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VOLUME XXV, PART I, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009
NEWSLETTER OF THE FLORIDA GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCIATION

The 2008 Lake City Endowment Tournament was held Nov. 7th at the Colony Golf & Bay Club in Bonita Springs. The committee
was (1-r): Front row - Steve Rauh, John Piersol and John Johnson. Back row - Glenn Zakany and Scott Hamm, CGCS

Upcoming Events
Jan 8th - West Coast GCSA Monthly
Meeting, Palm Ceia

Jan 21st - Chemical Spill Response Class,
Sanford, FL CEU's available (NFGCSA)

Jan 9th - Calusa GCSA Meeting, Coral
Oaks

Feb 2-5 - GCSAA Education Conference
& The Golf Industry Show, New Orleans
Feb 5th - FGCSA Reception, New Orleans
Riverview Room.

Jan 13th - North Florida GCSA Meeting,
LPGA International GC

rd

Jan 14th - Seven Rivers GCSA Meeting,
Continental CC

Feb 23 - West Coast GCSA Benevolent
Tournament, East Lake Woodlands

th
Jan. 16th - FGCSA Winter Board Meeting, March 9 - North Florida GCSA Annual
Research Golf Tournament, Pablo Creek
Disney's Osprey Ridge GC
GC

March 26 - South Florida Expo
April 13th - North Florida GCSA Annual
Memorial Golf Tournament, TBA

Local Chapters please remember to send
your updated membership rosters to the
FGCSA office so those late joining
members can be included on the FGCSA's
mailing list and can receive a copy of the
2009 FGCSA Membership Directory.

President's Message

President's Message
By Shane Bass, CGCS
Now that we have all had our fill of turkey
and ham from the holidays let's get this
new year off with a good start. We are all
constantly hearing about new fertilizer
ordinances all across the state and it was
surprising when about a month ago I hear
they are try to implement one in the City
of Tallahassee. Up until now they have
mainly been along the southwestern coast
of Florida with the exception of
Jacksonville, Marion and Orange
Counties. So obviously it is an issue the
entire state is going to have to deal with.
We have science and research on our side
if we choose to do a few simple things that
I am sure most of us are already doing. But
we must show proof as a group that we all
believe in what we are preaching and a
simple way to do this is to endorse and use
of the BMP manual that was created for
golf courses in Florida. There are 12
sections on the check list and I encourage
all of you to look at them if you have not
yet done so.
As you look at them and check off what

you already do just remember they all do
not have to be checked "yes" the first time
you look at the list. So to get us some kind
of idea of who is already aware of the
BMPs we are going to put a simple
question on the FGCSA web page. The
simple survey question will be down in the
lower right corner of the home page.
If you have not gone to the web site lately
go check it out and if you have seen the
new layout at least log-in again and look
for the question. I thought it would be a
good idea to change the question out every
6 weeks throughout the year and then do a
report of all of the questions in next year's
Jan/ Feb Green Sheet. So to start this year
out the first question is going to be "Have
you completed the BMP manual check
list?"
PLEASE take two seconds and stop by
www.floridagcsa.com and answer the
question. Then next year at the same time
we will run the same question and see if
we can improve are numbers. Wouldn't it
be nice if we could walk in to these county
or city commission meetings and say 1100
of the 1150 courses in Florida are in
compliance with the Florida DEP BMP
manual for golf courses.

GREEN SHEE
Editor:

Financial Support:

Joel Jackson, CGCS
(407) 248-1971 (fax/phone)
E -mail: FLGrn@aol.com

This issue of the Green Sheet
is being sponsored by:

News Coordinator:
Jennifer Innes
1296 NE Oceanview Cir.
Jensen Beach, FL 34957
(772)334-7515
(772) 334-6015
e-mail: fgcsa@comcast.net

The Green Sheet is a bimonthly FGCSA
Newsletter printed as follows: Jan/Feb,
March/April, May/June, July/August,
Sept ./October, November/December.

Golf Ventures
5101 Gateway Blvd., Suite 18
Lakeland, FL 33811-2704
800-330-8874
800-481-8911
888-222-7072
All material submitted for printing will
be edited at the discretion of the editor.
Material must be typed or clearly
printed. Photos are encouraged. Items
must be for the good of the association.
Deadline next issue February 15.

Shane Bass

So let's help the folks who are out there
fighting for us on fertilizer, pesticide and
water issues with some good numbers that
they can use in our defense. If you have
any questions while filling out the check
list please do not hesitate to give me or
Joel a call let's get these done while it is
still volunteer and not mandatory.
GCSAA golf show is just around the
corner hope to see all of you at the
reception. It looks like it is going to be a
nice venue.

Check out the new
FGCSA website!
We are currently in the process
of making the website more
user-friendly. Please check the
site regularly for information on
association news, upcoming
meetings, education
opportunities and association
events. If your Chapter is
hosting an event,please be sure
to let us know so we can include
it on the calendar along with a
link .
w w w . f l o ri d a g c s a . c o m

Executive Director Report

Executive Director Report
By Joel Jackson, GCCS
1. Government Relations: The War
Against Turfgrass Continues.
Local Fertilizer Ordinances: The City of
Tallahassee joins the ranks of local
governments seeking to regulate the use of
fertilizers on turfgrass. Hilaman Park GC
superintendent Jeff Heggen reports that at
least they are talking to golf and sports
industry folks to make sure they don't
cripple those sectors. The rough draft
looks more science sensitive than others so
far. The proof will be in the final draft of
course. Meanwhile, Marion County
deleted the (unscientific, unproven) rainy
season blackout clause that many of the
SW Florida Counties added to their
ordinances. Licensed businesses of course
must follow these rules, meanwhile there
has been no clear accounting of how
homeowners and the unlicensed "Chuck in
a Truck" lawncare folks will be monitored
and the ordinances enforced. Seems like
an unforced error all around, but it sure
looks good in the media.
Water Restrictions: The South Florida
WMD staff has been working with the
FGCSA with the help of UF/IFAS Ag
Engineer Dr. Michael Dukes to modify the
Blaney-Criddle model to give users a
larger allocation in the dry winter months
while still fulfilling and water shortage
restrictions. Initial efforts to make
adjustments to the rainfall and ET
multipliers did indeed yield a shift in the
amount of water available to be allocated
during the dry months. We are waiting for
final tweaking to make sure the water
allocation curve doesn't skew so much that
it creates shortfalls in other times of the
year.
Meanwhile, all districts appear to be
headed rapidly to a year-round 1 or 2 day
lawn watering restriction. The 1-day
restriction being touted for the cool winter
months, but as just noted, it is also our dry
season. Once again regulating wasteful
homeowners is practically impossible
without water police and government
can't afford them.

This just in: The SFWMD is going to
endorse a 3 times per week plan instead
of the 2-day which was boarderline for
some. So. Fla. locations, and no restrictions on reclaimed water uses.
Over at the Tampa Bay Water Authority
they have listened to reason and with the
help of the Turf Industry, adopted a more
reasonable sod installation and replacement policy overturning the original "no
new sod until next June" rule, and it uses
less water than the old district rule for
new sod. A real win-win decision.
Water Conservation: Check out our
website: www.floridagcsa.com we have
posted some golf course water saving
comments from Dr. Michael Hurdzan, a
noted golf course designer who walks the
talk. More than ever we need to document
and publicize our ability to manage and
conserve water while still providing a
viable golf course. Make it a New Year's
resolution to make a couple of minutes run
time reduction to your irrigation schedules
and multiply the gpm per head times the
run time and show the amount of water
you save per irrigation cycle. Then send
your savings amounts to me, so we can
publicize our stewardship.
Methyl Bromide: Reports from the recent
International Meeting on Methyl Bromide
contain ominous indications that the
Climate Change advocates will be
injecting themselves and their opinions
into the Montreal Accord process which is
totally foreign to the agreement. They seek
to gain funding for their cause at the
expense of those commodities seeking
redress for the unscientific, uneven
handling of the phase-out. Once again the
USA seems to be getting the short end of
the stick on uses of the stockpiled material,
and turfgrass, well turfgrass is still losing
on this battlefield as well.
MSMA: Well, I should know better.
Having written the obituary on MSMA
prematurely based on the wind direction
and dire comments being made. I should
know it's not over until the fat EPA lady
sings.

Right now she is still humming. I can't
make out the tune, but it isn't So Long
Charlie yet.
2. Allied Associations:
UF/IFAS: On November 24th IFAS
folks met with industry folks in Plant
City to talk turkey about turf research.
The essence of the conversation was to
identify people who may be movers
and shakers and friends of turf, golf,
etc who might be interested in
providing funding for a Turfgrass
Foundation within IFAS to create an
endowment fund that would have
perpetual incomes to stabilize research
funding.
GCSAA: The Florida GCSA applied
for and has received a $3,000 Chapter
Outreach Grant to help us fund the new
FTGA Florida Turfgrass Economic
Impact Study. Each turf commodity in
the state will be surveyed and reported
on and have its own section in the
results. It is this kind of information
that we share with those local
governments and the media to show
how important the Turf Industry is to
the state's economy. We have most
certainly used this information in
articles to the public in the Florida
Golf Central magazine and Golf is Our
Game newsletter to help educate the
public about golf's contributions to not
only the economy, but also the
environment. Make sure your chapter
also donates to the study. It is a
combined effort since we will all
benefit. Our cousins up in the Gulf
Coast GCSA chapter have agreed to
pitch in as well since it has statewide
benefits.
3. Education: There will be nine
FTGA Regional Seminars around the
state beginning January 10th. If you
haven't received the brochure outlining
meeting times, locations and topics
then log onto www.ftga.org and
download the information. You can
also register online.

GCSAA: Times might be tough, but
there's no better place to make sure you
are getting the latest technology and
information to do a better job than at the
2009 GIS in New Orleans. This year's
site is driveable in a day. If budgets are
tight, consider car pooling and room
sharing with a couple of fellow
superintendents from your chapter.
Thanks to all the receptions you can save
on meals too. Log on to www.gcsaa.org
to register now.
4. Executive Director's Meetings,
Events and Travel
01/05? TBA Florida Green Spring
Cover Story Trip, Vero Beach
01 /09 Florida Sod Growers Meeting,
Disney World

01/10 Deadline - Florida Golf Central
Magazine
01/12 FTGA Turf Research
Tournament, Winter Park
01/16 FGCSA Winter Board Meeting,
Disney World
01 /20 Deadline - Golfdom Magazine
01/28-30 PGA Merchandise Show
(GCSAA, ING), Orlando
02/04-07 GCSAA (GIS Trip), New
Orleans
02/10 Deadline - Florida Golf Central
Magazine
02/15 Deadline - Green Sheet
March/April Newsletter
02/20 Deadline - Golfdom Magazine

The FGCSA would like to recognize
the following people/associations for
their contribution to the FGCSA
Research Fund so far this fiscal year:
Shane Bass, CGCS
Ron Wright, CGCS
Golf Agronomics
Everglades GCSA
Joel Jackson, CGCS
West Coast GCSA
GCSAA
Palm Beach GCSA
Gulf Coast GCSA

From the left: The Wild Turkey Team of Terry Wood, Joel Jackson, Matt Neider and Corey McDonough used all 10 of their mulligans to take
2nd place in the 2008 CREW Land & Water Trust tournament held at Bonita Bay East on October 18th.

USGA Green Section Unveils
Online "Live Meetings"
Education and
Communcations Technology
On December 18th, the The MidContinent Region of the USGA Green
Section hosted the first on-line
conference. The Florida Green Section
is hoping to make these on-line
conferences a new addition to their
TAS service. TAS subscribers around
the state will be invited to attend online meetings periodically throughout
the year. This will be a great
opportunity to learn of things going on
all around Florida, and not just from
our agronomists. With the Live
Meeting software, there is the potential
to have speakers from across the
country give updates on important
issues in the golf industry.
As a test of the software and process,
this first meeting was to discuss
happenings in the Mid-Continent
Region over 2008, give updates on
methyl bromide and Nemacur, and
close with plans for the future of Live
Meeting sessions. As the Green
Section continues to develop these
educational opportunities, they will be
submitting our programs to the
GCSAA for CEU's. Although this
Live Meeting focused on issues in the
Mid-Continent, Florida Region
representatives sat in and to give
feedback on the possibilities for these
meetings in Florida.
There will be no cost to attend these
meetings. Jim Moore, Construction
Education Director for the USGA
Green Section, has written an outline
describing Live Meeting, how to get
into the system, and how to check your
computer for download needs. If you
have ever participated in a GCSAA
webcast the process is very similar.

What and Why: The cost of attending
educational meetings is making it more
and more difficult for turfgrass managers
to attend as many meetings as they would
like. Fortunately, the USGA has given the
Green Section the technology to bring a
meeting to you via the Internet. Without
having to leave your office you can hear
and see presentations from Green Section
agronomists on topics that are impacting
your course. There is no charge for
attending this meeting.
How to Attend the On-Line Meeting: At
the end of this e-mail message is a link that
will direct your computer to the meeting
site. However, please complete the
following steps before you click on the
link.
What you need to attend:
1)
A computer equipped with speakers
so you can hear the presentations.
2)
A broadband Internet connection
(dial-up connections will not work
properly).
3)
Your Internet browser must be
Microsoft Internet Explorer (other
browsers will not work).
4)
You will need to install the
Microsoft Live Meeting Console (more on
this below).
Microsoft Live Meeting installation:
(please complete the installation well
before the announced meeting date).

The USGA uses Microsoft's Live
Meeting application for webcasting. In
order to attend this meeting you will
need to install the Live Meeting Console
(also called "client") on your computer.
When you click on the link to join the
meeting, your computer will check to see
if you have Live Meeting installed. If
you have not previously installed Live
Meeting, or if you have not updated it in
the last few months, you will be taken to
the screen you see below. Although it
gives you two options for joining the
meeting, we encourage you to install the
Live Meeting Client as recommended by
Microsoft. Although this takes a couple
of minutes to install you will find it
works much better during the on-line
meeting.
To install Live Meeting sofware on your
computer go to to obtain the download:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usga/ioi
n
How to Join a Meeting?
Once you have installed Live Meeting
you are ready to join us for the on-line
conference. All you have to do is click
on "Join the meeting" link Location:
https ://w w w .li vemeetin g .com/cc/us ga.
Once the page opens type in the Metting
ID and Entry Code info that will be
supplied with the meeting
announcement/invitation prior to the
meeting

USGA®
GREEN

SECTION

TURFGRASS
ASSOCIATION

FLOPIDA TURFGRASS ASSOCIATION
2009 FTGA Turf Seminars

The Florida Turfgrass Association has Regional Turf Seminars throughout the state of Florida. These seminars provide local
educational programs on topics such as pest and disease, weeds, BMPs, regulatory issues, safety and pesticide usage. Participants
will also receive CEUs in both core and turf and ornamental categories.
Seminar attendees include lawn care and landscape professionals, golf course superintendents, as well as parks, recreation and
sports turf managers.
The 2008 Turf Seminars had over 1,000 attendees receive valuable education at a great low price. Commercial
Suppliers, university personnel and many other key decision makers throughout the state of Florida also attended the seminars.
The turf seminars offered a company promotional product update information sheet so each attendee was aware of great new
products.
Tampa - Jan. 6
Vero Beach - Jan. 13
Ocala - Jan. 20

Orlando - Jan 7
Lake Worth - Jan 14
Jacksonville - Jan 21

Fort Myers - Jan 8
Plantation - Jan 15
Milton - Jan 27

Winners of the 2008 Lake City Endowment Tournament were (1-r): Mike Dillinger and (missing Matt Neider) in the B Flight and
Tim Denton and Chad Montgomery in the A Flight.

GCBAA Announce Board Election Results
LINCOLN, Neb. (Dec. 9,2008) - The Golf
Course Builders Association of America
(GCBAA) has announced the results of its
recent board elections. Three new directors and
five reelected directors will begin serving twoyear terms at the organization's board meeting in
New Orleans in February.
Newly elected GCBAA directors include:
Patrick Karnick of Wadsworth Golf
Construction; Ed Kruse of John Deere Golf and
Stephanie Zimmerman of Hancor, Inc. Those
reelected to the board include: Treasurer Steve
Christman of Eagle Golf & Landscape Products;
Secretary Ellen Davis, SportZmix Solutions
Rick Boylan of Mid America Golf &
Landscape, Inc.; Oscar Rodriguez of Weitz Golf
International and Bob Bryant of Bryant Taylor
Gordon Golf.
The new directors join 14 others who will
continue to serve as members and officers on the
GCBAA board including: Immediate Past
President Thomas Shapland of Wadsworth Golf
Construction; President Robert Pinson of Course
Crafters; Vice President Mick Jones of The Toro
Company; President Elect Dave Munkvold of
Duininck Brothers Golf; Greg Bartold of Niebur
Golf, Inc.; Ron Freund of Genesis Golf
Builders, Inc.; Kurt Huseman of Landscapes
Unlimited, LLC; Doug Long of Heritage Links;
John McDonald II of McDonald & Sons, Inc.;
Scott Pate of Seaside Golf Development, Inc.;
Klaus Ahlers of Leemco, Inc.; Dennis Wagner
of Ewing Irrigation; David Zipps of Caterpillar,
Inc and Doug Zak of ISCO Industries, LLC who
was elected by the board to fill an open seat for
a one year term.
About the GCBAA and the GCBAA Foundation
The Golf Course Builders Association of
America is a non-profit trade association of the
world's foremost golf course builders and
leading suppliers to the golf course construction
industry. It was founded in the early 1970s and
its members represent all segments of the golf
course industry. The GCBAA Foundation is the
charitable arm of the GCBAA and a separate,
501(c)(3) organization. The GCBAA's national
executive office is located in Lincoln, Neb. For
more information, visit www.gcbaa.org or call
(402) 476-4444.

GCSAA Education Conference and
Golf Industry Show
February 2nd - 5th, New Orleans
FGCSA Reception Thursday, February 5th
Riverview Room, Jackson Brewery
Room Reservations are currently available online at
http://www .gcsaa.org/conference/travel .asp
There are a variety of hotels close to both the Convention Center and the
Riverview Room located in the historic Jackson Brewery - the location of
the FGCSA Reception on Thursday, Feb 5th. A map of the area is also
available through the GCSAA website.
If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Innes at
fgcsa@comcast.net or (772)334-7515.

Invitations and wristbands will be sent to all
members registered for the GIS. If you plan to
attend, but have not registered, please contact the
FGCSA office for an invitation and wristband.
February lst-3 - National Championship & Golf Classic, Gulf Shores,
AL
February 2nd-7th - Conference Seminars
February 5th-7th - Golf Industry Show

From the left: South Florida GCSA's Kelly Cragin and Ted Hile present a $24,000
check to Nancy McBride and Nancy Sullivan with the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children.

Jupiter: 888-222-7072
Lakeland: 800-330-8874

Happy New Year! We wish all of you a Prosperous New Year for 2009 and
want you to know we appreciate your business. We know 2009 is going to be
a challenging year for the golf industry as well as our country but we are
here to service you.
Our territory managers are ready to help you get more bang from your $$.
We have programs inside to help you maximize your budget dollars through
increased fertilizer Efficiency!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Golf
Ventures

FGCSA
Jennifer Innes
1296 NE Oceanview Circle
Jensen Beach, Florida 34957

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FIRST CLASS
U.S .Postage
PAID
Permit #137
Stuart, FL

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