NEWSLETTER OF THE FLORIDA GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCIATION

President Paul Crawford is shown
presenting the FGCSA Plantinum
Tee Club donation of $5,000 to
outgoing GCSAA President Randy
Nichols while Pat Jones, Director of
Development, looks on. For related
stories on the happenings at the
GCSAA Convention, please see
pages 6 and 7.

UPCOMING EVENTS
March 3 North Florida chapter
meeting, Magnolia Point
March 7 Ridge Invitational Golf
Tournament, Grasslands

March 24 Seven Rivers sponsored
"Overseed Mini Field Day"
U of F, Gainesville campus
with golf at Haile G&CC

April 26

Suncoast Scramble,
Venice Y&CC

April 28

South Florida Exposition,
IFAS REC Ft. Lauderdale

April 11

Plam Beach chapter
meeting, Bocaire GC

May 9

April
11-12

Southeastern Turgrass
Conference, Tifton, GA

West Coast chapter
meeting, Avila G&CC

May 10

April 18

2nd Annual Envirotron
Golf Classic, World Woods

GCSAA Irrigation
Specialist seminar, Alaqua

May 12

March 14 West Coast chapter
meeting, Isla Del Sol

April 18

May 13

March 16 Central Florida chapter
meeting, Oceanside CC

2nd Annual Mike
Richards Tournament,
Hidden Hills CC

GCSAA Technician
Training, Tampa Palms
Environmental Management
Seminar, Naples Beach Hotel

April 20

May 14

March 22 Suncoast chapter meeting,
Misty Creek

West Coast chapter
meeting, Summerfield GC

G. C. Horn Tournament,
Naples Beach Hotel

April 25

Central Florida chapter
meeting, Isleworth GC

May 15

Poa Golf Tournament,
Naples Beach Hotel

March 8 USGA Green Section
Conference, Palm Beach
Gardens Marriott
March 10 USGA Green Section
Conference, Orlando
Marriott

President's Message

President's Message
by Paul Crawford

The 1994 GCS A A Conference
and Show was a huge success. It was
attended by a record number of FGCS A
members and suppliers. Again to those
superintendents who were not able to
attend, you and your club are missing
out on the best week in the golf maintenance profession. The amount of
education, equipment, and key personnel in the industry is mind boggling.
For those of you who d id attend,
I think you can agree that the FGCSA
reception was a great way to start off the
equipment part of the Show. I would
again like to thank all the sponsors who
contributed to the reception. Please take
the time to look over the list on page six
and thank your sales representatives
when you see them.
Thanks also go to Randy
Nichols and the GCS A A Board for a job
well done in a very difficult year. All but
two of the By Law Amendments were
passed. I believe this shows the support
that this board has attained through their
hard work. All the present Directors
were re-elected to the Board and then
President Joe Baidy appointed Tommy

Paul Crawford
Witt as a Director to the Board.
Marie Roberts was also at the
Show assisting our members and the
Board, making sure that we were in the
right spot at the right time. Marie, Tom
Benefield, and myself also used this
time to solicit ads for our FGCSA publications and we are happy to report that
you will soon see some new advertisers
in our magazine.
Once again, the FGCSA is
among a select group of state superintendent associations that are a member
of the Platinum Tee CI ub with the S5,000
donation that was made on Sunday. The
FGCSA also presented a $1,000 check
to Frank Dobie, President of the Musser

OrREEN S H E E
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
newsletter printed as follows: Jan ./Feb.,
March/April, May/June, July/Aug.,
Sept./Oct., Nov ./Dec.
2

Financial Support:
This issue of the Green Sheet is
being co-sponsored by:
Golf Ventures (800) 330-8874
Lakeland,Tampa and Fort Myers
and
Pifer, Inc. (800) 321-8374
Jupiter
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, April 15.

International Turfgrass Foundation,
which supports graduate students in their
turfgrass research programs.
The GCSAA used the Conference to announce the findings of the first
phase of the Mortality Study (see page 7
of this Green Sheet).
The report
contains some very interesting points
but unfortunately some of the results
were taken out of context by the media.
If these reports have caused concern to
your family members or club officials,
please contact the GCS AA for a copy of
the official Press Release.
All in all, the Conference was a
huge success for the FGCSA. Good to
see so many Florida superintendents
present!
Back in Florida, the FGCSA is
proud to say that we have educated over
200 people during the February 1994
regional pcsticide seminars. Thanks go
to Lee Bloom camp and Drs. Monica
Elliott and Bert McCarty for putting the
seminar together. These seminars are
provided each year on a regional level to
give key personnel, spray technicians,
and assistant superintendents the opportunity to earn 3 CEU credits while
learning the latest in pesticide safety and
disease identification. If the seminar
was not offered in your area, please
contact your chapters External Vice
President to let them know that you are
interested in having your chapter host
one of the seminars next year.
The FGCSA Education Committee has provided educational opportunities for 400 people in the past 12
months through these pesticide seminars, the GCSAA Regional seminars,
the Crowfoot and the Poa seminars.
These are provided as a service to our
members. Our next seminar at the Poa
will be one of our most interesting and
important seminars of the year. It will be
a five hour environmental management
seminar that will open your eyes to some
startling facts about the current philosophies of environmental leadership. The
seminar will be given on Friday, May
13th, from noon to 5:30. The cost will be
$40.00 for those who pre-register either
with their Poa entry or through the
FGCSA office. Don't miss this one!
See you at the Poa!
The Green Sheet

Chapter Events Coming Up in April

Second Annual Envirotron Golf Classic
Due to the overwhelming success of the Inaugural Envirotron Golf Classic,
the Seven Rivers GCSA Tournament Committee with the gracious cooperation of
World Woods Golf Club of Homosassa Springs has expanded the tournament this
year. In addition to the 4-Man Scramble, an individual 18 hole handicap tournament
will be held on the Rolling Oaks Course.
The 27 hole 4-Man Scramble will be played on the Pine Barrens course with
a 10:00 a.m. shotgun start. The 18 hole individual game will have a 10:30 a.m.
shotgun start. Lunch will be provided on the course for both events and the day will
end with prizes and raffle drawings at the awards presentation dinner. Entry fee is
SI00.00 per player. Entry deadline is April 1.
Again this year, proceeds from the tournament will go towards the Envirotron.
To quote Arnold Palmer, "While the Envirotron laboratory has been completed and
dedicated, major financial needs still exist for the purchase of high tech, state-of-theart lab equipment and more dollars are needed to maintain a lop research staff.
Proceeds from the Second Annual Envirotron Golf Classic will be used for these
needs."
This tournament raised a total of $22,500 at its Inaugural last year and the
Committee is hoping for an even bigger success this year. World Woods Golf Resort
donated the use of its facility for the 196 players who participated in 1993. Inaddition,
a great deal of the financial success of the tournament was due to major sponsor
support. We invite all corporations to contact the SRGCS A or the Florida Turfgrass
Association at 1-800-882-6721 to obtain sponsorship information.
^^

SEVENTH ANNUAL OTTO SCHMEISSER
RESEARCH GREEN EXPOSITION
DATE:

Thursday, April 28, 1994

PLACE:

Ft. Lauderdale REC, Davie, Florida

Second Annual Mike
Richards Tournament
The Second Annual Mike
Richard's Memorial Scholarship Tournament will be held April 18th at the
Hidden Hills Country Club in Jacksonville. The 11:00 shotgun, two man
scramble which is hosted by the North
Florida GCSA will benefit the scholarship fund. Scholarship funds are distributed annually through the NFGCSA
to deserving turf students.
Last year's sold-out event was
a great success. Brian Coyne was the
first recipient of the Mike Richards
Scholarship in 1993. He is a third year
student at Lake City Community College. Brian is currently working with
golf course superintendent Frank Sbarro
at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra
Beach while completing his turf curriculum. A resident of Atlantic Beach,
he and his wfe, Amy, have two daughters, Brittany and Chelsea. The North
Florida chapter is proud to support Brian
in his efforts and look foward to working
with him in the future.
For information regarding this
year's scholarship tournament, please
contactKim Shineat904-223-0886. The
event is open to all players.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
7:30 a.m.

Registration

8:00 a.m.

Workshop: Broward County Extension Auditorium
Speakers to be announced. Topics under consideration are:
1) herbicides; 2) adjuvants, surfactants, etc. and 3) DNA testing.

9:45 a.m.

Large Equipment Demonstrations on Green and Fairway

11:30

Supplier Booth Displays (Booth area will be open until 2:00 p.m.)

12:30

Lunch (under the big top)

2:00

FLREC Field Tour of new and old research greens. Updates
will be given on current projects being performed on the green.

2:45

Social Hour: Research Green

REMEMBER: This is the major fund raiser for continued maintenance
and support of the FGCSA Research Green at the Ft. Lauderdale center.
March/April 1994

Kim Shine, CGCS, superintendent at
Windsor Parks GC, is shown presenting scholarship check to 1993 winner,
Brian Coyne
3

FGCSA Winter Board Minutes
The Winter 1994 meeting of the
FGCSA Board of Directors was called to
order by President Paul Crawford at 1:00
p.m. on Saturday, January 15th, at Courtyard
Marriott in Orlando.
Officers attending were Paul
Crawford, Scott Bell and Greg Plotner. Big
Bend, Seven Rivers and North Florida chapters were not represented. Other FGCSA
members attending were: Tom Benefield,
Joel Jackson, Chuck Rogers, and A1 Ross.
SECRETARY/TREASURER: Greg
Plotner submitted the minutes of the Fall
board meeting which were approved.
Greg then submitted the Financial
Statements for the first two quarters of the
1993-94 fiscal year. It was noted that chapter
donations for support of the lobbyist are
doing well and that sponsor support for the
GCS A A reception has been tremendous. The
South Florida chapter continues to be the
main supporter of the Research Fund. Other
chapters need to get more involved.
Chip Fowkes volunteered to look
into other options for our C.D.'s. Since
interest rates are so low, it was decided that
we should look into mutual funds or some
other investments that would be safe, readily
available and yet offer a better return than
C.D. rates.
AWARDS: All Presidents Awards and
Distinguished Service Award nominations
must be received by the FGCSA office prior
to the Poa Board Meeting. Chip Fowkes will
send a letter to all chapters reminding them
of this deadline.
BY LAWS: A discussion was held regarding our new At Large membership applications. Our By Laws state that each application must be approved by the Board of
Directors. This means that new members
can only be approved four times a year. After
a discussion of local chapter procedures for
new members, it was decided to keep the
process as it now stands. As soon as applications are received by the FGCSA office,
they will be sent a letter telling them when
their application will be reviewed.
PUBLICATIONS: Scott Bell reported on
the progress of printing contracts for the
Florida Green for the 1994 year. A motion
was made and accepted to renew the contract
with JanLark Communications at the same
rate for another year. Two bids have been
received for the printing contract. Our current printer, Rinaldi Printing, had the lower
bid and a motion was made and accepted to
4

award them the contract for another year.
Paul Crawford suggested that we should
consider a different source for separations
and he will look into other sources for this
part of the printing process.
Scott then reported that the Winter
1994 issue will be available at the Dallas
convention. The cover story will be Mountain Lake where Steve Ciardullo is superintendent. The cover for the Spring 1994 issue
will be Deer Creek GC, the Summer 1994
cover will be World Woods GC, and the Fall
1994 cover will be Bent Pine GC. Marie
Roberts will notify Danny Zelazek of this
schedule. It was also decided that Chuck
Rogers will be the feature story sometime in
1995 during his term as president of the
FTGA.
Tom Benefield thanked and congratulated Mike Mongoven who was able to
get tremendous response from several Everglades chapter members to contribute towards
this Winter issue story on landscaping. He
personally spoke to 16 superintendents and
got them to write sections of the article. Tom
suggested that if each Vice President did this
once a year, we would have more than enough
"superintendent-written" articles! The theme
for the spring issue is transition practices and
the theme for the summer issue will be mole
crickets. A discussion was held on including
a blanket disclaimer somewhere in the
magazine that would state, "the opinions
expressed by contributing writers are not
necessary the opinion of the FGCSA."
It was decided that instead of
sending cash to the superintendents who
contribute only a portion of an article, we
will order Florida Green shirts and send one
to each contributing superintendent. Those
who write complete articles will continue to
be paid per the scale that was distributed to
all External VPs in 1993.
GREEN SHEET: A discussion was held
regarding limiting the amount of advertising
that is included in each issue. It was suggested that we should strive for a 60% editorial to 40% advertisement ratio. It was also
suggested that we have a written yearly
contract rather than a verbal agreement as we
have had for the past six or seven years.
MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY: The Directory continues to have overwhelming
supplier support for advertisements. The
Publications Committee feels this is a direct
result of limiting the distribution of the directory to only those suppliers who advertise in
the book. It was suggested that a notice be
put in the Green Sheet before the directory

goes to print each year reminding suppliers
of this limitation.
EDUCATION: Paul Crawford reported the
Regional Seminar held in Palm Beach in
November was a financial success with
$472.50profitrealizedby the FGCSA. David
Court has already reserved a 1994 Regional
Seminar. It was also noted that two Regional
Seminars for spray technicians will be held
in Florida in 1994.
A discussion was held regarding
the Poa seminar. Mike Mongoven reported
that the days for the golf tournaments have
been changed to S aturday and Sunday, rather
than Sunday and Monday in order to get
allow more Superintendents to play in the
Poa Tournament. Both events will have an
8:00 a.m. start which means that the seminar
could not be scheduled on either day. After
a discussion, it was decided to hold the
seminar on Friday afternoon and have the
Board Meeting on Friday night. Paul
Crawford reported that David Court has tentatively arranged for Dr. Michael Coffman
of Environmental Perspectives to give the
Poa seminar. This program was presented in
October in West Palm Beach and was very
well received by the superintendents attending. Dr. Coffman's fee is $2,500 plus expenses. Since he is located in Maine, the
expenses will be substantial. The Board
decided that it is willing to subsidize our
educational seminars to some extent but feel
this fee is too high. Paul Crawford will get
with David Court to see if the price can be
negotiated to a more reasonable amount,
especially for a half day program. Another
suggestion was to use Dr. Pagano from Miles
Specialty Products for the Poa seminar. Final decision will be made in time to get the
registration fee for the seminar included as
an option on the Poa Tournament form that is
sent out by the Everglades chapter.
Paul Crawford then announced that
a Pesticide Safety seminar will be given in
Palm Beach, South Florida, Everglades and
Central Florida chapter areas in February.
These were the only chapters requesting a
seminar. External VPs from the four chapters will be asked to act as hosts. The 3 CEU
seminar will be presented by Lee
Bloomcamp, Dr. Monica Elliott and Dr. Bert
McCarty. As an added benefit for attending
the seminar, each FGCSA club will receive
a free copy of "Best Management Practices
for Florida Golf Courses", a 180 page booklet written by Drs. Elliott and McCarty. The
FGCSA Education Committee will underwrite this program as a service to the members who attend the seminar.
The Green Sheet

FGCSA Winter Board Mintues
MEMBERSHIP: Greg Plotner reported
that he is working with the FTGA on a
membership program aimed at clubs who are
not members of either the FTGA or the
FGCSA. He is planning a membership drive
for the FTGA to the high profile (high end)
clubs.
It was suggested that the FGCSA
put together a brochure to be used in future
membership drives. Greg will look into this
project and is open to suggestions. The
brochure and a list of clubs who are not
members would be sent to all local chapters
for their own membership drives.
Again a discussion was held as to
how to get more superintendents to be active
members. Al Ross reported that some of
their members feel they do not get support
from the association when management
companies become involved with their club.
Dale Kuehner asked if the FGCSA would
address the management company issue.
Paul Crawford reported that one of the long
range goals of the FGCSA in conjunction
with the FTGA would be to retain an agronomist to do site visits for member clubs.
Four At Large membership applications were reviewed. Wayne Browning,
James Hussey, and George Kleinpeter were
approved. The fourth applicant, Tim Perciv al,
was rejected because the application was not
properly filled out and was not signed. We
will send his application back with a request
that it be completed and resubmitted. Greg
Plotner reported that he had received a call
from Joe Hubbard, CGCS who has recently
moved from a club in the Panhandle to a
Palm Beach club. He feels there are at least
80 potential members in the Panhandle area
and is willing to help recruit them based on
his own situation.
GOLFTEAM: Florida team members will
be Dave Oliver, Mark Hopkins, Joe Pantaleo
and Joe Ondo. Joe announced a second team
to be composed of Kevin Downing, Chuck
Blankenship, Cary Lewis and Steve Wright.
Joe also reported on the upcoming Greg
Norman International Amateur Golf Challenge . He explained the qualifying format
and presented brochures to each External
VPs to present to their chapter.
Joe Ondo reported that the
Interlachen Tournament raised over $5,000.
Mike Goldie was present at the tournament
to give an update on legislative matters. He
is available for all chapter events and it is
hoped that each chapter will contact Mike
when planning any major fundraisers.
Jim Miller noted that March and
April are very popular times for fundraising
March/April 1994

tournaments and we should strive to keep in
touch with all local chapters so that dates do
not conflict It was suggested that we might
consider printing an FGCSA calendar using
some of Danny Zelazek's photos.
FTGA: Chuck Rogers gave a report on the
lobbyist. He noted that Tom Latta had done
a good job of looking ahead on legislative
action and that Mike doesn't have the ability
to pre-screen all of the issues. Individual
superintendents can give him additional support to red flag things that may be coming up.
This is another reason that local chapters
should strive to have Mike as their guest at
two meetings each year.
Paul Crawford reported on the
Florida Agriculture Showcase that will be
held in Tallahassee in February. It was
suggested that we should contact IF AS personnel and Bob Yount to see if the FTGA is
supporting this event.
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS: Paul
Crawford distributed a letter requesting help
on a committee to investigate palm tree disease. He also mentioned the possibility of
Golf Course News getting involved with
some type of a show in Orlando in November. This would seem to be something that
should be discouraged if it will mean competition to the FTGA Show.
Paul Crawford and Tom Benefield
will visit with the Department of Environmental Protection in Tallahassee again this
year to discuss mutual topics.
It was decided not to renew our
membership in the Wildlife Federation.
Greg Plotner discussed the reclaimed water situation with several country
clubs in the Clearwater area. The clubs are
objecting to being charged an unreasonable
fee. Other counties are watching to see what
will happen. SWFWMD will not take a
stance. The FGCSA Board decided not to
send an advisory letter to clubs but suggested
that Mike Goldie be kept up to date on the
situation.
GCSAA: Paul Crawford reported on the
special meeting of the FGCSA that was held
on December 20th to study the GCSAA
ByLaw amendments that will be voted on in
Dallas. It was decided that the FGCSA will
vote to approve all the amendments as presented. Florida currently has 439 votes with
the final total to be verified in Dallas. Ray
Hansen and Dale Kuehner will attend all the
Meet the Candidate meetings in Dallas and
then have a caucus with all Florida members

on Monday morning before the election.
Qualifications of each candidate were
discussed. The Hyatt has offered the use
of a small meeting room if it is decided
that we need to interview any candidates.
All candidates will be invited to the
Florida reception on Friday night.
Paul Crawford will be making
the FGCSA donation at the Platinum
Tee Club reception in Dallas and will
also attend the Musser Foundation
breakfast to make our donation. Any
member who would like to attend these
functions should contact Paul.
FGCSA RECEPTION: We have
received tremendous support from suppliers and the event promises to be another great evening. All Florida members are urged to attend!
FUND RAISING: NOPI has indicated
their interested in establishing a 1% rebate program. The dollars earned would
go to local chapters. In order for the
program to become effective in your
area, the chapter president must write a
letter to NOPI stating your chapter's
interest.
RESEARCH: The sod certification
program was discussed. Paul Crawford
distributed a copy of the proposed rules
that must be met in order to qualify for
the Florida Certified Seed Program.
Floratex will be the first grass to go
through the program. Others to be added
soon could be Tifdwarf and Tifway. No
growers appeared interested in the current program but this should change
when other established grasses are incorporated into the program. Paul
Crawford spoke on the problems that are
currently being seen at several prominent
courses with 419.
CERTIFICATION: Dale Kuehner reported that the GCSAA has changed the
requirements on CEU programs. You will
no longer be required to take a test at the end
of the seminar but must fill out an affidavit
and return it to the GCSAA.
Paul reminded everyone that the
next board meeting will be a dinner meeting
at the Naples Beach Hotel after the seminar
on Friday night, May 13th.
5

GCSAA Conference Activities

FGCSA RECEPTION
More than 200 FGCSA members and guests enjoyed the
festivities at the "Florida Cantina" in Dallas on Friday night,
February 4th. Many commented that it was the most enjoyable
event of the Convention. We are pleased to quote from a note
received from Alan Puckett, GCSAA Board Member from
Ridge chapter, "it made you proud to be a part of the FGCSA."
The FGCSA would like to thank the following sponsors
who made it all possible and hope to see all of you next year in
San Francisco.
DIAMOND SPONSORS:

GOLD SPONSORS:

Ciba Geigy
Club Car, Inc.
Florida Superior Sand
Hoechst-Roussell
Pursell's Polyon
Rohm and Haas Co.
Valent, USA
Vigoro

Boynton Pump & Irrigation
Central Florida Turf
Dow Elanco
E. R. Jahna
Golf Agronomics
Golf Ventures
Lake City Alumni
Lesco
Liquid Ag
Miles Specialty Products
Pifer Industries
RSI Holdings of Florida
Rhone Poulenc
Sunbelt Seed
Sunniland
TMI Turf Merchants
Van Waters & Rogers
Zaun Equipment

NOTE: The FGCSA office
has received several calls from
other suppliers who would like
to be involved in next year's
reception so prepare for an
even bigger event next year!

John Gallagher, Pennimarie O'Brien, and Alan Puckett
enjoyed the festivities at the FGCSA reception in Dallas.
6

Illlll

H p ™

Board of Directors

President
Vice President
Sec/Treasurer
Past President
Directors:
...11

Joseph B aidy, CCCS
OH
Gary T V l i p ^ M t f
Bruce
Randy
Paul McGiimis, CGCS ¡¡¡¡|Z
So>U
MJ
George
Dave Fearis, CGCS
MO

Tommy Witt, CGCS

TX

GCSAA BY-LAW VOTE
Only two of the proposed GCSAA ByLaw Amendments failed to get the OK from
members at the GCSAA Annual Meeting
held on Monday, February 7th.
Both of the failed Amendments had to
do with establishing new membership
catcorgies. Ballot #6 would have established
a category for Club/Golf/Association Officials. Ballot #5 had six different categories
that were also turned down: Golf Turf Manager, Equipment Manager, Foreman, Irrigation Technician, Spray Technician, and
Maintenance Staff Member.
All other Ballots received the approval
of the GCSAA membership.
A

GCSAA GOLF RESULTS
This year's GCSAA Golf Tournament
was played in 30° weather with a light snow
fal 1 ing! On the second day of the tournament,
play was held up for two hours due to frost.
First time Florida team player, Joe Pantaleo,
stated, "The toughest part was that you couldn't
feel your hands which made putting very
difficult." He did note that the tournament
provided him with a tremendous opportunity
to meet out-of-state superintendents at a slower
pace than on the showroom floor.
Robert Friend, superintendent at The
Lakes GC in Virginia, won the individual
title. Randy Waldron, a former Florida superintendent, earned second place overall with a
fine 70 to help lead his Georgia team to a first
place finish. Unfortunately, our Florida team
suffered from a lack of adequate clothing to
combat the weather conditions and finished
out of the money in fifth place.
^
The Green Sheet

Preliminary Results of GCSAA Study

GCSAA Announces Next Phase of
Health Research Program
The Golf Course Superintendents Association of American announced plans to implement the second phase of the association's planned indepth study of occupational health issues. GCSAA will launch a new series
of health research projects and expand its commitment to chemical applicator
education.
The new series will advance a preliminary statistical study conducted
by an independent research team from the University of Iowa College of
Medicine.
The study was a statistical analysis of death certificates among 618
former GCSAA members who died between 1970 and 1992. The Iowa
researchers found that the group had a higher rate of mortality from lung
cancer than the general population. They also found higher-than-average
mortality for a number of other cancers, including brain, large intestine, nonHodgkin's lymphoma and prostate.
The UI research team leader, Dr. Burton Kross, said that "From a
public and occupational health perspective, the excess number of lung cancer
deaths is a primary concern." Lung and other head and neck cancers have
been strongly associated with cigarette and cigar smoking, but Kross strongly
cautioned that no cause-and-effect relationship to any illness can be determined
by this statistical analysis. According to researchers, a statistical study cannot
be interpreted to link any particular factor to cause of death.
Stephen F. Mona, GCSAA executive director/CEO, said, "Our
mission in funding this independent mortality study was to begin the first
phase of an overall look at occupational health and safety issues that affect our
members. This is a long-term commitment to ensuring that superintendents
work in a safe and healthy environment."
The next phase of the overall effort could include helping association
members stop smoking, expanding GCSAA's current education and training
programs, and completing a statistical mortality ratio study to put UI's
preliminary data into context.
"We also think this gives us an opportunity to forge new partnerships
with groups that can help us accomplish our mission," Mona said. "For
example, the chemical manufacturers have made real strides in packaging and
formulation over the past decade. This is one more reason to work closely
with them in their efforts to develop new technology in products and
packaging. Another example could be working with an organization like the
American Cancer Society on the smoking issue. This also gives GCSAA the
opportunity to continue to strongly encourage and support the Environmental
Protection Agency."

EDITORS OPINION:

Having read the material above, you may wonder what this means to you and your
health. The basic idea it presents is that a large number of superintendents smoke
and smoking causes cancer. There is no link between the products we use or the
environment we work in to the mortality assumptions. If you smoke you should
quit - not only is this the consensus of the study, but also good common sense.

March/April 1994

GCSAA Mortality Study Key
Points
1. The study results are preliminary. The study has yet to go
through the scientific community peer review process and
be formally published before
the results are "final".
2. The study is only a statistical
analysis of mortality. It does not
address what caused thedeaths.
No cause and effect can or
should be drawn from the study.
3. The scientists said specifically
that golfers are not at risk.The
study also does not address or
conclude any possible relationship to wildlife.
4. GCSAA initiated and financed this study because the
association has an obligation
to its members to help ensure
their health and safety.
GCSAA and the University of
Iowa together released this
information to the public.
5. Once the results are final,
GCSAA will have a baseline
to decide what merits further
investigation.
6. This is only the first phase of
a long-term commitment by
GCSAA to study overall
occupational safety and health
for its members.
7. GCSAA will work closely
with the golf industry, health
organizations and the EPA
throughout the process.
7

Golf

Ventures
a complete

line of golf course

products

wen

INC.

Jupiter
(800) 3 2 1 - 8 3 7 4

Lakeland, Tampa, Ft. Myers
(800) 3 3 0 - 8 8 7 4

LOOK INSIDE!
SEE THE HIT OF THE 1994 GCSAA
SHOW IN DALLAS
THE NEW ELECTRIC GREENS MOWER
FROM RANSOMES

Major Fund Raisers Planned
for April (See page 3)
FGCSA Secretary
Mrs. Marie Roberts
1760 N.W. Pine Lake Drive
Stuart, FL 34994

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

ADDRESS C O R R E C T I O N R E Q U E S T E D

Cookingham, Peter
Turfgrass Information Center
MSU: W-212 Library
East Lansing, Michigan 4 8828