Mother Nature Finally Defeated at April OTA Meeting

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With a light steady rain early that April 27th morning, we still had 31 OTA members and guest attend the April Ozark Turf Association Meeting, presented by Professional Turf Products, hosted by Fremont Hills Country Club. Attendees enjoyed a lunch creating their own versions of goodness from the fajita buffet.

After lunch, as attendees kept an eye on the radar, 17 golfers decided to challenge Mother Nature. The rain lightened up during the front nine and had stopped, as groups started making the turn. The format for golf consisted of individual Stableford scoring, which was flighted.

Winning the first flight with a total of 33 points was Justin Thomas, Golf Course Superintendent at Top of The Rock, Big Cedar Golf Resort. Second place went to guest Jeremy Thomas (no relation), Golf Course Superintendent at Indian Tree Golf Course, he had 28 points. Third place with 27 points was Brad Seidt, Golf Course Superintendent at Lake Valley Golf Club.

Second flight winners were, in first place with 16 points, Dustin (Duck, which was approprite with the weather) Buckner, Assistant Golf Course Superintendent at Hidden Valley Golf Links. Second place also with 16 points went to Chase Shipley, second assistant at Highland Springs Country Club, with third place with 15 points going to David Moore, branch manager of SiteOne, Springfield.

Since we weren’t sure we would be able to get all 18 holes in, we decided to have a drawing for our closest to the pin prizes. The winners were as follows:

  • Hole # 3 sponsored by Brandt - Kolby Armbruster, Golf Course Superintendent at Ledgestone Country Club

  • Hole # 5 sponsored by FMC - Tyler Fishel, GreensPro

  • Hole # 12 sponsored by GreensPro - Dale Harrison, Assistant Superintendent, Lake Valley Golf Club

  • Hole # 15 sponsored by SiteOne - Mark Slaughter of GreensPro

Thanks again go to our hosts Fremont Hills Country Club and Golf Course Superintendent Sam Richart. Brad Gray and new territory sales manager, Josh Thomas of Professional Turf Products. Proximity sponsors, Brandt, FMC, GreensPro, and SiteOne.

Our next event will be Thursday May 25th, our annual Scholarship and Research outing, hosted by Silo Ridge Country Club and Superintendent Ronnie Harman. Our lunch provider is Paul Carlson with Syngenta. Get your teams together now!