.
    "I would say that this early order in October must rank as one of the largest orders placed by superintendents. I know I was among them. The question was what will 2022 look like?" Reverie said.
     
    "The fear of not having the product for the 2022 season is real and we reacted. This is the largest early order I have ever placed. The goal was to secure our pricing and product availability by putting the orders in. This plan failed. The availability of raw materials has brought companies coming back to us with updated pricing on orders already placed.
     
    "How do we budget for that? It's well known the cost of phosphate had doubled. We're always trying to do more with less but this was unexpected. How do you design a turf program, budget for the season and already be over budget while we're still in 2021?"

    Pipe and parts for mowers are hard to come by at TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas in Irving, Texas. Photo by TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas Shortages and higher prices have affected several markets.
    In the wake of a winter storm that ravaged Texas in February, Anthony Williams' team at TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas in Irving, took down thousands of damaged trees, but struggled with what to do with them once they were on the ground.
    "Trees, shrubs, 4,337 is how many we had to take down," Williams said. "After dropping those big oak trees, I was going to buy a log splitter. We were going to use (wood) around the resort. We were going to sell some for charity, so I ordered a log splitter at the end of May. The latest update, they tell me now, is it may be January before I can get something that you used to go and pick it up in person."
    The same scenario is occurring at The Alotian Club in Roland, Arkansas, where Justin Sims is director of grounds and facilities. 
    "We are continuing to see several supply chain disruptions," Sims said. "There have been very long lead times on parts, drainage supplies, seed and various other items. Equipment lead times are the longest I've ever seen, but what might be even stranger is the inability to find rental equipment. There are so many construction projects, homes being built and infrastructure investments that it is becoming more difficult by the day to find rental equipment."
    A shortage of repair parts for mechanized equipment has affected the day-to-day operations at TPC Four Seasons where Williams and his team have more than 100 total acres of rough spread over 36 holes. He typically runs six rough mowers to keep that amount of acreage under control. But the current times are anything but typical.
    "At one point, we had five (rough mowers) waiting for parts and one out mowing," he said. "The owners asked 'What do we do?' They were supposed to be replaced last year, but because of Covid they deferred capital layout. Now, what I see is a dominoes effect. We were not able to mow rough on our normal rotation, which meant we ran the sweeper for two golf courses way more than ever. Now, we're into leaf season and that one sweeper is beginning to have issues because it is toward the end of its life cycle. In our industry, it's more than one part. There is a chain reaction."
    In some cases, superintendents have had to get creative to find what they need from non-traditional sources.
    "Last week, a 10-inch mainline broke on the Member Course. None of our pipe suppliers could supply 10-inch, high-pressure pipe," Williams said. "I eventually found it 60 miles down the road and had to put a credit card down to get it in order to put a mainline in in a timely fashion. I've lost track of how much stuff we have back ordered, and people look at you like 'well, there's nothing we can do.' "
  • In an exercise of how to confront bad legislation, the Southern California Golf Association has launched a public relations campaign in response to a proposed law that threatens municipal golf across the state.
    Assembly Bill 672, labeled the Public Golf Endangerment Act by the SCGA, provides $50 million in developer subsidies to redevelop California’s municipal golf courses into housing complexes. According to the SCGA, municipal golf courses comprise 22 percent of the state's supply and host 45 percent of all play throughout California.
    The SCGA Government Affairs web site offers a laundry list of resources to help educate residents on the issues and convince them to contact their legislators in opposition to the proposed law.
    It also serves as a template for other state associations to use to push back against proposed legislation that could negatively impact the golf business.
    The site includes statistics and facts about the benefits of golf, updates to the proposed legislation, a search engine to help California residents find their legislators and sample form letters that users can copy or download to send to them.
    AB 672, introduced in February by Cristina Garcia, who represents California's 58th district in Los Angeles County, targets municipal golf courses as potential sites for affordable housing units and open space, died in committee in April. However, the bill has been amended as of September 1 with changes, including an influx of public assistance and the elimination of certain zoning requirements. In a state starved for affordable housing, these changes likely will have mass appeal in California when the proposed legislation reappears in session in January as a two-year bill.
    Initially, the bill proposed removing the state's municipal golf courses from the protections provided by the Park Preservation Act, Surplus Land Act, California Environmental Quality Control Act, and local zoning prerogatives – all for the purpose of redeveloping them into housing tracts.
    The newest version of AB 672 makes available $50 million from the state's general fund "to provide grants to cities, counties, and cities and counties to incentivize making publicly owned golf courses in densely populated areas available for housing and publicly accessible open space," the bill states. The most recent iteration of the bill also removed zoning requirements and the need for an environmental impact statement in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act.
    Initially, AB 672 was referred to the Assembly's Housing and Community Development Committee and Local Government Committee, but did not meet the April 30 deadline to pass through both, and died in committee.

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