NEWSLETTER OF THE FLORIDA GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCIATION

The Equipment Demonstration always draws a large crowd at the South Florida GCSA Exposition in
Fort Lauderdale. See related story and pictures on page 6.

UPCOMING EVENTS
May 5-7
May 8
May 10
May 16

51st Annual Southeastern
Turfgrass Conference,
Tifton, GA
South Florida chapter
meeting, Westview CC
TCGCSA Blue Pearl Tournament, Loblolly Pines CC
FGCSA Seminar, Crisis
Spokesperson Training,
Naples Beach Hotel. Noon.

June 18

Palm Beach chapter
meeting, Atlantis GC

May 20

Suncoast chapter Annual
Meeting, Sara Bay

May 21

June 21
West Coast chapter
meeting, Summerfield GC

May 21

Palm Beach chapter
meeting, Banyan GC

June 10

Everglades GCSA chapter July 21
meeting, Fiddlesticks

June 10

West Coast chapter
meeting, Carrollwood

Aug. 6

GCSAA Regional Seminar,
Enhancing Your Value as GCS

July

Palm Beach Tournament,
Emerald Dunes GC
Central Florida Annual
Meeting, Lake Nona Club
West Coast chapter
meeting, Countryside GC

May 17

Poa Annua Tournament,
Naples Beach Hotel

June

Sept. 4

May 18

G. C. Horn Tournament
Naples Beach Hotel

South Florida chapter
meeting, Deering Bay CC

GCSAA Regional Seminar,
Lake & Aquatic Plant Mgmt.

June

Central Florida Tourny,
Falcon's Fire Golf Club

Sept. 5
-7

FTGA Conference & Show,
Tampa Convention Center

President's Message

President's Message
by Dale Kuehner, CGCS
The difference between success and
failure sometimes isn't determined by
what you know. Like other things in
life, many times it is who you know or
who can you call. No matter how smart
anyone is, nobody knows everything
about everything. Many times it is more
important to know where to find the
correct answers.
In our profession we are fortunate to
have many excellent sources of valuable
information for us to access about almostanything. Education and the sharing
of information among superintendents
was the primary reason superintendent's
associations were formed. When you
have a problem or need some advice or
help, most of the time you can pick up
the phone and contact another superintendent. It is amazing what diverse
backgrounds people in our business have.
If you can't find the answers in your own
neighborhood don't despair, there are
plenty of other places to find what you
are looking for.

If you need survey information or statistics about golf or golf maintenance, the
GCSAA is an excellent clearinghouse
of information. They will either be able
to provide you with the information
themselves or can find out where you
can get it. The staff at GCSAA headquarters is truly a professional and helpful
bunch. Ask them to help you with a
problem and they seem to make it a
personal mission to get the information
to you as quickly as possible. TheUSGA
is another source of excellent information. From pamphlets that explain
maintenance practices to your members
or techniques for green construction,
they have a wide array of information
for the asking. The USGA's most
valuable information source though is
their regional agronomists. Anyone who
has talked to John Foy will agree that he
can provide a wealth of information
about the problems that are occurring on
golf courses in any given area of the
state. The USGA's Turf Advisory Service is a valuable tool to help sell your
programs to your members or management They provide a truly unbiased
view of your course operation and the
reputation of the USGA carries a lot of
weight with most clubs. The FTGA is
another valuable source of information.
Members receive many informative

GREEN SHEE
Editor:
Greg A. Plotner, CGCS
International Golf Management
Lakeland, FL
(800)413-5500
(941)667-0137 (fax)
News Coordinator:
Mrs. Marie Roberts
1760 N.W. Pine Lake Drive
Stuart, FL 34994
(561) 692-9349
(561) 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.
2

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: June 15.

Dale Kuehner; CGCS
publications ranging from drugs in the
workplace to writing an employee handbook. They also provide some very
good worker safety posters among other
services.
Another valuable source of inormation
is our local suppliers and equipment
venders. Your local sales rep can provide information about many things.
Now that we are in the information age,
knowledge is available at your fingertips.
You can access a whole host of information from your computer. A good place
tostartisonGCSAA's web page. They
have an excellent discussion forum and
also provide links to other sites that may
provide the answers you seek. Many of
the major suppliers now have web pages
that provide excellent product information. Universities also have web sites.
They can provide an excellent place to
either find information or locate a faculty member you can contact to get the
information you seek. A good place to
find obscure information on almost any
subject is in the newsgroups also referred
to as the Usenet. If you are looking for
a particular topic on the Usenet, Deja
News is a good place to start. This is a
storehouse for all the messages sent to
The Green Sheet

Activities Planned for May and June
newsgroups on the Internet. They provide a search engine that allows you to
find what you're after. You can find
Deja News by searching Yahoo or another web search engine.
In our profession it seems that we are
expected to know everything, and you
can — if you only know where to look.
Have a great spring and, as usual, if you
have any comments, please feel free to
give me a call.

Palm Beach Chapter
Hosts 17th Annual Future
of Golf Tournament
This year will be the 17th Annual Future
of Golf Tournament for the Palm Beach
chapter. It will be held on Saturday,
June 21st, 1997, at Emerald Dunes GC.
1:00 p.m. shotgun start.

Everglades Chapter Hosts Poa Weekend

Once again the E verglades GCS A is presenting the Poa Annua Golf Classic
weekend at the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club on Friday, May 16th through
Sunday, May 18th. Room reservations can be made directly with Group Reservations at 1-800-237-7600.
The FGCS A starts the weekend off with an 8:00 a.m. board meeting on Friday. All
interested FGCS A members of all local chapters are invited to attend this morning
meeting in the Sunset Terrace Room of the Naples Beach Hotel.
In the afternoon, the FGCS A seminar begins at 12:00 noon. This year's seminar
features Dr. Tom Morgan who is touted to be an exciting, interesting and motivated
speaker. His topic is "Crisis Spokesperson Training" and Dr. Morgan will be video
recording several attendees in a "mock interview". This exercise will demonstrate
the proper technique of handling yourself with the media. He will also use prerecorded examples of past situations to help attendees understand the concept of
crisis management. This seminar is one you will not want to miss and is open to
anyone who has an interest in the subject. Registration fee is only $35.00 before
May 5th. You do not have to be playing in either the Poa or the G. C. Horn in order
to attend the seminar.
The Poa Tournament will be held on Saturday at the Naples Beach Hotel golf
course with an 8:30 shotgun start Superintendent entry fee includes your dinner
ticket for the Saturday evening barbeque. Jazz on the Green follows at 7:00 p.m.

Proceeds from the tournament will go
The G. C. Horn Tournament will tee off at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday. Last minute
towards the following. The Palm Beach
sponsorships and registration forms for both the Poa and the G. C. Horn may be
chapter will be giving two scholarships
received by calling any of the Everglades GCS A board members.
to turfgrass students and dependents,
continue to fund our Otto Schmeisser
Fund, the FTG A, the Research Green at
Treasure Coast Chapter Hosts
IFAS, and Hook-A-Kid on Golf. We are presently speaking with Jan
Beljan who is working with the Handicap Children's Golf Foundation
Blue Pearl Tournament
to build a small golf course for handicapped children. When this project
gets underway we have expressed an interest in helping to fund and
The Treasure Coast GCS A will sponsor their Fourth
direct various research projects in Palm Beach County. In the immediate
Annual "Blue Pearl Charity Golf Tournament" on
future we have begun two Audubon Cooperative projects under the
Saturday, May 10th at Loblolly Pines GC in Hobe
"Sanctuary of Schools" program. Kids Town, a day care center in
Sound. Entry fee for the 9:00 a.m. shotgun event
Boynton, and Jupiter Farms Elementary have expressed an interest and
is $125.00.
are currently under consideration. Children and Education are clearly
the Future of Golf.
The Blue Pearl is a fund raising tournament committed to the ecuation of environmental awareness.
If you need a registration form for sponsorship or to participate in the
The Treasure Coast GCS A through the New York
tournament, please call the FGCS A office.
Audubon Society Cooperative Wildlife Sanctuary
Program for schools funds environmental and ecoAs we go to press with this Green Sheet, 25 volunteers from the Palm
logical awareness programs in grade schools from
Beach chapter are hard at work as spotters for NBC coverage of the PGA
Hobe Sound to Vero Beach.
Seniors Tournament at PGA National GC in Palm Beach. The chapter
has been fulfilling this service to NBC for the past five years and
Loblolly Pines is a certified Audubon Wildlife
encourages other chapters to pursue this type of fundraiser by contacting
Sanctuary and as you play the course, you will see
tournament officials well in advance of the tournament. Not only does
their efforts for preservation as well as restoration.
the chapter reap the financial rewards from NBC but all of the volunteers
get to spend the weekend watching their favorite golfers play in an
Registration forms for sponsors and players can be
exciting tournament. Thanks to all 25 for volunteering their valuable
requested by calling Bill Lanthier at 561-283-3644
spare time to participate in this worthwhile fundraiser.
or Greg Pheneger at 561-231-1700.
May/June 1997

3

South Florida Exposition

SF Exposition/
University of
Florida Field Day
Draws Crowd of
Over 400
Thanks to the support of our
loyal equipment demonstrators
and sponsors, the 10th Annual
South Florida Exposition was
another spectacular success.
The event is held yearly at the
University of Florida Research
and Education Center in Fort
Lauderdale where the FGCSA
maintains the Otto Schmeisser
Research Green.
This year's event was held in
conjunction with the U of F
Field Day which increased the
attendance figures to over 400
golf course superintendents,
parks and recreation personnel, university personnel, and
turfgrass vendors.

Afternoon activities at the Expo included guided tours of the grounds with
updates on research projects currently underway in Fort Lauderdale.

The Expo events included an
hour and a half equipment
demonstration followed by the
opening of the booth area where
31 booth suppliers helped the
crowd with answers to turf
maintenance questions. University of Florida Field Day
program included researchers
giving tours of the facilities and
updates on their research
projects.
The SFGCSA raised over
$13,000 with this year's event
thanks in great part to all the
booth sponsors and the equipment dealers — Florida Coast
Equipment, Hector Turf,
Kilpatrick Turf and Pifer.
Again this yeara great majority
of the booths have patronized
this event from the beginning,
ten years ago. The SFGCSA
would like to thank Dr. Monica
Elliott and her staff for organizing the Exposition.
4

From left, Bill McKee, Loy Faulk, and Billy Entwistle, Jr.,-- all Past Presidents of
the SFGCSA-continue to help their chapter by supporting the Expo.
The Green Sheet

FGCSA Local Chapter Activities

More Local Chapter Tournaments Double as Social Events and Major Fundraisers
Central Florida Chapter:
The Windermere Country Club played
host to the CFGCS A' s 3rd Annual Danny
Burgess Memorial Golf Tournament on
March 24th.
The day began with Central Florida
chapter president, Kevin Rotti, making
a scholarship presentation to two Lake
City turf students, Ken Maltby and
Walter E. Wells. Eighty-eight golfers
teed up for the shotgun start. Host superintendent Mark McKenna had the
course ready for play and the wind added
length to an already long layout. The
winning team with a fine 58 was composed of Jeff Cotton, Mike
Higginbotham, Todd Thomas and Lee
Zellin. Second place went to the team of
Michael Owen, Billy Griffith, Joey
Brownsberger and Barry Shuman with a
60.

The CFGCS A would like to thank Mark
McKenna, Windermere golf professional
Mary Thomas, and the many corporate
sponsors for making this tournament
another financial success.
The Central Florida chapter also needs
to be commended for volunteering their
time as spotters for NBC Sports in thencoverage of the Bay Hill Invitational.
For the efforts of the 30 members who
spent their weekend at Bay Hill, the
Central Florida chapter received a $2,000
contribution from NBC. Special thanks
go to George Carroll for spearheading
this fundraising event.

North Florida Chapter

The 5th Annual Mike Richards Memorial
Scholarship Tournament was held on
April 7, 1997 at Jacksonville G&CC.
This year the tournament was dedicated
to the memory of Allan MacCurrach,
Senior PGA Agronomist who passed
away in January.
The 1996-97 recipient of the NFGCSA
scholarship went to David Robinson who
May/June 1997

accepted the $3,000 scholarship during
the awards presentaziton at this years
tournament. David is a second year turf
student at Lake City Community College
where he currently holds a 4.0 GPA.
David is now serving as vice president
of the student chapter of the FTGA and
has worked at Longboat Key Club and
River Wilderness CC. David's wife Kim
and six month old daughter Kelsey
support his goal of becoming a
contributing member of the green
industry. The NFGCSA wishes David
and his family much luck in the future.

Suncoast Chanter:
This year's Suncoast Scramble was
another outstanding success with proceeds exceeding $12,000.
The annual event sponsored by the
Suncoast GCSA was held on Tuesday,
March 18th at Misty Creek Golf and
Country Club in Sarasota with Tom
Crawford serving as host superintendent.
In keeping with the purpose "to inform,
educate and promote a professional bond
between those dedicated to the golfing
industry within our area", the tournament
uses a four man scratch scramble format
with teams composed of a superintendent, pro, club manager and association
member. We would like to congratulate
the teams from Lake Venice and Sunrise
Golf Club which turned in a fine 58 and
also to Pelican Pointe, Gulf Gate and
Laurel Oaks for their 59.
The Suncoast Board of Directors would
like to thank all of the sponsors for this
event whose loyalty enables this tournament to be such a success.
The Suncoast Golf Course Superintendents Association will hold their Annual
Meeting at Sara Bay Country Club on
Tuesday, May 20th. Members will be
voting on some By Law changes that
will enable the Suncoast chapter to fin-

ish their requirements to become an affiliated chapter of the GCS AA. Chapter
officers will be elected at this meeting.
Suncoast is one of the few chapters that
requires a two year commitment from
officers and so we congratulate those
who are willing to give of their spare
time to serve their fellow members.

West Coast Chapter;

The West Coast GCSA recently hosted
their 2nd Annual Benevolent Fund Golf
Tournament at Cheval Country Club. A
special thank you to Kirk Sowers for
hosting this event. The golf course was
in great condition and with the little
wind that day it played very tough! Everyone should take example of Kirk's
dedication, not only to his job, but to his
profession. Keep up the good work.
An outstanding day was had by all. Special thanks to Eric Joy for his assistance
and for taking care of the sponsor board.
It should be noted that almost everyone
who participated left with a prize. This
is due to the hard work of chapter members who generated a tremendous
number of contributions both in cash
and in golf related articles. There cannot be another chapter that is able to list
more than 100 donated items! Yes, that
is over 100 donations!! Congratulations
to Gerald "Mr. Lucky" Marquardt for
winning the grand prize — 32" TV and
entertainment center in the massive raffle
that was held after golf.
The team of Eric Joy, Jeff Harrison,
B lake Hey dinger and Jerry Zimmer took
1st place net honors. Chip Lewison,
Gary Lewison, Mike Cook and Jim
Kinzeh held on for 1 st place gross honors.
The tournament raised over $5,300 for
the West Coast chapter's Benevolent
Fund with donations still coming in. If
any chapter is interested in starting a
Benevolent Fund of their own for thenchapter members, please feel free to
contact Garth Boline, West Coast chapter president for help.
5

Fifth Annual Envirotron Golf Classic

Fifth Annual Envirotron
Golf Classic

Beautiful weather greeted the full field
of golfers teeing off for the Fifth Annual
Envirotron Golf Classic on Monday,
April 21st at the World Woods Golf
Club. Host superintendent Steve Hritsko
had the Pine Barrens and Rolling Oaks
courses ready for the challenge by preparing thecourses,dealing with the hectic
scheduling of the day, and the Post
Tournament clean up. He and his staff
are top shelf.
The success of this tournament is due to
the hard work and dedication of the
Seven Rivers GCSA Tournament
Committee headed up by Glenn
Oberlander. Glenn has shown the kind
of dedication and willingness to give of
himself and of this time that is rarely
seen. Starting in September of each of
the past five years, Glenn begins the
voyage few of us would care to take. "If
this phone rings again, I'm going to
scream," becomes the battle cry by Mid
April, so call Glenn now to say thanks
and keep up the support.
Probably the most important participants
in the success of this tournament are our
Sponsors. Let us take this opportunity to
list this years sponsors:

CHAMPION SPONSOR
BARBARON INC.
EAGLE SPONSORS

Chipco Choice/Insect Control System
Golf Ventures/Lykes/Helena/Ran somes
Southern Golf Products
Terra FMC Talstar
The ToroCompan: Florida distributors
World Woods Golf Club

BIRDIE SPONSORS

Seminole Marico Fertilizer
Tresca/Jacobsen
Harrell's Fertilizer/Polyon
IMC Vigoro
Howards Fertilizer
Bayer
DowElanco
Nucrane Machinery
6

Lansbrook and Richard Ferrell
Greg Norman Turf
Fazio Golf Course Designers
Hi-Acres Sod and the Links at 434

PAR SPONSORS

Zeneca Professional Products
Douglas Fertilizer
Gold Kist/Turf Seed Inc.
Micro Flo Company
United Horticultural Supply
Citrus Hills G&CC
Aquatrols
Eco-Soil Systems
Legacy/Century Rain Aid/Atlantic
Irrigation
Lesco
ISS Golf Course Services
Novartis T/O
Liquid Ed
WCI Communities
Central Florida Turf
Environmental Care Inc.
See the next issue of the FTGA Turf
Digest and the FGCSA Florida Green
for the results. Again, thanks to all who
participated and THANK YOU
SPONSORS!!!
-Jf

Ridge Invitational
This year's Ridge Invitational was
the most successful of all. Over
$8,500 was raised thanks to our
sponsors and participants in the
tournament. Grasslands and Roy
Wilshire, CGCS, proved to be an
outstanding host for the sixth year
in a row and, once again, the food
and comraderie was outstanding.
There were 108 golfers in this years
event; the competition was fierce.
The Overall Gross champion with
the score of 74 was Dale Reasch,
CGCS, of Countryside CC. The
champion in the Net Division was
Joe Ondo, CGCS, of Winter Pines
GC, with a 71.
We are pleased to report that the
Ridge team won the chapter event
and we are looking foward to defending our championship at the
Poa next month. Thanks again to
everyone who participated in this
year's event.
The Green Sheet

Rorida Legislative Report

1997 Legislative Session Report
by Mike Goldie
"As we approach the midway point of
the 1997 Session, I have prepared a list
of bills effecting our members.
WATER RESOURCES;

This is the "Coalition" Bill.

HB 715 Rep. Laurent:

HB 1339 - Rep. Goode:

• AddressestheestablishmentofMFL's,
including requirements that DEP or
WMDs develop strategy to aid in the
recovery of water resources that have
fallen below their MFL;

• Establishes linkages among the Rorida
Water Plan, District Water Management
Plan, and Regional Water Supply Plans

• Specifies that WMDs are responsible
for water resource development;
• Establishes criteria by which wateruse permits can be issued for up to 20
years and;
• Promotes "Local Sources First".
HB 1321 Rep. Bitner:
• Specifies criteria for DEP/WMD establishment of MFLs, including a requirement that those agencies offset any
advisers impact to existing permitted
water users, or other legal users, due to
adoption of an MFL prior to implementation.

Zephyrhills GC, Zephyrhills
Shawn Murphy, Class A, Bay
Tree GC, Winter Haven
Mark Pincket, Class A, Raintree
Golf Resort, Fort Lauderdale
Paul WargO, Class A, Sabal Trace
GC, North Port
Charles Bess, Class A, Betmar
Acres Club, Zephyrhills
David Datema, Class A, Golf and
Sea Club, Apollo Beach
Eric Kellum, Class C, Pebble
Creek CC, Tampa
David Wilson, Class A, Sun Aire
CC, Haines City
Damian Falso, Class B, Villa del
Ray, Wellington
John Luper, Class A, Grenelefe
Resort
Scott Corwin, Class A, Belleview
Mido GC
Ashley Wilkenson, Class C, Pine
Tree GC, Boynton Beach
Tom Gerlach, Class B, Lone Pine
GC, West Palm Beach
Mark Petsch, Class B, Golden
Bear, North Palm Beach
Thomas Paulson, Class C, Bear
Lakes, West Palm Beach
Aki Polvikoski, Class B, The
Fountains GC, Lake Worth
Pasi Pussinen, Class B, The
Fountains GC, Lake Worth

• Directs DEP/WMDs to offset any
adverse impact to existing permitted
water users, or other legal users, due to
adoption of a reservation of waters, by
developing and funding sufficient water
supply, prior to implementing a reservation.

• Specifies what constitutes water resource development and water supply
development, and who is responsible for
each;
• Addresses WMD budget submission
to the Governor, and
• Directs Public Service Commission to
presume as correct or prudent when determining rates those costs which a utility incurs in order to comply with DEP
or WMD environmental permitting requirements.
This is the Governor's bill.

Newly Certified Golf
Course Superintendents

TAXES;

HB 209 - Rep. Ziebarth

Tom Vlach, Pine Tree GC, Boynton
Beach, earned his certification status
in November.

This bill exempts sales tax on farm
equipment over a three year period (turf
farming.)

FGCSA Board Meeting: Friday, May 16th, 8:00 a.m.,
Naples Beach Hotel. Open to all members.
May/June 1997

John Drossos, Class B,

• Declares that water resource development is the responsibility of the WMDs
and water supply development is the
responsibility of local governments,
utilities, regional water supply authorities and special taxing districts; and

One of the most important issues and
one which causes the most debate and
disagreement is "minimal flows and
levels" (MFLs). The term means the
maximum sustainable usage of a water
body or source which will still protect
the environment, i.e., wildlife, etc. Who
sets the MFLs, how are they set, and the
impact of MFLs are the points of disagreement.

• Address WMD appointment, budgeting and personnel issues, including requirement that the Governor appoint the
executive directs of each WMD;

^New FGCSA Members ^

Ron Wright, CC of Mobile, Alabama
received his certification in April.
Even though Ron has moved out of
state, his heart remains in Florida.
\

*

J
7

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• New golf course pyrethroid insecticide
• Talstar GC Flowable is a broad-spectrum insecticide
• Long residual, virtually no odor, no phytotoxicity
• Talstar GC Granular controls mole crickets for up to
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army worms and other surface feeders
For additional information,
please see our insert.

-FMC

© 1997 FMC Corporation.
The FMC logo and Talstar are registered trademarks of FMC Corporation.

GOLF VENTURES welcomes GREG TURNER as
West Coast Territory Manager for Equipment.

Chapters Host Tournament Fundraisers
FGCSA Secretary
Mrs. Marie Roberts
1760 N.W. Pine Lake Drive
Stuart, FL 34994

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

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

Cookingham, Peter
Turfgrass Information Center
MSU:

W-212 Library

East Lansing, Michi 4 8 8 2 4

^K/nteno^