i %<» m ^ ^ m m W i M ^ s ^ s m m m r m

VOLUME XII, PART 2, MARCH/APRIL 1996
NEWSLETTER OF THE FLORIDA GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCIATION

fi'i^S
urn*

Mar. 7

NFGCSA chapter meeting,
Magnolia Point G&CC

See page 7 for
recap of GCSAA
Convention
Activities

UPCOMING EVENTS
Apr. 16 NF/Mike Richards Memorial
Tournament, Windsor Parke

May 14 NFGCSA chapter meeting,
Baymeadows GC

Mar. 11 U of F 1996 Turf Field
- 12
Days, Gainesville campus

Apr. 18 USGA Regional Conference
Palm Beach Gardens

May 17 FGCSA Architecture seminar,
Naples Beach Club

Mar. 20 TCGCSA chapter meeting,
Indian River Planation

Apr. 22 Envirotron Tournament,
World Woods GC

May 17 Poa Tournament, Naples
-19 Beach Hotel

Mar. 27 SFGCSA Exposition, Fort
Lauderdale IFAS Center

Apr. 23 GCSAA Calibration &
Pesticide Equipment Seminar

June 14 EGCSA/GCSAA Regional
Seminar, Colliers Reserve

Mar. 30 CFGCSA/Danny Burgess
Memorial, Windermere CC

Apr. 25 GCSAA Irrigation System
Seminar, Deerfield Beach.

Aug. 3 Crowfoot Open, Walt
-5
Disney World

Apr. 15 West Coast chapter meeting
Belleview Mido

Apr. 26 Everglades spring seminar,
Vanderbilt Beach, Naples

Aug. 28 FGCSA/GCSAA Regional
Seminar, Palm Beach

Apr. 15 USGA Regional Conference
Orlando

May 4

Aug 23 FTGA Conference & Show,
- 26
Tampa Convention Center

TCGCSA Blue Pearl
Tournament, Loblolly Pines

Guest Editorial

FGCSA Presidenty Greg Plotner CGCS, has relinquished his column this month so that
Past President Tom Benefield can present the following report.
Perhaps there is no other issue involving
the maintenance of fine quality turf of
more importance than that of having an
ample available supply of quality irrigation water. Even with all the technical
improvements and advances in research
of the more drought tolerant varieties of
grasses we still depend as much as ever
on our irrigation water.
In the need for quality water we in the
turf industry are no different than everyone else out there in this marvelous
place we call mother earth. Agricultural
interests are being pressured intensely
on their usage. The "great society" of
major cities in our state is in an everincreasing need for more "public" water. And now we have another player in
the quest for water supplies, the environmental water demand. Thislastplayer
has become a formidable foe. All of this
illustrates how competitive the demand
for high grade top quality water has
become.
We have seen for some time now that
this carving up of the water supply was
slowly moving towards the turf industry.
It was as recently as 1990 and 1991 that

the powers to be wanted to reduce allocations by 80% (only our industry) and
force us to take and pay exorbitant
amounts for the low quality recycled
pollution (effluent water) from the "great
society". We managed to successfully
prevent this from happening back then,
but knew that this was not a subject
which was going away and would have
to be addressed again. Well that time
has arrived.
As preparations for the legislative season are under way, we find a myriad of
water supply changes being bantered
about. It is in sharp contrast to the effort
put forth last year in this political arena.
You got the "Governors" select committee working on water issues facing
Florida's future. Then there is the
"House" select committee and their
agendas, recommendations and legislative proposals. Add in the five autonomous Water Management Districts with
their fund raising abilities, the DEP who
has no money but has a healthy appetite
for more power over the WMD's among
others, and perhaps the newest of the
participants the Fish and Game Commission folks. It seems that in the eyes

GREEN S H E E T ^

•sJLe

Editor:
Greg A. Plotner, CGCS
The Medalist Golf Club
Hobe Sound, FL 33475
(407) 546-0647
(407) 546-1795 (fax)
News Coordinator:
Mrs. Marie Roberts
1760 N.W. Pine Lake Drive
Stuart, FL 34994
(407) 692-9349
(407) 692-9654 (Fax)
(800) 732-6053 (Florida Wats)

The Green Sheet is a bimonthly FGCS A
newsletter printed as follows: Jan./Feb.,
March/April, May/June, July/Aug.,
Sept./Oct., Nov./Dec.

Financial Support:
This issue of the Green Sheet is
being sponsored by:
Golf Ventures
2101 EastEdgewood Dr.
Lakeland, FL 33803
(800) 330-8874
Ft. Myers: 800-481-8911
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.

of the state the water supplies of the
"environment" will be first in line when
they allocate available supplies.
It is this newest group of water allocation that is putting a pinch on all the
other entities vying for water. By allocating first for the environmental needs
of the state, the rest of the user groups
will be competing for the remaining
available water supply. All of these
competing interests must be alert and
proactive this year in the WMD's as well
as in the state legislature.
Below you can see some of the early
proposals coming out of the House Select Committee on Water.
Committee Interim report concluded:
• Significant concern over water supply
policies by all users where there are
water shortages
• Current basis of Florida water law is
sound
• Water availability inventories need to
be developed based on hydrologic basis
Current implementation of water supply
planning is lacking
• Minimum levels and flows must be
developed early in the process for planning areas
Recommendations were:
• Legislature should establish areas
where water supply plans should be
completed
• All planning requirements should be
eliminated and replaced with the allocation specific strategiesfor these areas
• Final water supply plans to be approved by legislature
• Strengthen the statutory language
relating to fundamental water law, including that water is a public resource

Chapter Activities
and that minimum flows and levels must
be established so water can be sustainable for future human use.
Proposed legislation:
• Repeals statutory provisions of Florida
water Plan and state water use plan
• DEP to have overall responsibility of
statewide implementation of state law
and policy
• WMD to have direct responsibility for
implementation of state law and policy but answerable of DEP for their performance in implementation ofstate law
and policy
• Establishes areas to develop comprehensive water supply plan (Tampa area,
Orlando area and LEC)
• Require WMD's to develop a comprehensive plan for each identified areas
• Requires completion one year from
identification of area
• Allows WMD to unilaterally prepare
plan to meet time frame
As you can see there are plenty of creative ideas being floated around our
capital and this is just one of the policy
making entities with whom we will be
getting recommendations and direction
from. It is imperative we expend all
necessary resources in this arena to effectively represent our concerns and
interests.
With this in mind, the FTGA has asked
the FGCSA to join forces to raise the
level of representation on water issues
statewide and retain the services of a
group of Water Resource Consultants
— McVicar, Frcdcrico and Lamb — to
be our eyes and ears this year.
Why was this group chosen?
MFL have between them over 30 years
of working background in the South
Florida WMD. They have worked with
SFWMD staff on such things as planning,

regulation, permitting, policy making
and research. They have also worked
with staff from DEP and legislative
committees and all the other WMD's
staff. They are without doubt the most
talented water consulting firm available.
Even though the legislative session is
still several weeks away they have been
busy for the last three months working
with staff and other coalition groups
which have similar interests as ours.
Some board member (FTGA) asked as
to why we needed another consulting
group for Tallahassee since we already
have our lobbyist, MikeGoldie, on board.
The answer is simple. Mike, for all his
positive involvement, cannot effectively
deal with the complex nature of this type
of work. This is not a knock against
Mike. He is doing a fine job for us, but
his expertise is not close to that of MFL
in this area.
Finally, for all those who believe we
could get by without having to spend
money for this group, maybe you are
right. Just maybe everything would fall
into place for us without having the best
firm available working for us. Then
again, I have my doubts.
We as board members of the FTGA and
FGCSA would be derelict in our duties
to serve your best interests if we did not
bring in this firm. We would all feci very
badly if we did not attempt to influence
policies on water. If we did nothing and
4-5 years from now we were operating
under guidelines and rules by which our
water supply was not only limited but
also of the poorest quality, we would
feel foolish for not spending the money
this year to attempt to get a deal we can
live and prosper with.
And, there is no guarantee that even with
this group's help we will get everything
we want. Maybe what we want is out of
reach but at least we can console ourselves in the fact we tried to make a
difference for the good of all the members. As a board member all one can do
is try their best and give their all for their
associations and we can be confident we
are doing that in this situation.

Ninth Annual
SFGCSA Exposition
The Ninth Annual SFGCSA Turfgrass
Exposition will be held on Wednesday,
March 27th at the University of Florida
Fort Lauderdale REC.
This year the program will begin with a
field tour of the FGCSA research green
and updates on other research projects
being performed at the REC. From
there the crowd will go to the green for
a two hour equipment demonstration
program by Florida Coast Equipment,
Hector Turf, Kilpatrick Turf and Pifer.
The booth show area will then open
from 11:00 to 1:00 p.m. After lunch,
there will be two seminars in the auditoriums. Dr. Bert McCarty, Clemson University, will speak on "Weed Control
Update for Florida" and Dr. Thomas
Perkins, American Cyanamid, will speak
on "Factors Effecting the Performance
of Turfgrass Herbicides." CEU's have
been approved for these seminars.
In its history, this event has raL'd over
$100,000 for the maintenance ana import of the University of Florida Fori
Lauderdale campus. It is the major
fundraiser for the SFGCSA and chapter
members urge all superintendents in the
southern half of Florida to attend and
find out tor yourself what research is
being done on your behalf.
Registration is $25.00 before March 15th
and $35.00 after March 15th. Registration forms can be obtained by calling
the FGCSA office.

USGA Green Section
Conferences April 15 & 18
Speakers for this year's Green Section
Conference will include Chris Hartwiger,
USGA; Barry Frank, NGF; Pat Jones,
GCS AA; Dr. John Cisar and Dr. Monica
Elliott, IF AS; William Amick, Golf
Course Architect; Steve Beeman,
EcoShores; and the ever popular Whit
Collins. Registration forms can be obtained by calling the USGA office at
407-546-2620

The Winter 1996 meeting of the FGCSA
Board of Directors was called to order
by President Greg Plotner, CGCS, at
1:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 13th at
the Bay Hill Club in Orlando.
All officers were in attendance. Every
chapter was represented. Other FGCSA
members attending the meeting were
Joel Jackson -Florida Green editor; Paul
Crawford - Florida Green Business
Manager; Geoff Coggan - Central Florida
chapter; Mark Richard, CGCS; Gary
Grigg, CGCS, Jeff Klontz, Palm Beach
chapter; and Mike Goldie.
Minutes of the Fall 1995 FGCSA Board
Meeting were approved.
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: Secretary/Treasurer Joe Ondo went over the
financial statements for the second
quarter of the fiscal year. It was noted
that the GCS AA has officially approved
a $10,000 DNA research grant to the
FGCSA for the next two years.
IRS A adit: An attorney has been
cop acted to act in our behalf with the
iRS on the Unrelated Business Income
Tax question. He has suggested that we
appeal the decision that our advertising
income is taxable. His fee to make the
initial Appeal would be ~$1,000. Paul
Crawford noted that no one has been
able to successfully appeal the IRS on
the UBIT situation. However, the board
felt that since our tax would be ~$8,000
each year, it would be worth the SI ,000
or so to try the appeal. Scott Bell made
a motion to spend up to SI,000 on an
appeal. If the appeal it not settled with
the SI ,000 fee, it must be brought back
to the board for further action. The
motion was approved.
Chapters were asked to fill out their
proposed donation schedule for this fiscal year and return it to the FGCSA
office before the Poa board meeting.
By Laws: After the vote at the GCS A A
Convention, the FGCSA will propose to
make the necessary ByLaw changes at
the Poa board meeting. No action will
be taken before the Convention.

AWARDS: All Distinguished Service
Award and Presidents Awards nominations must be received in the FGCSA
office before the Poa Board Meeting.
EDUCATION: ChipFowkcsdiscussed
the GCS AA Regional Seminar schedule
for next year. Florida superintendents
will have the opportunity to attend
seminars on June 14th in Naples and
then again on August 28th in Palm Beach.
The topic for the Naples seminar will be
Drainage and the Palm Beach seminar
will be on Turfgrass Stress. In addition
the North Florida chapter is trying to
schedule a date in January 1997 for a
Regional Seminar in their area.
Chip is also planning the Poa seminar
which will be held on Friday afternoon,
May 17th, at the Naples Beach Club. It
wi 11 be a five hour seminar in order to get
CEU's. Darren Davis announced that
the Everglades spring seminar will be
held in April and they have lined up
some big name speakers such as Pat
Cobb from Auburn and Dr. Peacock
from North Carolina Slate. Bob Klitz
announced that the South Florida Expo
will be held on Wednesday, March 27th
at the IFAS Center in Fort Lauderdale.
MEMBERSHIP: Membership has
almost reached our 850 goal. All members who join between January and June
will be pro-rated to 50%. Mark Richard
announced that he is still interested in
recruiting new members from his area of
the Panhandle. The Big Bend chapter in
Tallahassee has re-organized and is eager to rejoin the FGCSA.
POA and CROWFOOT: Darren
Davis announced that the Poa weekend
will be May 17 through 19 at the Naples
Beach Resort. Education will be on
Friday afternoon, Poa tournament on
Saturday morning and the G. C. Horn
Tournament on Sunday morning. Joe
Ondo announced that the Crowfoot
would be held during the first weekend
in August and would be played at Eagle
Pines on Monday, August 5th. There
will be no education at the Crowfoot due
to poor attendance in past years.

FTG A: Alan Puckett reported that the
FTG A has been informed, however belatedly, that Bert McCarty has resigned
from the UF to accept a position at
Clemson. Dr. Grady Miller will replace
him as Envirotron coordinator. Upon
learning that it may be some time before
Dr. McCarty's position is filled, the
FTGA let the UF administration know
how important this position is to the
future of turfgrass research donations
and requested that action be taken as
soon as possible.
Alan reported that the FTGA has responded to requests from superintendents and is changing the Show dates to
the weekend to better accommodate the
superintendent schedule. The 1996
FTGA Convention will open on Saturday, August 24th with concurrent sessions in the morning; the showroom
floor open in the afternoon; and the
Presidents Reception will be held in the
Convention Center at 6:30 p.m. Sunday
will be the free day at the show which
will be open from 9:00 a.m. - 3 p.m. The
Toro corn boil will be held S unday night.
The fishing tournament and golf tournaments will be held on Monday. It is
hoped that this schedule will allow more
superintendents to attend the show. The
FGCSA will do everything possible to
encourage members to attend in appreciation for the schedule change.
Alan noted that the FTGA is in better
shape financially and day to day operations arc within budgetary guidelines.
The next topic of discussion was a proposal from the firm of MacVicar,
Fcderico and Lamb to provide services
as a "water rights watchdog" for the
FTGA. Alan noted that since this year
will be an important one for water related
government activities, the FTGA has
already approved funding this proposal.
They are now asking the FGCSA to join
them in funding the proposal. He noted
that Jan Belgian and Tim Hiers had
written in support of the need for help in
water related issues. The FGCSA board
agreed that the concept of a water rights
watchdog is a good idea but had some
reservations about the fee schedule as

proposed by this firm. Since the FTG A
has not solicited bids from any other
company, the board decided that some
action needs to be taken before approving their request. It was also noted that
the FTGA and FGCSA are looking for
information only, and that any follow up
with legal action or interaction to change
things would have to be undertaken by
the FTGA or the FGCSA. Since there is
no money available in the FGCSA Operating Budget, the funding for our share
of the proposal would have to come
from chapter donations. Kevin Downing volunteered to check into this firm to
see who their clients are and to check
their qualifications. A proposal was
made that upon acceptance of the firm
by the FGCSA Executive Council, the
FGCSA will commit $6,000 to the
project for the first year. The motion
was approved. It was again pointed out
that the purpose is to obtain information
rather than to lobby for any action.
FUND RAISING: Greg Plotncr announced that Valent is in the final stages
of a program that will generate funds
from the sale of Orthcne and Pinpoint to
be used for turfgrass research. The program will be very simple to operate with
no reporting or record keeping needed
by the superintendent.
GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS:
Darren Davis discussed mix/load facility plans that are being offered by IFAS
and the DEP. The question of whether
these "plans" will become"regulations"
in the future was discussed. Gary Grigg
reported that the GCSAA is aware of
these proposals and is reviewing them.
DACS will reimburse a golf course up to
$7,644 for participating in thcirprogram
and allowing them to use the facility for
future inspections. Qualifications for
entry into the program were discussed.
Mike Goldie stated that since this is an
election year for many representatives
and senators, each chapter should make
a special effort to invite candidates to
attend chapter meetings that will have a
good turnout. These are prospective
lawmakers and getting commitments
from them during election years is al-

ways a good idea. Mike will help any
chapter plan these meetings and will
also be available to attend.
RESEARCH: Gary Grigg announced
that the GCSAA is taking a more active
role in avoiding duplication of research
efforts throughout the country. He also
reported that the results of the Iowa
study on exposure are being reviewed
by a firm in Washington due to some
question about the results and testing
procedures used in the study. Kevin
announced that the figures on the proposed ball roll study on the Ft. Lauderdale Research Green are higher than
anticipated. At this time the study is on
hold.
GCSAA CHAPTER AFFILIATION
AGREEMENT: Gary Grigg, GCSAA
President, gave a presentation on the
history of the GCSAA chapter affiliation agreement which has been in existence for many years. The Affiliation
Agreement is used to protect both the
GCSAA and the local chapters with a
goal of closer chapter relations. He
discussed the history of the dual membership issue and explained how it had
changed in the past several years. It was
also mentioned that many chapters have
discussed initiating a new membership
classification that would be used to
cover those superintendents who can
not or will not join the GCSAA. In this
way, they would still be able to join their
local chapter as a non-voting member.
He noted that there are 10,000 Class A
and B superintendent members in the
GCSAA but only 1800 Assistants. By
dropping Class C dues for Assistant
Superintendents to 50%, the GCSAA
expects to eventually build up the base.
Dues revenue would decrease the first
year or two but is expected to increase in
future years. He noted that only 17% of
the total GCSAA income comes from
dues. The current GCSAA Chapter
Affiliation Agreement will be good
through the year 2000.
Gary noted that there arc only four states
who use a combined state chapter as an
affiliated chaptcr of the GCSAA and

that these states have different options.
He stated that if the FGCSA is a true
umbrella chapter with all local chapters
coming under the same incorporation
and tax identification number, the
GCSAA will have no problem allowing
all the local chapters to affiliate as well
as the FGCSA. It was noted that this
was meant to be the way is was set up
with the IRS when the FGCSA first
became a tax-exempt organization in
1987. This is why all chapters have been
required to file their year end financial
statements as attachments to the FGCSA
yearly tax return. We will check with
our current CPA firm to confirm this. If
this proves to be the case, the financial
cost of affiliating with the GCSAA will
drop significantly for all our local chapters. It is hoped that all local chapters
and the FGCSA will continue to be
GCSAA affiliated chapters.
Greg Plotner asked all External Vice
Presidents to take no action until after
the national so that we can check on our
corporate structure. It was noted that
the FGCSA should be developing their
own "Affiliation Agreement" for all local chapters to sign that would be modeled after the GCSAA. Greg established
a committee to develop guidelines for
all chapters to follow that would be
ready in time for review at the Poa Board
Meeting. Joel Jackson volunteered to
serve on the committee and Greg asked
for other volunteers to call him directly.
GCSAA BY-LAW CHANGES: Dale
Kuehner went over the new GCSAA By
Law changes that will be voted on at the
Convention. After a brief discussion, a
motion was made to approve all the By
Law changes as presented by the
GCSAA. The motion was approved
and therefore Dale will vote yes for all
the changes.
GCSAA candidates for election and reelection to the Board of Directors were
also discussed.
The next FGCSA board meeting will be
held on Friday morning, May 17th at the
Naples Beach Hotel. The meeting was
adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

Chapter Activities

Another Successful
LCCC Golf Tournament
at Riverwood GC
The Fourth Annual Lake City Community College Endowment Fund Raising
Golf Tournament was held January 12,
1996 at Riverwood Golf Club. Though
the day started off with a torrential
rainfall, the tournament did manage to
start after about a 45 minute delay. The
event raised in excess of $9,000 thanks
to the support of the sponsors and players.
Though the winners received some great
prizes and the raffle prizes were valued
at 510,000, the real winner was Lake
City Communiry College Golf Operations as well as the whole turf industry.
A Flight winners were Tom Hilfcrty and
Andy Burmester while Greg Pheneger
and Ralph Daire took first place in the B
Flight. Rick Tatum was the big raffle
winner with a cruise to Cozumel and
Jack Stahl won the $500 cash prize.
See more details, pictures and list of all
sponsors in the next Florida Green.

Illoxan
Labeling Information
Please be aware that in response to
requirements of the Florida Pesticide
Law and Rules for purchase and/or
use of ILLOXAN 3EC HERBICIDE,
the container must be accompanied
by a particular specimen label. The
label numbcr(s) that the Florida DCS
require are as follows: HoechstRoussel on label front with EPA SLN
#890030 or AgrEvo on label front
with EPA SLN #960001.
Please be advised that violations may
subject you to administrative action
by the Bureau of Compliance Monitoring. Labels may be obtained at
point of purchase from your local
authorized AgrEvo distributor or by
contacting the AgrEvo Specialty Sales
Representative in your area.

Everglades GCSA
Spring Seminar

Fourth Annual
Envirotron Golf Classic

TheEvergladesGCSA hosts their spring
seminar on Friday, April 26th at La
Playa on Vanderbilt Beach in Naples.

The Seven Rivers GCSA presents their
4th Annual Envirotron Golf Classic at
World Woods GC on Monday, April 22nd.
Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. for the
10:30 a.m. shotgun start.

The 9:00 a.m. program begins with Dr.
Charles Peacock, North Carolina State,
who will speak on Best Management
Practices. Darren Davis, winner of the
GCS AA Environmental Steward Award,
will speak on Environmental Concerns
for the Maintenance Facility. He will be
followed by the always popular Dr. Pat
Cobb of Auburn University who will
speak on Controlling Mole Crickets.
The afternoon program includes USG A
Agronomist, John Foy, who will speak
on Trends and Turf Tips for Florida Golf
Courses . Next will be a discussion by
Paul Latshaw, golf course superintendent at Congressional CC, on Preparing
a Golf Course for a Major Tournament.
The ladies finish off the day's activities
with Shelly Foy, State Coordinator for
the New York Audubon Society, speaking on updates to the Cooperative Sanctuary Program and then Jan Bcljan, Fazio
Golf Design, will speak on Environmental Impacts of Golf Courses.
For registration information, call Darren
Davis, at 941-353-4441.

North Florida hosts 4th
Annual Tournament

The North Florida GCSA will host the
Fourth Annual Mike Richards Memorial Scholarship Tournament on April
16th, 1996 at the Windsor Parke Golf
Club in Jacksonville. The event is a two
man scramble with an 8:00a.m. shotgun
start followed by an awards luncheon.
All proceeds are distributed in the form
of a scholarship in October. The
NFGCSA would like to encourage participation in this event by fellow superintendents throughout the state. Please
contact Beth Smith, chapter secretary at
904-755-5451, or Kim Shine, CGCS at
904-223-0886 for further information
and tournament entry forms.

Again this year there will be two separate
18 hole 4-man handicap scrambles on the
Pine Barren course and the Rolling Oaks
course at the prestigious World Woods
GC in Brooksville. The $100 entry fee
includes golf, lunch and a steak and shrimp
buffet after the tournament with raffles,
door prizes, silent auction and live entertainment.
This is the largest fundraiser of any Florida
chapter and has already raised $87,500 in
their first three years. Funds raised are
used to support the Envirotron on the
University of Florida Gainesville campus.
There are several levels of sponsorship
available for the tournament and prospective sponsors should contact Glen
Oberlander at 904-795-7017.

m

University Field Days
The 1996 Turfgrass Field Days at the
Department of Environmental Horticulture on the University of Florida
Gainesville campus begins at noon on
March 11. Formal presentations and a
tour of the IFAS greenhouse complex and
the adjacent Envirotron Research Laboratory will keep everyone busy until the
program ends at 5:30. A dinner social at
the home of Dr. J. B. Sartain will follow.
Events continue at 9:00 a.m. on March 12
with an outside tour at the G. C. Horn
Turfgrass Field Laboratory which will
include an overview of current research
projects. After lunch an optional golf
tournament will begin at 1:00 p.m.
The 1996 Turfgrass Field Day program is
free and open to the public. For information, call Dr. A1 Dudek at 904-392-7939.
Forgolf information,call Dr. Grady Miller
at 904-392-7942.

GCSAA Recap

When the GCSAA Came to Town
Florida superintendents played host to a record setting crowd of more than
21,000 turf related professionals at the 67th International Golf Course
Conference and Show in Orlando last month. And the Florida superintendent
was everywhere! Not only did our Florida foursome take the chapter team
competition low gross title, our Florida Green once again took first place
honors in the Newsletter Contest! We also had two Florida superintendents
pass the Certification Exam during the Convention, one of our superintendents on the Environmental General Session Panel, and several of our
superintendents were honored in the Environmental Steward Awards ceremony. And, not to be overlooked, we definitely had the largest and most
sought after reception in the history of the GCSAA Convention!
The Florida #1 team composed of Buck Buckner, Jim Osburn, Kevin
Downing and Mark Hopkins finished with a two shot win to end a 13 year
dry spell. In addition to Buck who finished third overall, other Florida
superintendents winning prizes in their flights were Hal Richburg, Kevin
Rotti and Tom Trammel. Also congratulations to Kevin Downing and Fred
Klauk for winning the 4 ball tournament on Sunday.
Darren Davis, superintendent at Olde Florida Golf Club in Naples, was
named National Winner in the private golf course category during the 4th
Annual Environmental Steward Award ceremony. Congratulations, Darren.
In addition to the three national winners there were 16 regional winners
selected including two from Florida: James Lehman from Queens Harbour
Y&CC in Jacksonville and Rob Kloska from The Champions Club at
Summerfield in Stuart. Finally Bob Bittner from The Club at Pelican Bay in
Naples was one of the 17 merit winners. Again, Florida leads the way in
protecting and enhancing the environment.
During the Convention, FGCSA President Greg Plotner presented a $1,000
check to the Musser Foundation to aid outstanding doctoral candidates
nationwide. He also attended the Friends of the Foundation reception to
receive recognition for Florida's continued commitment to the GCSAA's
Platinum Tee Club through our 55,000 annual donation.
Other individual achievements included Tim Hiers' performance on the
Environmental Session Panel, and Geoff Coggan and David Oliver who
passed the GCSAA Certification Test on their first try! We would also like
to recognize those superintendents in the Orlando area who took the time to
accompany many of the out of town superintendents as they played or just
walked their courses. Also thanks to all the members of the Central Florida
chapter who served on the GCSAA Committee to welcome new exhibitors
and spent time in the FGCSA host booth during showroom hours.
And then there was the reception! Paul Crawford reported that more than
950 people passed through the doors on their way to the Florida Island
Festival. We appreciate the support of all our Florida sponsors who were
responsible for this great event.
And, last not certainly not least, congratulations to Gary Grigg for his year
as GCSAA President. Gary did a fine job of leading the Association through
this transitional year while balancing the demands of his position at Royal
Poinciana GC in Naples. We are proud to have Gary as a member of the
FGCSA.

The Florida GCSA would like to
thank the following sponsors for
supporting the 1996 GCSAA
Reception in Orlando
TRIPLE DIAMOND SPONSORS:
Southern Golf Products
Vigoro Industries
DOUBLE DIAMOND gPQNsWRS;
• Golf Agronomics Supply & Handling
• Harrells Fertilizer/Bayer Corp.
• Helena/Golf Ventures
• Kilpatrick Turf Equipment/Jacobsen:

Boynton Pump & Irrigation Supply/ Rain Bird

• Toro Distributors of Florida:

Hector, Wesco, Zaun, Gulf Shore Turf Supply

• United Horticultural Supply/Barricade
DIAMOND SPONSORS:

AgrEvo
American Cyanamid
Ciba
Club Car
DuCor/Aimcor
Florida Coast Equipment
Florida Superior Sand
Lake City Community College
NcCrane Machinery
NutriTurf
Pursell
Quality Turf
Rohm and Haas
South Florida Grassing
Terra Asgrow
Tresca Industries
Valent USA

GOLD SPONSORS:

Ag Resources/Pickseed
Andy's Plant Aids
Boynton Botanicals
Central Florida GCSA
Conrad Yelvington
DowElanco
E. R. Jahna
Everglades GCSA
Florida Golf Renovation
Go-For Supply
Gold Kist
Hendrix and Dail
Hi Tech Turf Products

LESCO
North Florida GCSA
Palm Beach GCSA
Pifer
Sullivan Electric
Sunniland
The Scotts Company
Turf Merchants
Tom Burrows Turfgrass
Vicksburg Chemical
W. W. Googe
West Coast GCSA

Golf I 4 V e n t u r e s
u

M

a complete line of golf course products

Lakeland
Ft. Myers

800.330-8874

800-481-8911

GOLF VENTURES
is now the exclusive distributor in Florida
for

HELENA CHEMICALS
& SPECIALTY PRODUCTS
Florida Superintendents and the Orange County
Convention Center Prove to be Gracious Hosts
for the 1996 GCSAA Convention
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 CORRECTION REQUESTED
Cookingham, Peter
Turfgrass Information Center
M S U : W - 2 1 2 Library
East Lansing, Michiga 4 8 8 2 4

P£RINTEHOP*

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