OTA September Meeting Recap

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The Ozark Turf Association had their September meeting presented by Professional Turf Products at Horton Smith Golf Course on September 21st.

They had an educational presentation with Caleb Sanders who is the Conservation Coordinator for the Springfield-Greene County Park Board, give his talk on Establishing a Warm Season Native Prairie. He was able to show the progress their plan has produced at Horton Smith Golf Course in the area of the old driving range between holes # 1 and 9. He was also able to show the process of starting a prairie on the upper portion of the area where they were starting that section over eradicating bermuda that had encroached. He presented a plan that other courses could follow and noted that in Missouri, facilities can apply for grants, such as, from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which has a EQIP, Conservation Innovation Grant, and the Missouri Department of Conservation has an Urban Cost Share, Community Conservation Grant.

After the presentation, attendees enjoyed Maple Bacon Cheeseburgers prepared in the Horton Smith snack bar.

While a few attendees had to depart after lunch, we did have 15 play golf afterwards with 3 teams of 5. The game consisted of two best balls per team with one being a special ball that had to be played by all team members once every five holes.

Team 2 with OTA President Maron Towse, golf course superintendent at Schifferdecker Golf Course, Ty Lewis, superintendent/general manager at Mountain View Municipal Golf Course, Dan Kersting, golf course superintendent at Rivercut Golf Course, Clayton Otting, assistant superintendent at Ledgestone Country Club, and Dustin Irvine with GreensPro was a strong team taking first place with a 2 best ball score of 146.

Second place went to the Carthage Municipal Golf Course team + one. It consisted of Matt Strong, territory manager with VanWall Equipment, Cody Gray golf course suprintendent, Ryan McInerney assistant superintendent, and crew members Dave Adams and Gary Springer who shot 157.

Proximity winners were:

  • Hole # 3 sponsored by Advanced Turf Solutions - Mark Slaughter - Greenspro

  • Hole # 6 sponsored by Brandt - Matt Strong - VanWall Equipment

  • Hole # 8 sponsored by FMC - Dan Kersting - Rivercut Golf Course

  • Hole # 10 sponsored by GreensPro - Mark Slaughter - GreensPro (we’ll send him a 1099 for that one).

  • Hole # 12 sponsored by Ozark Turf Association - Ty Lewis - Mt. View Golf Course.

Thanks go to everyone who attended the meeting, Caleb Sanders and Greg McComas who work together to create the warm season prairie and gave the presentation, Horton Smith Golf Course staff for preparing and hosting the event, and Professional Turf Products for hosting the meeting along with proximity sponsors, Advanced Turf Solutions, Brandt, FMC, and GreensPro.