VOLUME IX, PART 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER, 1993
NEWSLETTER OF TUE FLORIDA GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCIATION

UPCOMING EVENTS

Nov. 8

North Florida GCSA meeting, Ponte Vedra CC

Nov. 10

Suncoast chapter meeting, Venice G&CC

Nov. 10

FGCSA/GCSAA Regional Seminar,
"Personnel Functions of the Golf Course
Superintendent," Omni West Hotel,
Palm Beach, 8:00 a.m. Open to all members.
Call the FGCSA office for registration form.

Nov. 15

West Coast chapter meeting, Bardmoor North

Nov. 16

Seven Rivers chapter meeting, World Woods

Nov. 17

Central Florida chapter meeting, WDW
Eagle Pines GC at Bonnet Creek

Nov. 17

Palm Beach chapter meeting with Mechanics
Association, Holiday Inn,Palm Beach Gardens

Nov. 19

Envirotron Dedication Ceremony, U of F
campus, Gainesville

Nov. 23
Dec. 4
Dec. 10
Dec. 11
Dec. 14
Dec. 17
Dec. 21
Jan.31 Feb. 7

Bob Yount is joined by his son, Bobby, and his wife,
PhylliSj at the FTGA Wreath of Grass award ceremony
Treasure Coast chapter meeting, Stuart Y&CC
Bob Yount, Executive Director of the Florida
Turfgrass
Association since 1988, received the FTGA's
Suncoast chapter Christmas Party,
prestigious Wreath of Grass Award during the 41 st Annual
Gasparilla Inn
Conference and Show in September. Bob more than
Everglades chapter Christmas Party,
fulfills the guidelines for this award, i. e., "to demonstrate
Ramada Inn, Ft. Myers
commitment and hard work towards the goals of the
FTGA."
Palm Beach chapter Christmas Party,
Bob has been active in all phases of the golf turf
Emerald Dunes GC
industry for most of his life. Since his "retirement" to
Central Florida meeting, Green Valley GC
Florida, Bob has volunteered his time to the success of
Everglades Christmas tournament, Vines CC many fund raising golf tournaments, such as Chairman for
the Nestle Invitational Golf Tournament and Chairman of
the USGA Junior Amateur Championship.
Seven Rivers meeting, Brooksville G&CC
Bob is well known and highly respected by all
GCSAA 65th International Conference &
members
of the Florida Golf Course Superintendents
Show, Dallas Convention Center
Association. Congratulations, Bob!

President's Message

President's Message

superintendents will support rebate programs. If I have a choice
of two products for the same price
and one has a rebate for turf research while the other one does
not, I do not have to think long
about which one I will buy.

by Paul Crawford

Two more companies
have joined the growing list of
FGCSA supporters. They are
Miles, Inc. and Sunniland Corporation. They have both come
out with rebate programs which
will benefit turf. I would like to
thank both of these companies in
advance for their generous support. TheyjoinwithDowElanco,
Ciba Geigy, Rhone Poulenc and
Golf Agronomics in rebate programs that benefit turfgrass research IN FLORIDA.

Paul Crawford

search dollars. Well, the companies are responding to our requests. Now they will watch to
see if turf managers will support
These companies are themselves by buying from
funding their rebate programs companies offering rebates to turf
with money that would have been research versus those who do not.
used for advertising, marketing Some of the major companies not
or distributor expenses. Many participating in rebate programs
people have worked hard to con- say that superintendents will not
vince the major corporations that support such programs. Well,
this money needs to come back to let's prove them wrong!. I know
the end user in the form of re- better. I know that golf course

GREEN SHEE

Editor:
Tom Benefield, CGCS
P. O. Box 1783
Hobe Sound, FL 33475
(407) 546-8033.
News Coordinator:
Mrs. Marie Roberts
1760 N.W. Pine Lake Drive
Stuart, FL 34994
(407) 692-9349
(407) 692-9654 (Fax)

The Green Sheet is a bimonthly FGCSA
newsletterprinted as follows: Jan./Feb.,
March/April, May/June, July/Aug.,
SepL/OcL, Nov ./Dec.
2

Financial Support:

This issue of the Green Sheet is being
co-sponsored by:
Golf Ventures (813) 665-5800
2100 East Edge wood Drive
Lakeland, FL 33803
All material submitted for printing will
be edited at the discretion of the editor.
Material must be typed or clearly
printed. All photos must be black and
white. Items must be for the good of
the association.
Deadline next issue, December 15.

Mark Jarrell, FGCSA
Fund Raising Chairman, is working with some of the companies
to make it easier for us to comply
to the program rules. Please take
a few minutes to comply with the
little that these companies ask for.
And, most of all, support the
companies offering rebates with
sales. Without sales, we will not
generate any dollars.
If you know of companies
in your area that might be agreeable to a rebate program, approach
them with the suggestion or have
them contact Marie Roberts or
Mark Jarrell.
Again, thank you to all
the companies who are currently
conducting turf research rebate
programs. To those who are not,
I challenge you to come up with
one. It is time for you to get a mitt
and get in the game.
A

Plan now to attend the
FGCSA Reception at the Hyatt
Regency Hotel in Dallas on
Friday, February 4th.
The reception has been
a tremendous success for the
past two years and with
additional sponsor support this
year, it will be better than ever.
Don't miss it!
The Green Sheet

FTGA Conference and Show

Florida Superintendents Support the Florida Turfgrass Association
Once again, the Florida
Golf Course Superintendents Association continues to be one of
the leading fund raising groups
for the Florida Turfgrass Association. All members of the local
chapters are to be commended for
their hard work in organizing the
many golf tournaments and field
days that support turfgrass research.
The following donations
were announced by FGCSA
President, Paul Crawford, at the
Annual FTGA Awards Banquet
in Tampa on September 27th.
$10,000.

500.
500.
1,500.
7,000.

2,000.

22,500.
5,000.
1,500.
1,500.
5,000.
$ 57,000.

Florida GCSA
Big Bend chapter
Everglades chapter
North Florida
Palm Beach
Ridge chapter
Seven Rivers *
South Florida
Suncoast chapter
Treasure Coast
West Coast

Paul Crawford announces donations at FTGA Awards Banquet

These funds were donated to the
FTGA at the Envirotron Tournament held in June.
The FGCSA also supports
the FTGA lobbyist for an additional $12,000 each year, bringing the total to $69,000 donated to
turfgrass research projects
through the efforts of our Florida
superintendents.
November/December 1993

Andy's Plant Aids wins best dressed booth contest in Tampa
3

FGCSA Fall Board Meeting Minutes
The Fall 1993 meeting of the FGCSA
Board of Directors was called to order
by President Paul Crawford at 1:00 p.m.
on Saturday, October 9, at the Courtyard
Marriott Hotel in Orlando.
All officers were in attendance. Big
Bend, Seven Rivers and Suncoast
chapters were not represented.
Others attending were Kevin Downing,
Research Committee Chairman, and A1
Ross, South Florida chapter president
SECRETARY/TREASURER: Greg
Plotner submitted the minutes of the
Spring board meeting which were approved.
Greg then submitted the Financial
Statements for the first quarter of the
1993-94 fiscal year. It was noted that
Suncoast chaapter has not paid their
state dues and that some chapters had
not fulfilled their commitment to the
lobbyist fund. Greg will follow up on
these two items.
It was decided to roll over the leftover
$780 from the Hurricane Relief Fund
into the new Disaster Relief Fund operated by the GCS AA. A motion was
made and approved to donate $ 1,000 to
the GCSAA Disaster Relief Fund.

FGCSA donates $1,000
to Disaster Relief Fund
PUBLICATIONS: Scott Bell reported
that the Publications Committee had met
last month to discuss several items. The
Green Sheet and Membership Directory
are financially sound. The 1993-94
Membership Directory will be mailed to
all FGCSA members by the end of October. The Florida Green was the main
topic of conversation.
The Publications Committee decided on
the Editorial Calendar and Cover Selections for the upcoming year. The
4

Editorial Calendar will be sent to all
External Vice President so that those
superintendents who would like to write
an article can follow the suggested calendar. Ridge chapter will be on the
cover for the Winter issue.
Guidelines were established for allowable expenses for the Florida Green editor. If the editor's golf course does not
pick up expenses for certain events, the
Florida Green will reimburse the editor
for travel and lodging at the Poa,
Crowfoot and FTG A. Travel expenses
will also be allowed for any event that
the editor attends at the direction of the
President of the FGCSA.
Paul Crawford explained that even
though advertising revenue is down for
the upcoming Fall issue, we will still
have a profit on the magazine. The
Committee decided to keep the issue at
72 pages rather than downsizing it to 64
pages because this is the issue that will
be included in the Media Kits that are
sent to all advertising agencies in the
fall. Several Media Kits were distributed to potential advertisers during the
FTGA Conference and Show. Paul
suggested that we present a plaque or
photo to be placed in our advertisers'
booths at next year's FTGA Show.
EDUCATION: Paul Crawford reported
that David Court is considering a different type of seminar for this year's Poa
weekend. The Crowfoot seminar was
well attended and was a break even
project. The GCSAA Regional Seminar
will be held in November and early
registration is good. We have already
been contacted for next year's Regional
seminar and after some discussion, it
was noted that we should be able to
support two such seminars next year.
The Education Committee will contact
the North Florida chapter to work on
this. Paul Crawford also reported that
the traveling seminar for spray technicians and assistants have not been
abandoned. Several chemical companies
have offered to do this type of seminar
again. When the programs are ready for
presentation, we will send a letter to all

chapters to see which chapters want to
offer the seminars to their members.
MEMBERSHIP: The current membership stands at 740 members. All
chapters have paid their dues except
Suncoast chapter. Post cards were sent
to the 84 members who have not rejoined as yet and copies of the list were
given to the External Vice Presidents.
Two At Large Membership applications
were approved — Randy Richardson
from Garden of Destin and Tom Hanks
of Bluewater Resort.
A discussion was held on how to attract
the non-member superintendents. Chip
Fowkes suggested that we might offer a
Credit Union as a draw. It was also
suggested that a demographic study be
done to see what areas have the lowest
membership figures. It was also noted
that there are some courses in Florida
that do not have a superintendent on the
premises. Also some of the smaller or
isolated courses have superintendents
who may be intimidated by the large
number in our association. These can
best be handled by personal contactrather
than a mass mailing strategy.
CROWFOOT: Figures on the 1993
Crowfoot are being finalized. Negotiations are currently underway to go back
to Grand Cypress next year.
GOLF TEAM: This year's GCSAA
tournament will be held in Austin.
Florida team members will be Dave
Oliver (winner of the FTGA Team
Tournament), Mark Hopkins (winner of
the Crowfoot), Joe Pantaleo (winner of
the Poa) and Joe Ondo (low average for
the three events). The FGCSA will
reimburse the $309 entry fee to each
team member and one banquet ticket
each. Joe Ondo suggested that there
may be enough golfers to warrant a
second team from Florida this year.
Please let Joe know if you are planning
on playing in the GCSAA tournament.
FTGA: Chuck Rogers gave a report on
the Show which had a record number of
The Green Sheet

FGCSA Fall Board Meeting Minutes
booths this year. Space reservations for
next year's show in Ft. Lauderdale look
good already. The FTGA is discussing
keeping the show in Tampa for two or
three years and then rotating to other
major cities around the state.
Chuck noted that FTGA membership
figures were rising again. Joe Ondo
reported that the Central Florida chapter
requires all their affiliate members to be
members of the FTGA before they can
apply for membership in the CFGCS A.
Envirotron dedication is set for Friday,
November 19th. All chapter presidents
and external vice presidents should have
received an invitation to attend the
dedication. Please call the FGCSA office if your chapter has not received an
invitation.

Envirotron Dedication
Set for November 19th
Mark Jarrell reported on the Publications
and Public Relations Committees of the
FTGA. Changes are being made to
generate more favorable publicity for
the turfgrass industry and to increase the
scope of the Turf Digest.
Mark also discussed the Sod Growers
$35,000 donation and the certified grass
program . He also reported that there
will be an additional turf position established at the University of Florida.
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS:
Tom Latta requested that we let Mike
Goldie know the dates of all local chapter meetings so that he can attend at least
one meeting a year in each area. It was
also suggested that Mr. Goldie could
invite local legislators to attend the
meetings with him. The FGCSA will
continue to co-sponsor the lobbyist for
this year.
Kevin Downing, Dale Kuehner and Chip
Fowkes reported on the success of the
November/December 1993

interesting Environmental Seminar that
was recently put on by Environmental
Perspectives. Twenty people attended
and found the information to be very
valuable and enlightening. They gave
an overview of the program and suggested that the FGCSA might want to
sponsor another seminar at a later date.
Tim Hiers has indicated that he wants to
continue working on the Government
Relations Committee but his work commitments are keeping him very busy.
Greg Plotner and Tom Benefield will
continue to work with him.
GCSAA: Chip Fowkes and Dale
Kuehner reported on the voting delegate
and chapter representative meeting that
was recently held in Lawrence. Ray
Hansen, Prentise Knotts, Steve Wright
and Mike Perham also attended the
meeting so Florida had lots of participation. 67 chapters were represented. Dale
reported that one of the goals of the
meeting was to get interaction from local chapters. It was an informal, informative two day meeting and both board
members felt it would be an annual
event.
Chip Fowkes gave a review of the recent
changes to the GCSAA staff and Board
of Directors. Again, communication
seemed to be a continuing problem. The
GCSAA is currently interviewing candidates for two managerial positions.
Other problem areas discussed were the
future of the old building and the potential for the new building. Chip also
reported that many members were concerned about the Overseas program.
The current philosophy is that it will be
discontinued if the office is not selfsupporting. Other items discussed were
membership drives, publication of delegate votes, and reducing power of
GCSAA president. By Law changes
were discussed and a copy of the proposed changes were given to each External Vice President. Minutes of the meeting will be distributed to all External
Vice Presidents.

nies have committed to support the reception which will be held on Friday
night, February 4th, at the Dallas Hyatt
Regency Hotel. The Florida Green will
also donate funds to the reception and
invite their major advertisers to attend.
It is expected that with this much financial
support, no dues money will be needed
for the reception.
FUND RAISING: Two more companies are jumping on the bandwagon with
new rebate programs, i.e., Sunniland
and Miles. The Ciba-Geigy, Rhone
Poulenc, Golf Agronomics, and
DowElanco programs are continuing to
be supported by our superintendents. A
discussion was held regarding some form
of recognition for these companies.
RESEARCH: Kevin Downing reported that he will be holding a Research
Committee meeting in Fort Lauderdale
in November. The Research Green will
be available for new studies beginning
in the spring. He asked the External
Vice Presidents to come up with suggestions for future projects to be performed on the green. It was suggested
that a letter be sent to all those companies who participated in the research
projects on the green to see if the results
provided the companies with useful information.
Kevin suggested that we take a wait and
see attitude on building a second research
green. It is hoped that we might be able
to build a green in the area of the
Envirotron if things go as expected on
the Gainesville campus.
NEW BUSINESS: It was noted that
there has been a recent drop off in the
number of superintendents being recertified. Dale Kuehner, Certification
Chairman, will look into this.
The next board meeting will be held in
Orlando on January 8th or January 15 th.
Since there was no further business, the
meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.

FGCSA Reception in Dallas: Paul
Crawford reported that several compa5

Superintendent Activities

Newly Certified Superintendents
This month we congratulate two of
our youngest members who have recently earned the distinction of Certified
Golf Course Superintendents.

Bob Klitz served eleven years at
his first golf course, the Club at Inverrary,
where he worked his way up from laborer to head superintendent He recently
left Inverrary to accept the position as
head superintendent at Deercreek Golf
Club.
Bob has an AA degree from
Broward Community College and has
taken turfgrass management courses at
the Fort Lauderdale Research Center.
Bob credits Ed Walsh from Paramus
CC with getting him startedin turfgrass.
He is also grateful to the head superintendents at Inverrary during those early
years - Brad Kocher, Dave Oliver, Carol
Thomas and David Demmery — who
taught him well and encouraged him to
do his best. As a result, he decided to
make becoming a certified superintendent one of his main career goals.
Bob has been on the South Florida
GCS A board of directors and worked on
the Adam Walsh Golf Tournament for
the past six years. He is currently Vice
President of the SFGCSA. Bob spends
his spare time with his wife, Lisa, and
three-year old son, Robert. He is also
happy to report that Lisa is expecting his
second child in May.

Wayne Kappauf received his

degree in Business Management from
Florida Southern in Lakeland. After
graduation, he was offered the job as
superintendent at Quail Run CC in
Naples and has spent the last eleven
years keeping his members happy with
the condition of the course. He admits
that he put in a lot of on-the-job training
during the first few years but is proud of
his accomplishments at Quail Run.

Since Wayne has always been an
avid reader, he decided to study for the
Certified test to gain the respect of his
fellow superintendents while at the same
time broadening his knowledge of the
turfgrass industry.
Wayne is a long time member of
the Everglades chapter and has served
on the Board of Directors for the past
three years. He is married and has two
children.
Wayne is pictured below second
from right playing for the Everglades
chapter in the 2nd Annual FTGA
Chapter Team Championship. Others
playing in his foursome were from left
Ken Kniaz of the South Florida team,
Jack Callahan with the Palm Beach
team and Dan Burgess representing the
Central Florida chapter.

Golf Tournament
The 2nd Annual FTGA Chapter
Team Championship was held on Sunday, September 16th at River Hills CC in
Valrico. SuperintendentLarryLivingston
had the course in great shape for the
superintendents who teed up.
Dave Oliver led his Treasure Coast
team to a three stroke victory over the
second place Central Florida team. Dave's
teammates were Kevin Downing, Jay
Gratton, and Jerry Yeomans . Dave's
score of 71 enabled him to walk away
with Low Gross honors and assured him
aplaceon the Florida team fortheGCSAA
Golf Tournament in Austin. He will be
joined by Joe Pantaleo, Mark Hampton,
and Joe Ondo.
Meanwhile at the Annual Research
Golf Tournament held at The Cypress
and Kings Point courses, the four man
scramble format was won by the team of
Lloyd Gray, Hal Porcher, and Ralph Archer. Over 280 golfers registered for this
fun-filled afternoon of relaxing and often
entertaining golf.
After golf, everyone met at the
Simmons Ranch for the annual Toro Corn
Boil. This event is always a sellout and
certainly worth the trip! The FTGA
reports that the days events raised in
excess of $10,000 for turfgrass research.

Bob stated that being a member of
the SFGCSA has enabled him to be
more successful in his job. During his
greens renovation project in 1992, he
often sought and received help from his
fellow superintendents either in the form
of advice or loan of some type of equipment. He also noted that whenever his
outside responsibilities threatened to get
in the way of his job performance, he
could always depend on one of his fellow SFGCSA members to help him out.
This is truly the main benefit of membership in your association!
6

The Green Sheet

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Golf Ventures signs contract with
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for impregnation on fertilizer.
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Foley United
for distribution of their grinder line.

FTGA Conference and Show Draws Record Crowds
and Rave Reviews
FGCSA Secretary
Mrs. Marie Roberts
1760 N.W. Pine Lake Drive
Stuart, FL 34994

FIRST CLASS
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ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

^vORIDvi
Mascara, Tom
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