President— LEON V. ST. PIERRE Longmeadow Country Club 51 Fenwood Road Longmeadow 6, Mass. Phone LO 7-5562 Secretary— FLOYD N. W1GET Bellevue Golf Club 23 Lynn Falls Parkway Saugus, Mass. 233-1353 First Vice-President— ANTHONY CARANCI JR. Ledgemont Country Club 22 Hillview Drive North Providence 4, R. I. Phone PA 3-1688 Treasurer— ARTHUR L. CODY Wollaston Golf Club Phone Supt. Office at Club GR 2-3535 Home GR 2-7913 19 Ardell Street No. Quincy, Mass. Second Vice-President— RICHARD C. BLAKE Mt. Pleasant Country Club 211 Sewall Street Boyiston, Mass. Phone 869-2737 Trustee— N. J. SPERANDIO Concord Country Club Concord, Mass. Phone EM 9-4723 Trustee— ALBERT L. ALLEN Kernwood Country Club Salem, Mass. Phone PI 4-7783 Trustee— WILLIAM ASH 9 Patton Street No. Dartmouth, Mass. Phone WY 3-8767 Finance Committee Chairman— WILLIAM ASH 9 Patton Street No. Dartmouth, Mass. Phone WY 3-8767 Educational Committee ChairmanTHOMAS CURRAN Oak Hill Country Club 37 Parker Street Fitchburg, Mass. Phone Dl 2-9198 Golf Committee Chairman— Edward J. Murphy Lexington Country Club 194 Oxbow Road Wayland, Mass. Phone 358-7410 Newsletter Committee ChairmanMANUEL N. FRANCIS Belmont Country Club 387 Davis Road Bedford, Mass. Phone 275-8830 Past President— JOSEPH BUTLER United Shoe Country Club 3 Ridgewood Terrace Beverly, Mass. Phone WA 2-1263 Cjolj (bourse Superintendents —^rddociation April Meeting Presidents Message It seems that the Golf Course Superintendent's job classification is the only one connected with Country Club employment that isn't properly defined. Dick Blake is seeking through the National G. C. S. A. and the Department of Labor to come up with a proper job description. New Members Voted in as regular members: Harvey Powers Rockport Golf Club Rockport, Mass. Donald Allen Daigle Woodstock Country Club Woodstock, Vt. Voted in as associate member: George E. Gorton Jr. Furnace Brook Golf Club Quincy, Mass. Application for regular membership: Charles Pullen Nashua Country Club Nashua, N. H. The Dealers' meeting was in the afternoon. When I was a growing boy in the City of Worcester, on my way home from school I had to go down Front Street on the North side of City Hall, where during the month of May the "hucksters" would emerge selling their wares out of a suitcase. The one I remember best of all was the "snake oil man". He invariably wore a checker suit and a pair of spats. His battered suitcase contained several live snakes, before and after pictures of satisfied customers who used his magic balm. His raucous voice proclaimed that the snake oil would cure dandruff, corns and rheumatism. Today the "snake oil man", like the travelling circus, has become a bit of nostalgic Americana. This, unfortunately, is not the case with the new breed of hucksters that emerge every year as the Poa Annua is going to seed. Their routine is about two calls a year to the Superintendent. They carry a bathtub brew type of pesticides and chemicals, which are just as good (so they say) as the company who developed the product and made them what they are. This breed of hawkers are champs at name dropping, they can tell you about everyone's business, whether the Superintendent up the road has a good or bad golf course, etc. They can show you their order book, and convince you they are really selling this "homemade soup" which will cure knotweed, brown patch, et al. As your Club Representative, it is your firm duty to do business with Companies who have a record of successful past performances as their credentials. Leon V. St. Pierre President May Meeting The next meeting will be held at the Foxboro Country Club, Foxboro, Mass. Directions: From Route 1 take Rte. 140 to Rte. 95 overpass in Foxboro - Take Walnut St., Club is on left. Schedule: Director's meeting 10:30 A.M. Business meeting 11:30 A.M. Lunch 12:00 P.M. Golf After lunch Our golf chairman says everyone must register for the golf tournament and turn his card in for handicapping. ADVANCE WARNING - Get your chairman primed for the June 7th Chairmen - Supt. meeting at the Ledgemont Country Club. Of Note . . . The State Department of Water Resources states that 20 inches of rain is needed by June to prevent a drought of major proportion. It might seem early but some Clubs already are threatened with water curtailment. C©mrnuriicafi©ri Today in this world of mass communication from Zip Codes to Beatnik Blurps the methods of understanding one another has not changed. For a person to advance his problems and ideas to another person or group he must convey them in a manner that is understood by those to whom he is trying to reach. The problem is the same with the Golf Course Supt. as it is with a Country Club member in the way he has to communicate to the employees of his business. A Golf Course Supt. must have a proper channel to which the members of the Country Club will receive the Supts. information. Generally Supts. use a Greens chairman as their method of communication. In most cases this is sufficient but in OF some areas that are provocative or need direct membership participation more information can be given to the members directly. This can often be done in such a way as not to affect your chain of command. Information through Bulletin Boards placed in the Pro Shop or near the 1st tee help to serve as a good source through which a Supt. can relay messages. Another and important one is by directly talking to individual members about your problems. These two mentioned can be important in laying the framework for success at the next Club meeting because the individual members will know more about the problems and viewpoints of the Supt. A good reason why the direct approach is sometimes more advantageous is that many Greens chairmen seldom find enough time at club meetings to give appropriate time to your request. Don't forget that there are several committees that have reports and requests to be heard and often your request is not given the proper amount of time for it's approval. Youcan'tblame a member for vetoing a proposal when he has had inadequate information. Help toward putting a feather in your cap with a good information source to your members. The Editor Why a Superintendent Should Attend Educational Meetings As we looked around us we saw small palm trees, thatched roofs, outrigger canoes suspended from rafters, small sparkling waterfalls and pools surrounded by lush undergrowth. Nestled in these tropical surroundings were long piank tables and wicker chairs. At the end of our table a man was discussing choice of grasses for use on tees in northern golf courses. The place was the Kon Tiki dining room in the hotel Sheraton in Cleveland, Ohio. This was not a scheduled lecture, it was a conference bonus - an impromptu dinner invitation following a get-acquainted cocktail party given by a local distributor. It was an unusual and very rewarding opportunity. I have been asked by many people, including greens committee members and other Golf Course Superintendents, why attend conferences. One might also ask why read the professional magazines. Why do other professionals attend conferences and read their professional journals ? I believe that the answer lies in the fact that this is a N E W E N G L A N D changing society. Research is being done, new techniques are being discovered. If we sit complacently behind our desks always doing things the way we first learned them or idly waiting for new techniques to come to us, we are going to be left behind. I don't mean that older techniques were not good, we can profit by past experiences as well, but we must not ignore the new findings of theresearchmeninour field. As laymen we would notwant to rely on doctors who operated according to conditions a half a century ago or on lawyers who knew nothing of the latest legal precedence set in the courts. We are professional men also and weoweittothe people who play golf on our courses and to our selves to keep up on the latest findings in our field. How does one keep up on the latest findings in his field? This can be done quite well by attending conferences and reading the professional journals. Conferences are not just gatherings of "goodtime-Charlies". Certainly the Superintendents have a good time when they get together, it would be unfortunate if they did not. But the main reason for attending a conference is to learn. During the time of a conference there is a variety of lectures, panel discussions, etc. scheduled for the purpose of comparing past experiences and reporting the latest findings of research. Topics range from irrigation, turf grass diseases, methods for keeping ice off of greens, to professional relations between the Superintendent and other golf course officials. There are hundreds of different subjects that can be discussed either by a Superintendent, Equipment salesman, Golf Course Architect, or Professor actually working on a certain problem relating to turf grass. One way in which a Superintendent can pick up useful information other than in the scheduled talks is by having what you call "Bull Sessions" at night or out during coffee breaks, etc. when a group of Superintendents get together the talk is never about world politics or the usual small talk, it's 99% of the time about golf courses. Some one always has a problem they haven't been able to solve, usually someone in the room has had the same problem at one time or another and relates his solution to the problem. It may not be the answer, but it sometimes helps to talk the problem over. It is also important to attend the local association ' s monthly meetings. It's a Superintendent's obligation to go and visit the different courses, something is always learned, I feel no day is a complete waste. In a way visiting another course can be a morale booster. It always seems that your course is in sad shape until you visit another course and see some of their problems. I always feel better when I go back home knowing I am not the only Superintendent with problems. It always helps to get a different viewpoint. I think it is also important for us to keep in NM£M Sil Paulini Inc. Loam Specialists Hopkinton - 435-4370 Larchmont Irrigation Co. Larchmont Lane Lexington, Massachusetts Geoffrey S. Cornish Golf Course Architect Fiddler's Green Amherst, Massachusetts Sawtelle Brothers Jet. Routes 128 & 62 Danvers, Massachusetts Johns Manville Sales Corp. 150 Causeway Street Boston, Massachusetts Tom Irwin Co. Bennet Hill Road Rowley, Massachusetts Philip A. Wogan Golf Course Architect 21 Budleigh Avenue Beverly, Massachusetts mind that you get out of a conference exactly what you put into it. If you feel that it is the same old bull year after year, it's your own fault. Richard C. Mitchell Supt. Thorny Lea Brockton, Mass. Contributions from Our Friends Grounds Equipment Co., Inc. 383 Boylston Street Newton Centre, Massachusetts Turf Equipment Co. 28 Rutledge Road Natick, Massachusetts Abbott Spray & Farm Equipment Co. Waltham Street Lexington, Massachusetts The Hubbard Hall Chemical Co. P. O. Box 790 Waterbury, Connecticut Singleton Irrigations Systems, Inc. Manchester-By-The-Sea, Massachusetts The Clapper Co. 1121 Washington Street West Newton, Massachusetts Courie ^uperin. tenJen li s^iiociation OF NEW E N G L A N D MANUEL N. FRANCIS Belmont Country Club 387 Davis Rood Bedford, Mass. Phone 275-8830 Wyandotte Chemical Corp. 709 Salada Building Boston, Massachusetts The Charles C. Hart Seed Co. Wethersfield, Connecticut ' -