OTA Holds Equipment Managers Meeting

The Ozark Turf Association held its first equipment managers meeting for their members on October 23, at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale Missouri.  The meeting was sponsored by VanWall Equipment along with a GCSAA education grant provided by ClubProcure.  We had 38 equipment managers, assistant superintendents, and superintendents attend.

Diana Kern, GCSAA Sr. Manager, CTEM Certification and Certificate Programs, explained the benefits of GCSAA membership for equipment managers, the continuing education platforms which would help equipment managers obtain if they so choose to, certificates from the Equipment Manager Certificate Programs.  Then she explained the process of obtaining CTEM, Certified Turf Equipment Manager status, and how it benefits the equipment manager and their facility.  

Our main speaker was Mike Rollins from SIP corporation, who gave his presentation “Cutline is King” a presentation that he has given at GCSAA conferences and to local GCSAA affiliated chapters many times.  He spoke about the importance of cutting units being parallel and measuring all points.  After his presentation the 38 attendees had a great BBQ lunch and were able to network. 

Thanks goes to Clinton McKee CTEM, Equipment Manager at Big Cedar for getting Mike to speak at our meeting, and Bubba Wright, Director of Agronomy at Big Cedar and Jeff Steen, CGCS VP of golf at Big Cedar for hosting our meeting.

With the success of this meeting, we expect the OTA Board to support equipment manager meetings in the future.