Western Views Official Publication of the Western Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association V o lu m e I / Issue I Ja n u a ry / F e b ru a ry 2002 P resident’s M essage As we look back on the 2001 season, we were hot, cold, wet, dry, humid.... Everything but a plague of locusts. It left me scratching my head many times as to what my next move would be, but we all made it thru another season, probably a little wiser. For 2002 we have a great line up of courses for our monthly meet­ ings. We will start off our 2002 meeting sched­ ule with the winter meeting at The High­ lands CC on Thursday January 17. You will receive a complete meeting schedule in the next few weeks. We have the MTF Conference in Lansing on January 21-24, fol­ lowed by the GCSAA Conference in Orlando February 3 -9 .1 hope many of you can make it to one or both of these good educational oppor­ tunities. The 2001 roster book has been upgraded to the 2002 Roster Book. It will be full o f updated names, addresses, phone numbers and E-mail ad­ dresses. I want to thank John Fulling for his many, many hours spent on this project and all of Editor John Fulling the proofreading. I think you will all appreciate this current book. Well, I hope you all got your dormant feed and the fungicide appli­ cations down, because it is starting to snow. I hope you all had a won­ derful Holiday Season and enjoy the rest of your winter. I will see you in 2002. JeffHopkcnfr PS....If you want, I will tell you about my Big Buck from this past firearm deer season. Board o f Directors: President: Jeff Hopkins Vice President: John Fulling Sec / Treas: Keith Paterson Past President: Al Bathum Directors: Tony Geib Joe Hancock Jeff Holmes JoeJehnsen Gary Peters K p v ' n W o l n Upcom ing Events: W M GCSA Meeting: The Highlands golf club January 17, 2002 Michigan T u rf Conference: Holiday Inn - South Lansing January 21-24, 2002 G C S A A Conference & Show: Orlando, Florida February 3-10, 2002 WMGCSA Education Committee want to Subsidize GCSAA Seminars The G CSAA seminar held in Grand Rapids this past October entitled “ Managing Up: Strategies for Influencing Boards, Committees, and Managers,” wasn’t as well attended as the committee would like. It was very informational and focused on communication techniques to grab attention, pre­ sent ideas effectively, and build relationships that help you get what you need. Many thought it was one of the best seminars to date. The question for the Board and committee is, why are our members not taking advantage of these great programs? Cer­ tainly, time is an issue as our membership grows younger and we want to spend time with our kids. The most important factor may be the financial strain placed on operating budgets. Continued on page 2... Western Views Page 2 Subsidizing Seminars cont’ from pg 1 The costs of education and meetings continue to rise, while the purse strings attached to the op­ erations budgets continue to tighten. The board recognized this at its’ December meeting and asked the education committee to research subsidizing the chapter run national seminar next year to bring the cost down from $120 to a more palatable fig­ ure. Education Chairman Joe Jehnsen says there are a couple of different options they are looking into, including administering in-house, (which includes booking the venue, speaker, arrang­ the seminar ing for lunch, and making the seminar booklet). “W e are also asking G C SA A to do something in between. O ur goal is to get the cost of the semi­ nars to about half of the current price and attract many more of our members to them. I’m confi­ dent we can get pretty close. W e will keep the membership informed as we go. The association continues to strive to provide value. Educational programs are a large part of that value, and will be a big step forward if we can make them available to all members. This will be a good program.” wv THE MICHIGAN ROOM WILL BE HELD AT THE ROSEN CENTRE HOTEL 6CSAA ASSOCIATION HEADQUARTERS THE DATES AND TIM ES FOR THE ROOM ARE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7 6:00 - 10:00 PM FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8 6:00 - 10:00PM Membership love to tell you In this section, we’d about all the great things that are hap­ pening to the members. Maybe someone had a baby, or got a hole in one. Maybe someone is retiring, or just got certified. W e want to hear about it! Here’s how you can let us know: Call John Fulling: (6 16) 345-5013 e-mail John Fulling: kccjfull@voyager.net E-mail wmgcsa: westm igcsa@ hotm ail.com TUP-F -TIPS... Forgot your Ballmark Repair T 00I...AGAIN? Try this: “ Cut a 4”-6” piece of 3/4” hose and clamp it to the handle of your walking greens mowers. Place an ordinary fork in the hose. It’s an excel­ lent repair tool, easy to use, and hard to lose.” Kevin Dushane, CG CS Wuskowhan Players Club Western Views Thoughts & Opinions By John Fulling AVVEKTISTKS... Page 3 Thanks to all of our Michigan and West Michigan Vendors. Please patronize our advertisers as they have made this newsletter possible. As the editor of this publication, I get cer­ tain perks. One of those perks is getting to write the first opinion column of the year. I want to focus this issue on our vendors, those names you see directly to the right of this column. O ur vendors are responsible for making many things happen within our organi­ zation. They give time and a great deal of money to help us and our charities. Thank you for giving money to the Michi­ gan room, it allows us to provide a wonderful atmosphere for our members and their guests while at the national conference. Thank you for buying advertising in the newsletter and roster. W e know it doesn’t give you great advertising value, but you still do it because we ask you to. It allows us to provide the roster and the newsletter. Thank you for aii of your donations to golf day, whether they be money, merchandise or time. It allows us to give a substantial donation to MTF and turfgrass research. Thank you for donating baseball games, picnics, food and beverages for meetings, and the many other gifts that you give. Some may say this is just a part of doing business, and sometimes that might be true. I and the rest of the Board know, however, that most of the money, time, and other re­ sources you provide go far above and beyond what would be customary in any other busi­ ness. Thank you. WMGCSA Future Meetings March: Round Table (site TBA) April: Pilgrims Run G C May: Gull Lake Country Club June: Point O ’ W oods Country Club September: Gull Lake View (Golf Day) October: Kent C C (Annual Meeting) Aventis Environmental Science....................... ((616) 844-7551 Boylan Sales.................................................. (616) 685-6828 Commercial Environmental Turf Services....... (800) 231-5296 Custom Aerification Services, Inc................... (800) 824-3956 Ellis Sales, Inc................................................ (800)962-4128 J. Mollema & Sons.......................................... (800) 2245328 Parmenter & Andre.................. .................... (616) 458-1546 Peerless Midwest........................................... (219) 254-9050 Professional Lake Management....................... (800) 382-4434 Rhino Seed & Landscape Supply...................... (800) 482-3130 Spartan Distributors...................................... (616) 887-7301 Turf Services................................................. (6 16) 842-4975 Michigan State Seed Solutions........................ (800) 647-8873 TriTurf........................................................ (800)636-7039 Tri Turf Soils, Inc........................................... (888)616-7806 Turfgrass, Inc................................................ (800) 521-8873 Green & Grow, Inc........................................ (810) 323-9875 Weingartz..................................................... (616)696-2913 Simplot Partners............................................ (877) 593-8873 Helena.......................................................... (517)699-4852 Prosource One............................................. (616) 657-1949 Century Rain Aid........................................... (800) 642-3706 Turf Chemical, Inc......................................... (517) 725-7145 Model First Aid & Safety................................. (800) 968-6491 Thielen Turf Irrigation, Inc............................. (989) 773-3409 Syngenta Professional Products....................... (616) 682-0108 Valley Turf, Inc.............................................. (616) 532-2885 Lebanon Turf Products.................................. (248) 673-7146 E-Mail Database!!! Classified Ads! W e ’re still building our member e-mail database. If I do not have your e-mail, and you’d know it if I did, please send it to me at kccjfull@voyager.net or westmigcsa@hotmail.com Classified Ads! Got something to sell? List it here for free. Just send a list of the item(s) with your asking price to me at the address below, or e-mail me a list at: kcqfull@voyager.net • Western Views Western Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association 3509 Oakland Drive Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008 westmigcsa@hotmail.com Used equipment for sale: Battle Creek CC: contact Steve Rebhan • Cushman 5th wheel dump trailer (1990) - $150 • Flymower (1990) - FREE • National 84” triplex 800 series (1990) - $1000 • Smithco Sweepstar pull behind (1994) - $1000 • Ford Tractor model 8N (1952) - $1000 • Toro SandPro 14 attachment: Sand Blade $100 • Toro SandPro 14 attachment: finish grader $100 • Rogers 3-point seeder - $250 • Smithco 125gal sprayer w/boom... needs work—$400 • • Jacobsen Moto Mop - Free Jacobsen Ram lift >gang mower, reels in ex. Shape, re­ built and ground. Frame needs work. $100 / reel or $400 for everything 3-point tractor mount backhoe - FREE PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID LAKE MICHIGAN MAILERS 49009 Pete Cookingham Turfgrass Info. 100 Library E. Lansing Ml 48824 SER IA LS OCT 1 0 200? MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY l ib r a r ie s