TurfNet picked up five awards, including a best-in-show and three first-place honors, at the recent Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association annual Communications Awards program.
Jon Kiger won a best-in-show Gardner Award — his fifth — and a first place award for Innovative Use of Social Media in the New Media category for the 2023 TurfNet Major Pools Presented by Standard Golf program.
Garrett Schultz, golf operations manager at Prairie West Golf Course in Mandan, North Dakota, is a regular participant in the TurfNet major pools program that allows superintendents to "draft" a team of professional golfers in an interactive platform during each of the game's four major championships.
"There's no doubt about it; we live in the digital age of communication. TurfNet does an outstanding job of staying at the forefront of how this generation interacts and utilizes technology," Schultz said. "TurfNet's Major Pools are an annual highlight for me, and I've been lucky enough to win some great gifts from industry sponsors along the way. The social media posts and interactive polls offer a fun way to generate engagement and correspond with other turf professionals. Just one of the many ways TurfNet connects a truly global industry."
With literally hundreds of golf pools available for the consumer market, the TurfNet Major Pools Presented by Standard Golf program typically draws well in excess of 100 participants for each championship.
"The time frame for submitting picks to the major pools is very short — from Sunday night until the first tee time Thursday," said Kiger, TurfNet's director of media and membership sales. "By leveraging social media we were able to have hundreds of entries for each event. In addition to the top three places in the competition, there is a separate prize for Best/Most Creative Team Name. Once all the team names have been submitted we use the X Polling feature to determine the winner from four finalists. The final way we leverage social media is that we encourage the winners to post photos when they receive their prize packs. These photos go a long way toward thanking our sponsor Standard Golf and generating interest in the next round."
John Reitman won two first place awards and an honorable mention for writing in the best column and features categories. His column There is nothing you cannot handle is about confronting and beating life's challenges. The story Police chase comes to an end when suspect wrecks stolen spray rig detailed the goings on at Jim Ager Golf Course in Lincoln, Nebraska, where Bill Kreuser, Ph.D., is the superintendent. The suspect was arrested after a chase through the golf course. The suspect wrecked his vehicle into a tree before commandeering a Toro Workman with a retrofit GPS spray rig. A police helicopter joined in before the suspect allegedly drove the rig into a Nebraska State Police vehicle 2 miles from the golf course.
Reitman also earned honorable mention for his story on assistant superintendent Emily Casey's experiences with javelina at Seven Canyons Golf Club in Sedona, Arizona.
In its 35th year, the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association is a 200-plus member association comprising editorial, advertising and marketing professionals who work in the green industry.