NORTHERN MICHIGAN TURF MANAGERS ASSOCIATION C. E. “TUCK” TATE, PRESIDENT THOS. J. REED, SECRETARY-TREAS. MICHAEL T. GARVALE, VICE-PRESIDENT 3733 APOLLO DRIVE TRAVERSE CITY, MI. 49684 PHONE: 616/943- 83U3 PHONE: 61 MONDAY, MAY l6th, I98U SHUSS MOUNTAIN GOLF CLUB Just off of M-88, west of MANCELONA Our first meeting of this Association will be held at the above ind:cated place. We will be the guests of three members on this occassion and we thank them in advance for their gratefullness and hospitality. They are, Gary Livingston, the Superintendent, Rodger Jabara, the P.G.A. Golf Professional and Victor Zucco the Owner. For those of you that do not know how to get there, Mancelona is on U.S. 131 and M-66. When one gets to the traffic light at Mancelona, turn west a couple of miles on M-88 and on your north side, you will see the big entrance sign to Shuss Mountain. Shuss Mountain golf course is a beautiful 18 hole layout that you will find very interesting to play. It is very demanding due to the woods and trees, the beautiful dog legs not to mention the length of some of the holes. It is definitely not a pushover and considered by the Northern Section of the P.G.A. as one of its best tests of golf. We are very grateful to the above gentlemen for the opportunity to be permitted to play. Like most of our meetings, it is a dinner meeting and dinner will be served at 6:15 P.M. We mention this for those of you that may come for the dinner and the business meeting afterward. For those of you wanting to play golf, please arrange your time schedule so that you will have your details like golf snd "Happy Hour" behind you by this appointed time. If you wish to play golf, it will not be necessary so early in the season to get starting times or reserve a golf cart. If you wish to check with the Pro Shop there the phone number's 616/587-9232. Dinner will be served in the Restaurant and Shuss Mountain has an excellent reputation for serving good food. This has been the experience with the many part'es and meetings held there in the past. We must tell them of the number that w’ll be there for dinner so as usual, we are enclosing a postcard for your "YES" or "NO". We would also like to remind you that if you know someone, a friend, an assistant a co-worker who is interested in our association.......... be sure to br’ng him or her along to this meeting. Again we will be giving a prize for returning postcards and you do not have to be present to win. If you don't send in your card, there is no chance of winning, like a putt that never gets to the hole. So get that card in the mail TODAY. We are fortunate in having as our speaker this year, Dr. Harold Davidson, Professor of Horticulture at Michigan State University. Dr. Davidson is in his consulting year which means that he will probably retire sometime in 198b. He is considered one of the experts in Nursery Management and has a succeful book on the subject. He has previously spoken to several other organizations like ours and so his message should be most interesting to us that not only worry about turfgrass but also have the problem of trees to content with. Dr. Davidson will speak after dinner as is the normal program that we follow. Photographs by Tom Meeks bove, left) In discussing the options open to a player who has hit his ball into a water hazard, one is usually overlooked. The player can always play the shot from within the hazard. (Above, right) Mike Butz, our model, has played the ball from the hazard, but. unfortunately, he's hit it out of bounds. Now he is using the new method of dropping to put another ball into play. Notice the club in his left hand, though. One hopes he lifts it before the ball hits the ground, or else he'll have more problems. On Becoming A Rules Expert Two-and-a-half days of mind-numbing lectures might turn some people into authorities, but to others it's like staring into the sun. by Robert Sommers NOW HAD TURNED to grimy slush on the streets motif hung in front of windows of ripply leaded glass S of New York one crisp December morning some years ago when I stepped shiny-eyed through the doors of the USGA for my first day with Golf Journal. The office was located in an old brownstone that once that let in the light while they obscured a rather dis­ agreeable view of brick walls behind the USGA building. It was a pleasant office, one that I was to use for a short period when Joe moved to larger quarters upstairs. belonged to the Morgan family, on East 38th Street, a Through many years of experience Dey had developed few steps from Park Avenue in the Murray Hill section a ritual. As each new employee reported for his first day of xManhattan. It was an elegant house. A black, wrought- of duty he would be led to Joe’s office, and after a brief iron grate covered the beveled glass front door that opened greeting he would be taken to the library for a discussion into a tiny vestibule, and two swinging glass doors led of his responsibilities. T he two would sit facing each into the small lobby. The floor was covered in black and other in green leathei lounge chairs placed beside another white marble tiles, and off to the right a graceful stairway old fireplace beneath a portrait of Bob Jones at the finish covered by bland carpeting led to the second floor. of his swing. Glass-fronted bookcases lined the walls and Entering for the first time, I was struck by the a bow window looked out onto the city. I never tired of silence. People moved about quietly and spoke in hushed being in that room; it was full of grace and elegance. tone as if somewhere inside monks were at prayer. The conversation with Joe lasted only a short time. Joe Dey was Executive Director in those dimly He went over my duties, and outlined some of the bene­ remembered times. His office, near the head of the stair­ fits, including vacation time, which had to be in the way, was paneled in a tawny colored oak and his desk winter. As we were about to part, he slapped me on the sat near a brown marble fireplace. Drapes with a golf knee and said, “It’s good to have you with us.” 2 Golf Journal Then, as he walked toward his office and I headed for intensity of men gone mad. The lecturers were Tom mine, he turned and said abruptly: Meeks, of the USGA staff, who answers the telephone “By the way; don’t answer any Rules questions’” with a bellow that can splinter glass, and Joe Black, of the PGA, who, while officiating at a Tour tournament HILE I CAN’T SAY my pride was dealt a mortal called the Eastern Open years ago, drove a golf cart W blow, I wondered to myself who he thought he was directly into a tree while looking straight ahead. I watched dealing with. I was not exactly new to the game; after all, him do it. Black is perhaps better known as the man who my father and my uncle had taken me and my toy clubs penalized Jack Nicklaus two strokes for slow play early around the golf course many times before I entered in Nicklaus’s career and lived to see it have no effect. kindergarten. I knew the difference between a sand trap Regardless of their idiosyncrasies, however, Meeks and a parallel water hazard, and I had even helped and Black are as expert in the Rules of Golf as one can conduct a few tournaments before I joined the USGA, get south of those who write them in the first place. handing dowrn rulings with the aplomb of Talleyrand. Before we go further, I should explain the genesis of As I sit here at my typewriter it is now many years the Rules Workshops. They were initiated as a means of later and I am many times wiser. In the interval I have providing formal instruction in a field in which, until learned many things, among them: then, one learned through osmosis; if you hung around 1. It’s a bunker, not a sand trap; long enough you were bound to learn a few things. 2. It’s a lateral, not parallel, water hazard; Whether what you learned was right or wrong was 3. I’m not fit to officiate at a golf tournament. another matter. Realizing that the game needed some­ While I was a bit put out at Joe’s warning so long thing better, the USGA and the PGA of America jointly ago, I was further irritated more recently when Harry created a series of workshops. As near as anybody can Easterly, then the Senior Executive Director, on learning recall, about 50 students turned out for the first one, con­ that I had answered a Rules question for a friend, re­ ducted in Atlanta, in 1975. marked, “What’s he doing answering Rules questions?” Each year the project seems to grow. This year, I will no longer sulk at such treatment. I will tell because of the extensive revision of the Rules, the two you why. groups will conduct 10 workshops, each with 75 students. In mid-January I attended what is called a Rules So, 750 golfers and golf administrators will have been Workshop. In reality it is two-and-a-half days of dawn- exposed to these maniacal sessions. to-darkness, mind-numbing lectures delivered with the RATIONALIZED my choice of the first session of the I year — which happened to be in Florida in January — by telling evervone who asked that I thought it was wise Tom Watson, who’s always ready to help with the Rules, to learn the new Rules as early as I could. So what if I ponders over his nearest point of relief from ground under went to Palm Beach in January rather than Philadelphia repair. See the two tee pegs on Watson s side of the white line? The peg nearest to him is Tom’s nearest relief point. He may in March? Lots of others had the same idea; the USGA drop a ball within one club length of that peg, without penalty. and the PGA agreed to limit classes to 75, and so when the applications for the Palm Beach session climbed well past 100, they added a second section — j ust like the New York-to-Washington air shuttle. I should also explain that these workshops are de­ signed primarily for those familial with the Rules, not for beginners. Most of those in my class had connections with golf associations. For example, down in the first row sat Wm. Ward Foshay, a man with some experience officiating golf competitions — he was thereferee during those tense moments in 1966 when Arnold Palmer was losing seven strokes to Bill Casper during the last round of the Open at the Olympic Club, in San Francisco, and again the next day when Casper won the playoff. Foshay was President of the USGA then and had already served as Chairman of the Rules of Golf Committee. Beside him sat Mrs. Foshay, herself a former Chairman of the USGA Women's Committee and Captain of the 1982 United States Team in the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship. A number of other prominent golf officials were scattered throughout the room — Lester Varn, President of the Southern Golf Association; Steve Mona, Executive Director of the Georgia Golf Association; Tim Moss, 3 tournament director of the Women’s International, at discussions, like the caddie problem, we didn’t have a Moss Creek, South Carolina; Jim Hart, tournament chance. We broke up at 6:45 with four more definitions director of the Carolinas PGA; Mrs. Bonnie Farnsworth, to go. Rules committee chairman of the Chicago District At 8:15 the next morning we were back in place, Women’s Golf Association; and Mrs. Charles Becker, of Dave Cookson still not saying a word and Wimpfheimer the Women’s Western Golf Association. and I growling that we couldn’t hear. (Never mind, When the sessions began and everyone stood in turn because by now I was beginning to feel much more com­ and told the class his name and affiliation, I began to fortable. Some of the comments convinced me I had as wonder what in the world I was doing in this company. good a knowledge of them as many of my colleagues. T his The room was arranged as a college lecture hall — still leaves us well shy of being experts, I hasten to say.) about five tiers of seats, each with a desk. Since I was During the morning we were embroiled in the delayed in arr iving at the lecture hall because of hitting nuances of Rule 1-2, which says, “No player or caddie two balls into the lake on the 15th at Seminole that shall take any action to influence the position or the morning, I had to take whatever seat was left. I found movement of a ball except in accordance with the Rules.’’ myself in the last row, seated between Dave Cookson, a Someone leaped into tfie discussion by asking if that doctor of internal medicine from Madison, Wisconsin, meant a player couldn’t stand in such a way that his and C. A. (Tony) Wimpfheimer, a high kookoolorum at shadow covered the grass at the edge of the hole while Random House, the publisher. For the last few years, his ball overhung the lip. As fast as the questioner leaped Tony has edited the book The Rules of Golf Illustrated in, another leaped in behind him. and Explained, by Tom Watson with Frank Hannigan. I “Nonsense,’’ said Bill Buchanan, an agronomist and assumed that after years of slashing the precious words a member of the USGA Green Section staff , a man who of authors with rapier thrusts of sharp pencils — like the knows about grass. He told us that casting one’s shadow heroic Errol Flynn skewering the evil Basil Rathbone — for the 10 seconds the Rules allow for determining if a he felt a little instruction in the Rules couldn’t hurt. ball is at rest or moving will have no effect whatever. Tony spent a good part of the two-and-a-half days barking I didn’t know that. As many another of us, I thought at Professors Meeks and Black that we in the back row I was being shrewd. I could imagine the blade of grass couldn’t hear when they put aside their microphones and realizing in his tiny little brain that he had been cut off spoke au natural. from the sunlight and that he had better wiggle around Dave, on the other hand, said nothing, and when the until he found it again, while casually flicking aside exercise ended he scored 94 on the examination. Tony that round lump resting on his back. Alas, those grass didn’t. blades aren’t that alert. Maybe if you waited an hour-and- a-half the grass might shift, Buchanan said, but by then E WERE in for a treat: for months Meeks had you'd have been escorted from the course by howling mobs. W worked on a series of slides that illustrate the Rules, and they were to be used for the first time with our group. E HAD other moments, too. Some years ago the The slides were a spectacular success. Slide followed slide as we went first through etiquette and then into W USGA was asked to rule on a predicament involving two women golfers and a snake. The snake was catching Definitions. some rays in a bunker where one of the women hit her The whole operation was moving along smoothly ball. A question of procedure was involved, which was until we reached the definition of caddie. At that point decided by the Rule of Equity. The player could move we were thrown into a philosophical dispute about why, her ball from harm’s way. in both the United States Junior Amateur and the United In setting up his slides, Meeks wanted to use this States Girls’ Junior, the USGA prohibits close relatives Decision, but that brought up a problem. Where would from acting as caddies. The issue was raised and the debate he find an obliging snake? Meeks pondered the question kept alive by a young man not long out of junior ranks. for a time, and then one warm, sunny day last summer While most of us squirmed in our chairs and grumbled, he was playing golf with a friend when what to his minutes flew by and the argument droned on. amazed eyes did he see but a venomous reptile wriggling At dinner that night I saw the young man waiting its way across the fairway. tables in a restaurant, and I learned that he is the son of Trumpeting like an angry elephant, Meeks cried, a golf professional and often plays in tournaments where “Get that snake! I need him!’’ fathers and brothers of his opponents caddie and give His companion wrenched the wheel of the cart to the advice. He feels the USGA should permit this in its left and caught Sir Snake with his left front tire. Far from competitions. Evidently all he wants is an advantage. being squashed, the snake shrugged it off as a minor What’s the game coming to? inconvenience. All the same he increased his pace toward Anyway, before the session began we were given a the woods and safety. With a cry like Tarzan, Meeks schedule that charted our paths through the rocks and leaped from the cart and chased after him, waving a shoals of the workshop. The first session began at 1 sand iron over his head. As Tom was about to deliver the o’clock; when it ended, at 6:15 that evening, we were to mortal blow, the snake decided he’d had enough. He have completed Rule 3. Because of some long and fruitless turned, glared at his tormentor, and showed him his U 34 Golf Jouhnal f fangs. Realizing a sand iron wasn’t nearly enough club in this situation, Meeks leaped back into the cart and sped off toward safety. Someone lent him a rubber snake to photograph. Meeks told the story to a small group one afternoon. “The snake was a little upset, wasn’t he?” someone asked. “He didn’t act friendly,” Meeks said. “What kind was it?” another asked. “A big one,” Meeks answered. No naturalist he. As the days droned on it seemed to a few of us that something is missing in the Rules, something that would simplify things. In the spirit of brotherhood we offer this advice to the Rules of Golf Committees of the USGA and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, the organizations that have laid out this labyrinth. Please, gentlemen, when next you meet see if you can work out some keys, a formula, that would tell us: 1. When you drop a ball and when you place it; 2. When you replace a ball you’ve caused to move and when you play the ball as it lies; 3. When one incurs a one-stroke penalty and when two strokes (in stroke play) or loss of hole (in match play); 4. When a ball is in play when it is dropped and when it is in play only when it’s hit. It seemed to me and a few of my muddle-minded colleagues that the Rules could stand a little uniformity in those areas. Of course it was all perfectly clear to Dave Cookson. As the final day ran its course, something else became clear. These workshops are not for those of us with short attention spans. They take long periods of concentration. On the final afternoon, when we were catching up to the ambitious schedule, I began to feel as if for two-and-a-half days I had been staring into the sun. At the same time, I can also say that I survived, and I had a stronger feel for the Rules than I’ve ever had. As I walked down the steps after the workshop merci- fullv adjourned, I saw Meeks and Black grinning at me like the Marquis de Sade in mid-orgy. “Congratulations,” Meeks giggled. “You’re now a Rules official.” Oh no I’m not. If any of you out there have visions of laving your Rules problems on me, don’t. Joe Dey was right. I don’t answer Rules questions. (Above, left) Having failed to bring a live snake to heel, our great white hunter had to settle for a synthetic reptile for his illustration of the R ule of equity. He may soon change this slide, however; he's just remembered that the guy next door has a pet boa constrictor. There goes the neighborhood. (Left) Jay Sigel, another quality player, has a problem, too. Since the new Rules eliminate relief from an obstruction within a hazard, he either plays the ball from the bridge, drops behind the hazard with a penalty of one stroke, or goes back to where he played the origi­ nal shot. He may. however, ground his club on the obstruction. March/April 1984 September of 1982 and the CM survey was published in December 1983. Fig­ Letters ures compared more than a year later should, by all logic, be higher. Thoughts It probably would be more helpful for the average reader to examine fig­ ures that exhibit more information than on the Business of I Jfe reflected in the CM survey. For exam­ ple, there is a substantial difference in salaries paid to Certified Club Mana­ Salaries and CMAA gers than non-certified club managers. General managers earn more than club Whether we find pleasure in managers and/or clubhouse managers. our work or whether we find it he special feature, "Club Manage­ a bore, depends entirely upon The "Club Managers' Profile" done by ment Salary Survey," in the De­ CMAA reflects substantially more in­ our mental attitude toward it, not upon the task itself cember 1983 issue of Club Manage­ formation than contained in the CM Almost every conspicuously ment is only part of the story. As execu­ report, it deals not only with com­ successful American owes his tive director of the C lub Managers pensation by type of club, years as a rise to having thrown himself Association of America it appears club manager, geographic regions, size heartily into his work and appropriate to make some comments of club and gross revenue of clubs, but to having done it better than which may help CMAA members as it also reflects substantial information ordinary. To get the best and well as some club officials view the re­ which addresses benefits for and per­ most out of life, put the best port in broader perspective. and most ofyourself into it. sonal data about club managers and As stated in the narrative, the ran­ other top management personnel. B.C. Forbes dom survey was done among CM read­ It is stated in the CM report that ers. Considering that the circulation of assistant managers average $409 per CM approximates 10,000, it's notewor­ week —or $21,268 per year. In the 1982 * * * thy that only 4,149 of that number are CMAA survey, the rate is $31,851 per There is nothing like a dish towel for wip­ ing that contented look off a husband's face. members of CMAA. Thus, the salary year for assistant managers. * * * levels reflected in the article are prob­ Salaries for the top 10 per cent of the Do you feel you belong to the ably not fully representative of the managers were from a high $86,000 to “older generation” these days? Don’t members of our association. $51,000. The average remuneration for be alarmed if you do. Over 60% of When CMAA conducts a survey, we the people in the United States can’t Certified Club Managers in the top 10 tell you what the Great Depression feel that a response of at least one-third per cent was $60,501 compared to was like . . . they weren’t even born of the membership is needed in order $59,932 tor the non-CCM. in 1929! to claim validity and credibility to the * * * It appears that club managers who figures collected. For example, in 1982 belong to CMAA experience more The cowboy's horse stopped suddenly. Injun trouble! CMAA, with assistance in compilation financially rewarding careers than * * * and tabulation by the national account­ those who do not belong. Managers "Doctor, was my operation a success?" ing firm of Pannell Kerr Forster, con­ and assistant managers who would like "Who's a doctor? I'm St. Peter." ducted its Compensation Survey deal­ to have more information about CMAA * * * ing with the "Club Managers' Profile." membership and all persons interested Did you hear about the psychiat­ Out of approximately 2,656 active and rist who hit upon a new kind of in additional salary, benefits and per­ shock treatment? He sends his bill provisional members surveyed, 1,084 son.il data should call or write; Club in advance. questionnaires were tabulated. This Managers Association of America, 7615 * * * represented 40.8 per cent of the total Winterberry Place, P. O. Box 34482, Dad, what do you call the person who mailing. The outside firm of PKF was brings you into contact with the spirit Bethesda, MD 20817 (301/229-3600). world?" used to ensure independence and con­ Membership in the association may "A bartender, my son." fidentiality of the data provided by in­ be extended to a person who at the time * * * dividual managers. In the CM survey, ot applying for and election to mem­ We all have heard gags about the only 272 responses were tabulated bership is employed as an executive, used car ads which read: “Driven by from a market in excess of 10,000. little old lady only to church and manager or assistant manager of an en­ grocery store.” The average weekly salary for mana­ tity defined as a private membership gers which was reflected in the CM club(s). Applicants simultaneously But maybe you haven’t seen the music store ad which read: “For study was $683, which extends to apply for membership in both the sale at Bargain — Practically new, $35,516 annually. Well over a year ago national association and the local chap­ small organ used to play light hymns the average cash income for a manager ter having jurisdiction over the area in only on Sunday by elderly lady in her reflected in the CMAA survey was stocking feet.” which the club is located. * * * $39,000. Salaries for Certified Club At the CMAA national headquar­ Now-a-days, the three R's stand for Managers nationwide amounted to an ters, we will be pleased to assist qual­ Headin', Rilin', and Riotin'. average of $45,500. ified applicants who would be in­ ❖ * $ The CMAA survey was published in terested in sharing and participating in Men are just the opposite of guns — the smaller the caliber, the larger the bore. CLU8 MANAGEMENT the opportunities for professionalism * * * Credit: Verdure and career advancement in club man­ agement. Wife to inebriated husband. “If it were the first time, Clyde, I could Horace G. Duncan, CAE forgive you. But it happened before in Executive Director, CMAA 1954.“ 6 DIRECTOR’S COLUMN You must remember that no matter what requirements are finally decided upon, no matter how strict they are, being a Certified Golf Course Superintendent does not guarantee performance A WHOLE NEW LOOK FOR OUR and only the superintendent’s employer will be the judge of his, CERTIFICATION PROGRAM or her, performance. I strongly believe that, if given the chance, The G.C.S.A.A. Certification Committee unveiled in Las this revised program will benefit us all by providing the means Vegas their first rough draft for upgrading the certification pro­ that a superintendent can use to help make himself more valuable gram. It was easy to see after reading their twenty-nine draft, to his employer and a better professional turfgrass manager. that many hours of hard work and serious thought went into J. Michael Hart, C.G.C.S. their proposal. This rough draft should be required reading for anyone considering entering the program, and especially those who have been opposed to certification. In their first draft, the committee attempted to make major changes in the program, respective to the criticism that many members have voiced over the young life of the certification program. They proposed future minimum education re­ quirements beginning with an associates degree or equivalent, HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR TREES? escalating to a bachelor of science degree or its equivalent by the year 2005. This approach should end the criticism of no The loss of vigor, or death of a plant is usually the result of educational requirements. Another criticism has been that only one or more of the following conditions. Disease, insects, “textbook” knowledge is necessary to become certified. The mechanical damage, drought or flooding. This is true of all G.C.S.A.A. Committee has come up with some changes to vegetation that exist on the golf course. make entering the program a little tougher. One area where they As golf course superintendents we are primarily concerned suggest a change is eligibility. Their plan is to, in the future, with the plants that are predominant on the golf course; Grass! require an applicant to have completed an intership under a class That is unless you have devised a mode of existence where the “A” professional superintendent, and in the year 1995 mak­ necessities of life are eliminated or have a wife, girlfriend or ing only C.G.C.S.’s mentors of interns. combination thereof that will support you when your unemploy­ There is also a requirement in the rough draft that each ap­ ment compensation expires. plicant be attested and recommended by two current C.G.C.S. A plant whose health and general condition is often overlooked or by two club officials. This is one part of the draft that I believe until it has deteriorated into a dangerous state is a tree. This will be dropped or changed prior to approval. I do not think in spite of the fact the high wind and lightning are additional it is workable to have superintendents inspecting other perils to those mentioned previously. It is not unusual when superintendents to see if their course is good enough for them faced with conditions as hostile as was last summer that we tend to enter the certification program. to be concerned only about the grass and realize too late that For those of you who are currently C.G.C.S.’s, they pro­ many of the trees on the course were also adversely affected pose dropping the renewal exam and requiring 15 C.E.U.’s by the same conditions. The big difference is that there is no every five years. Not only are they planning to make the en­ quick fix for a tree that has succumbed to conditions. A couple trance requirements tougher, but you have to work to stay in of yards of sod or a few pounds of seed will not replace a tree the program. by the next season. It was with this in mind that we at Arrowhead There are many other points mentioned in their rough draft contacted Dr. Thomas Green, plant pathologist at the Morton that I didn’t touch on, that are equally important, such as: Arboretum. 1) Going to a closed book exam Dr. Green has devised a system to rate trees as to size, shape, 2) G.C.S.A.A. offering all of the C.E.U.’s needed to enter age, and general health on a scale from one to six. He also pro­ the program and continue in the program vides a service, at a cost that is nominal, that surveys all trees 3) Regional and chapter educational programs will be as­ and furnishes a report that includes a reference number for each signed a C.E.U. value tree, identifies to species, height, shape, as well as plotting all 4) College credits can be transferred to the program trees on a plan of the golf course. 5) The G.C.S.A.A. educational programs are to be submit­ The report covers the condition of each tree and rates it on ted for accredation, which will assure the universal accep­ a scale that covers the entire spectrum from 1, a tree recently tance of our C.E.U.’s planted in good condition that has not yet reached its full height The entire certification will be, in the very near future, go­ or shape; to 6, a tree that needs to be removed. Dr. Green also ing through a face lift. The look may not be exactly as proposed furnishes a plastic overlay that shows what any area will look in the rough draft, but it will definitely be improved. When all like when the 5 and 6 are removed. Suggestions as to re­ changes are in place there will be a media blitz to promote the planting are included with regard to both species and density. program so anyone connected with golf will know about the The dimension of such a report coming from an acknowledged program. expert is more than enough to get a tree program out of the Our certification program has been the subject of much talking stage into reality as well as creating an awareness of criticism, some of it was justified, however, I believe that the the problems that can still be corrected and prolong the life of forth coming changes in education and eligibility requirements, existing trees. will successfully put to rest most of the criticism I have heard. (CREDIT: THE BULL SHEET} Robert K. Breen 7 I98U membership booklets have been mailed under separate cover by "Special Uth class mail". You should have received your copy before this meeting however if you have not received, there will be plenty available at the meeting. If you do not come to the meeting, have not received your copy, please either contact Sec.-Treas Tom Reed or Tuck Tate. Toms phone number is shown on the first page whereas Tuck’s number is 6l6/352-UlOl. We would be remiss if we did not remind you that this booklet was made possible only, by the people that have advertised in it. Without their cooperation and help, there would be no membership booklet. We suggest therefore, that when you are con­ templating your purchases in 198U, that you will keep these people uppermost in your mind, in appreciation, for their gracious cooperation. Dues for I98U should already have been paid and if you have not pa’d your dues, will you please get your check in the mail to our Sec.-Treas. If you have already paid your dues and have not received your plaque to hang on the wall or a new membership card, please advise immediately. We are human, we make mi stakes however these are instances where we would like to correct the errors. Please notify either Tom Reed or Tuck Tate and you will receive what you are desering for I98U. We would also like feedback on the membership publication and would welcome any suggestions to improve it. If you would like to write an article to be placed in our newsletter, we would be most happy for the input. We are open to all sugg­ estions and every one will be given deep consideration. Remember this is your Association and we want it to improve year after year. The turfgrass program at M.S.U. has announced the "HotLine" for 198U is now in operation and the number is the same as before, 517/355-5221. This phone will remain in service during the entire growing season and if you have any problems or need further information, may we suggest that you contact either Dr. Paul E. Rieke or Dr. Jos. M. Vargas, Jr. Phone numbers are in the membership booklet. ***** K At a Communist meeting, one of the attending com­ rades suddenly arose during the debate and addressed the chairman. "Comrade Speaker," he said, "there's just one thing .■>/ I want to know: What happens to my unemployment \ ) Just before leaving on her vacation, Blondie, up on five, confided that if a girl's physical charms are her chief compensation checks when we overthrow the Govern­ ment?" nr a nr weapon, when they see her on the beach in her new bath­ bcAr.L ing suit nobody can accuse her of carrying concealed COLLECTIOI weapons. ***** There are a few that have not paid their I98U dues. If you are one of these your fellow Directors would appreciate your so doing because it places a burden on someone that must remind you. If there is any quest’on whether you have paid or not, the answer is that you will have a 198^ membership card There are a few exceptions who have not received the'r card however the number can be counted on one hand. So please not make us remind you aga'n, send yo r check NOW to our Sec.-Treas. Tom Reed. Our sincere thanks. ***************<***♦*************************************************************** MAIL THAT POSTCARD TODAY AND REMEMBER TOgBRING ALONG A PROSPECTIVE MEMBER.