New Updates!

We just wanted to give some updates, mainly to keep members informed, and but also to keep content fresh. We have seen a huge uptick on visits to the website, so we know it is becoming a valuable tool, we thank you for that.

• Class A and B GCSAA members, Melvin Waldron will be doing the voting for our chapter, if you have had a chance to watch the candidate videos on the GCSAA website and would like Mel to direct you vote to a certain candidate, he will certainly do that. He will be voting at the GCSAA Annual Meeting next Thursday, January 30th, at the Golf Industry Show in Orlando. Before Sunday you can email Mel at ozarkturfassn@yahoo.com. After Sunday Mel will have limited access to that account, but you can then email him at ballmark8989@yahoo.com or text him at 417-860-9449.

• Check out the calendar and also the classified sections of the website. We have dates and locations for meetings up through May. We also have the dates for the Border War meeting to be held in Kansas this year. We will have more details to follow, such as speakers, costs, formats, which all should follow soon. We did want to get dates announced as soon as possible, this way you can schedule your aerification and other projects around them. In the classifieds, we have position announcements and shop equipment listed.

• Before next week we will have invoices out for our 2020 dues, prepaid, and partner plans. Good news is, no increases, and very little changes. Biggest change is for Gold Partners where the partnership will cover up to 3 company members can attend each meeting at membership prices. Look for invoices in your email.

• For those members heading to Orlando for the GIS Show, hopefully you have down loaded the GIS App, you can set your schedules and find other OTA members who are attending the show. Also if you are there, swing by the Lebanon booth to vote on your favorite dog calendar pinup. This year it is August with Zelda, the boss over at Schifferdecker Golf Course, in charge of both Maron and Maura Towse, an excellent irrigation head checker. If Zelda gets the most votes, she will get $500 for more toys, our chapter will receive $3,000, and best of all a $2,000 donation will be made to a charity in Zelda’s honor. This is one election worth voting in!

• The new Board has met this past Tuesday, and we are looking at possibly having a couple of different meetings, maybe at a Cardinals game, or kids evening at the Betty Allison, or if the new “Big Shots” range (there is also something similar opening in Republic) opens, something we can attend with our families and/or wives. Other suggestions are welcome, we will post any new information once we have it.

• We have a goal this winter to provide news updates at least once a week, so check back often. If you have news you would like to share, please pass it along!

  Thanks for reading!

  Mel

Education/Annual Meeting a Success

We had a great turnout at our recent education/annual meeting day. We have 49 out of 54 who RSVP’d show up. Of course the day was a lot nicer weather wise then what was forecasted when we sent our last call notice out. Probably led to a couple of cancellations. It was the largest turnout I remember in my 16 years here.

We had some great speakers and great topics. The day started with John Daniels, our regional USGA agronomist, who spoke on the topic of Creating a Master Plan for the Golf Course.

Our second speaker was Dr. Erin Wehrman from Missouri State University, discussing Generational Differences in our workplaces.

Our third speaker was Dr. Mike Richardson of the University of Arkansas, where he discussed How Much Shade is too Much Shade.

Eddie Roach Jr. golf course superintendent at Hickory Hills Country Club informed the membership on the current status of the state of Missouri BMP Task Force who is working on producing Best Management Practices for golf courses in the state. GCSAA has given the group a $10,000 grant, and each of the Missouri chapters, (Heart, Mississippi Valley, and Ozark) are funding the rest of the efforts. The goal is to have it completed by the end of 2020.

We did get some great feedback from members about all of our speakers and topics.

The annual meeting was held after a buffet lunch provided by host Highland Springs Country Club. We covered current bank accounts and held elections. Mike Irvine from Bill and Payne Stewart Golf Course was elected President, Maron Towse from Schifferdecker Golf Course was elected Vice-President, Melvin Waldron III, CGCS from Horton Smith Golf Course was retained as Secretary/Treasurer, Jared Brewster from Highland Springs Country Club and Eddie Roach Jr. from Hickory Hills Country Club were both elected to the Board of Directors, replacing Maron Towse spot, and replacing the retiring Jim Pyle. Charlie Boldreghini continues to serve on the board with one year left in his term. Sam Richard moves to the Past President position after serving the maximum three years as President. We thank him for his dedication and service.

A big thank you goes out to Paul Carlson and Syngenta for being our educational partner. Their support is what allows us to bring in our speakers. Also thanks to our Gold and Silver Partners who provide support that allows us to keep our meeting costs low. Many thanks also to our vendors who attended this meeting. We had a great turnout of vendors as well.

The new board will be meeting later this week to discuss 2020 dues, prepaid meeting plans, and Vendor Partner plans. Check back here or in your email inboxes periodically for updates.

Thanks for attending and reading!

Mel

Christmas Party Fun - Hosted by "Samta Clause" Richart

After finally get pictures to download from the Christmas Party, I am now able to post some of those pictures and update everyone on the fun. I think my phone and computer had been hacked by some of those who were afraid of pictures finding their way on the internet?

First we would like to thank host Charlie Boldreghini and all the wonderful staff at Old Kinderhook who hosted the event. We were treated to a warm and inviting room, great views, good food and drink, and watched locals skate on the ice rink. I want to guess that Charlie is the only OTA member who has a Zamboni in his shop. Also for those that spent the night, I hope your night was as restful as mine. I was grateful that our dog Lucy wasn’t waking me up at the normal hour of 4 A.M.

We also want to thank all our Gold and Silver Partners whose support helps us put on these events. Gold Partners: Professional Turf Products, Precision Turf, GreensPro, VanWall Golf, Knox Fertilizer, Bayer, Clear Creek Vehicles, Club Car, BASF, and Syngenta. Our Silver Partners: BWI, Midwest Turf, Advanced Turf Products, and VGM.

Finally thanks go to Sam Richart who planned the fun and all our members and their better halves who attended. He provided some “minute to win it” style games, team captains were recruited and they picked their teams. The first game “This Blows” involved balloons and solo cups (empty), this game was won by “The Holly Jolley’s” Our second game “Hanky Panky” involved Kleenex, won by “The Jingle Junkies”, the third game involved empty solo cups again, “Moving on Up” won by “The Fruitcakes”, next up was “Cookie Face” won again by “The Fruitcakes”, next up was “Separation Anxiety” involving Skittles and cocktail cups, won again by “The Fruitcakes”, and finally, we played “Stack Attack” involving solo cups again (all the cups were always empty…what’s up with that?), which was won by team “The Sugar Plum Fairies”. The team of “The Special Snowflakes” were winless and had to dry their tears with the Kleenex from the “Hanky Panky’ game. All players even the “Special Snowflakes” walked away with gift card prizes. While “The Fruitcakes” cleaned up with an extra gift card. Jim Pyle was the team captain and picking his team I believe was the extent of his involvement. Jim picked Katie Armbruster, Cindy Waldron, Patti Ripperger, Connie Pyle, and John Ripperger. Obviously Jim being an elder stateman, and recently retired, used his wisdom to fill his team with turf wives. Poor John who ended up being the last pick, filled out the team, but he did play the pivotal part in “Cookie Face”. We hope everyone had a great time. Don’t forget to check out all the pictures, and there is rumor that Mark Slaughter has video taken during “Cookie Face”, unless someone with the initials of Jeff Sommerer has placed a big order for 2020 that includes the video? I know my wife is already looking forward to next year!

Thanks for reading!

Mel

Congratulations to Gavin Arnold!

Congratulations to Gavin Arnold, one of our student OTA members, and staff member at Rivercut Golf Course, City of Springfield-Greene County Park Board. He just graduated over the weekend from Missouri State with a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Plant Sciences. We wish him well as he continues to gain experience in our industry! Best of luck in your future endeavors Gavin!

Photos Needed for Missouri Golf BMP Manual

The Missouri BMP Committee is looking for photos for the Missouri BMP manual. Photo ideas include: construction, erosion control, irrigation maintenance, buffer strips, collecting soil or water samples, cultural practices, IPM, Pollinator protection, habitat/wildlife, etc. Send photos to rkazmier@gmail.com

Thanks!

Best Management Practices Updates (BMP's)

At last month’s Chapter Delegates meeting, we were given an update on State BMP implementation and Facility Adoption. Mark Johnson, Associate Director, Environmental Programs gave an update on GCSAA’s goal of completed BMP’s in all 50 states by 2020. Mr. Johnson thanked the chapters that have been working diligently within their states to realize this goal. There are currently: 21 states with a BMP in place, 18 states have told GCSAA they will complete BMPs in 2019, with three states announcing since the Chapter Delegates Meeting, and, the remaining 11 states are on track to be complete by 2020. Missouri is part of that group to be completed by the end of 2020. The Missouri BMP Steering Committee has met once already. Members include Ozark Turf Association member Eddie Roach Jr. from Hickory Hills Country Club. Other members are Brent Stephenson and Spencer Roberts from The Heart Chapter, Matt Czamecki and Carter Demay from the Mississippi Valley Chapter, and Dr. Lee Miller from the University of Missouri. Dr. Rachael Owen of Horizon Soil Solutions will assist in developing the BMP guidelines with tools provided by GCSAA. GCSAA has templates that the BMP Committee will use, in turn once the State has implemented these guidelines, GCSAA members from Missouri will be able to use these templates to create BMP facility guidelines for our courses. Each chapter has agreed to contribute to the project, with the Ozark Turf Association Board approving a current payment of $1,020, out of our Scholarship and Research Fund. Future payments could be supplemented by the Ozark Turf Association getting involved with Rounds4Research. A $10,000 grant has also been secured from GCSAA. The PGA of America has graciously donated to help fund these grants. We will certainly keep our members updated as this process moves forward into next year.

Ozark Turf Association Member Makes National Spotlight (sort of)

Check out the November Pin up in the 2019 GCSAA/Lebanon Turf Dog Days calendar and you will find OTA resident, Ozark.

King of the sand pile mountain. Neighborhood barbecue grill inspector extraordinaire. This is Ozark, Jonathan Prange's Australian shepherd/Labrador retriever mix. Holiday Island CC's adorable pal.

Proud to see our area and chapter represented. Thanks Jonathan for entering Ozark!

Keep an eye open for future news…..The Ozark Association is full of beautiful turf dogs!

Thanks for reading!

Mel

Congratulations To Juan Barragan!

Congratulations to Juan Barragan, Golf Course Superintendent at Ozark National Golf Course at Big Cedar Lodge in Hollister/Ridgedale/Branson, for achieving GCSAA Class A membership status.

Please congratulate Juan next time you see him!

GCSAA Class A status is achieved by combining years as a golf course superintendent, and earning a certain number of educational points. Once a superintendent becomes a Class A member, they must continue to take numerus educational seminars and attend networking opportunities. The Ozark Turf Association, a GCSAA affiliated chapter strives to provide almost all education points needed to maintain Class A status.

For more information on what is needed to become a class A or to maintain class A status visit the following link:

https://www.gcsaa.org/about-gcsaa/membership/membership-classifications/class-a-membership

Ozark Turf Association Victorious Again - Border War Results

A great time was had by all! First we would like to thank our sponsors of the event. Title Sponsors were Kansas Golf and Turf, and Midwest Turf. Our Lunch Sponsor was Professional Turf Products. Our Dinner Sponsor was Syngenta. Our breakfast sponsor for day two was Precision Turf Products. Our prize sponsors were, Kansas Golf and Turf, Vanwall Equipment, and VGM. Their support greatly enhanced the event!

The Ozark Turf Association will be able to put their names on the trophy again, winning for the third time in a row. Thanks to Maron Towse and Aaron Borland for capturing the trophy this year as they dueled Shawn Spann and Andrew Huffman to the 9th hole in the Horse Race. They follow 2017 Ozark winners Mike Irvine and Ronnie Harman, and 2015 winners Barry Siems and Justin Beck.

Best ball winners were, in 1st Flight Shawn Spann and Andy Huffman with a 68, 2nd place, Kent Morgison and his chauffer, Richard Shumate with a 69, 3rd place with a 70, Maron Towse and Aaron Borland, and 4th winning on a match of cards with 71, was Matt Strong and Toby Burkhart. In 2nd Flight first, second and third were decided on a match of cards with those teams shooting 74’s, 1st place, using our host’s course knowledge, was won by Jim Pyle and Barry Siems, 2nd was won by Chris and Bigan, (we think it might be Bryan, which there were two of you), anyone who knows for sure let me know and we’ll get them their winnings. 3rd place was Mark Slaughter and Jeff Sommerer, and 4th with a 76, won on a match of cards, Braden Harbor and Kevin Shook. 3rd Flight was also decided by matching cards and was won by David Hunter and Jeff Aldrich with a score of 82. 2nd place also with an 82 was Mike Simon and Ryan Blew. Also with an 82, in third place was Charlie Thompson and Kevin Fateley. 4th place with an 84 and a match of cards was Casey Koch and Wyatt Burnett.

During the second day we played 4-man scrambles and paid 3 teams in 2 flights. The real winners of the day I believe were host Danny Endicott’s crew as residents off of # 8 were having a cook out for them.

Thanks again to our sponsors, and many thanks to our hosts Jim Pyle, John Ripperger and their crew at Ledgestone, Danny Endicott, Shane Coker and their crew at Pointe Royale. It was a memorable event to send off Jim Pyle as he heads to retirement later this year.

Congratulations To Our Champion!

Congratulations to our Ozark Turf Association Champion, Tom Russell, Superintendent from Triple Creek Golf Club, is the 2019 OTA Champion. He shot a 73 beating second place finisher, Scott Welsh from Professional Turf Products, who shot a 75. A couple of 76’s were shot by Maron Towse from Schifferdecker Golf Course, who beat Mike Irvine of Bill and Payne Stewart Golf Course on a match of cards. Tom is repeating as champion, winning last year at Millwood. The list of past champions of Clear Creek/Club Car sponsored OTA Championships also include 2017 winner Justin Beck, and 2016 winner, Scott Welsh.

First flight winner was our host, Adam Camp from Hidden Valley Golf Links, with an 80, followed by Jim Pyle from Ledgestone, with an 84.

We did have two threesome go out and play against each other in a scramble format, with the team of Darrell Easley of Windmill Ridge, John Ripperger of Ledgestone, and Wyatt Cantrell from GreensPro winning. We are looking to add this to future Championship events for those that might not want to play their own ball.

We did have 25 attend for lunch with 20 of us waiting out the rain, to challenge the course. Thanks to all that attended. Also thanks to Adam Camp and all the staff for preparing the course, cooking us lunch, and keeping the pro shop open so the winners could exchange their gift certificates.

Much thanks goes to Brian Cheever with Clear Creek Vehicles and Club Car for sponsoring this event, and to Mark Slaughter with GreensPro who sponsored the closest to the pin contests won by Darrell Easley and Mike Irvine.

We will see you next in Branson for our Border War event with the Kansas Chapter!

Congratulations to Steven Story

We would like to congratulate Steven Story, Assistant Golf Course Superintendent at Ozark National at Big Cedar Lodge for completing earlier this year his Golf Course Management Certificate from The Ohio State University, and also The Principles of Golf Course Agronomy (one of the components of the Assistant Superintendent Certificate Series) from GCSAA.

“Certificates like these help Assistants like myself promote and achieve key qualifications needed to reach the next levels in our careers.” “Organizations like the OTA and GCSAA create endless opportunities to learn, grow, and connect in this massive industry.”

GCSAA provides many opportunities for additional education through webinars, that we as superintendents, our assistants, and our equipment managers can take. GCSAA also provides documentation and programs to promote this additional education to our employers. We also strive to provide meaningful education at many of our monthly meetings and our annual education day that is combined with our annual meeting. (We are looking at dates in early January for our annual meeting and education day, once we finalize that date, we will let you know and put it on our calendar).

Congratulations again to Steve, and if anyone is interested in what is available out there, just ask and we will find out for you.

Thanks for reading!

Mel

September Meeting - Ozark Turf Association Championships

We are a month out from our next meeting, and thankfully we survived the past few weeks. This should give us plenty of time to get our courses prepared for our fall events, and allow for us to take some time off to attend this meeting/tournament. (And hopefully get some rust off our clubs prior to the event).

Just to let everyone know, the format for this tournament will be stroke play, with the lowest score winning. And for us that are a little more golfing challenged, there will be two flights with prizes.

We want to thank Adam Camp and Hidden Valley Golf Links for hosting this event.

We also want to thank Brian Cheever, Clear Creek Vehicles, and Club Car for sponsoring this event and providing this lovely trophy that I currently have sitting at my house, since that will be the only time I have a golf trophy here. Well except for that long drive one I won back in 1993 when I was younger and took advantage of some hard pan in the left rough, (where most of my drives would end up), and luckily rolling back into the fairway to claim the prize. Many thanks go to the days of single row irrigation for my win.

University of Missouri Field Day

While we did not have a lot of members attend, those that did were treated with updated research information, and had the opportunity to network. Two tour stops that really stood out, (well they all did, but) was Dr. Xi Xong’s billbug in zoysia presentation. While prior research concentrated on identifying the life cycle and the pest itself. This presentation dealt with control, with the best results by spraying insecticides at night when the billbug was active. Another option was to sweep the billbugs up, using a device that is used on artificial sports fields to help sweep up the crumb rubber. The other was some trail work Dr. Lee Miller had done with the just released fungicide Maxtima. It has shown some good results controlling dollarspot without the damage other DMI’s cause in the mid summer.

Thanks to the success of our Scholarship and Research outing, due to all of your support, we were also able to present a $1,000 check to help the University run the research farm. It was much appreciated.

While the date for the next field day is not set yet, rest assured it will take place in 2021.

Also as a reminder, if you have a college attendee either in family or on your crew, don’t forget to submit a scholarship application!

Thanks!

Mel

Price Cutter Charity Championship a Success

While players are still on the golf course as I write this, the Price Cutter Charity Championship can still be called a success. Superintendent Jared Brewster and his staff have presented a great golf course. They were also assisted by many Ozark Turf Association members.

Gold Partners Professional Turf Products, GreensPro, VanWall, and Silver Partner, BWI, all provided dinners for the evening work shifts. Steve Simpson with BWI even made his Low Country Boil.

The OTA members who assisted Jared and his crew, included Board Members, Sam Richart, President from Fremont Hills C.C., Mike Irvine, Vice President from Bill and Payne Stewart Golf Course, Mark Slaughter from GreensPro, and Melvin Waldron, Secretary/Treasurer, from Horton Smith Golf Course. Also helping out were Jonathan Prange, superintendent, and Tyler Scroggins assistant, from Holiday Island, Jay Butler, assistant superintendent from Twin Oaks C.C., Joe Mannuci, superintendent from Piney Valley at Ft. Leonard Wood, Dustin Buckner, assistant from Hidden Valley, Juan Barragan, superintendent, and Steven Story, assistant, from Ozark National, Scott Welsh, from Professional Turf Products, Steve Simpson, from BWI, Andy Klein, from VanWall, and Tyler Fishel, from GreensPro, all assist on the golf course. Hopefully I didn’t miss anybody.

Keep an eye for next year’s Korn Ferry Tour schedule so you can make a day or two available to work a shift. I found it a great opportunity for camaraderie and networking.

Congratulations to Chuck Ermisch!

We would like to congratulate Chuck Ermisch, long time OTA member and noted golf course architect, has accepted the Golf Course Superintendent Position at Painted Hills Golf Course in Kansas City Kansas.

Please congratulate him next time you see him at a meeting.

Also please pass along any news you would like to share. We would love to recognize everyone’s achievements!

Thanks!

Mel

June Meeting Results

Despite what seemed like the first real day of summer, we had a great turnout for our June OTA meeting held at Twin Hills Country Club in Joplin. We would like to thank our hosts Kris Moore, golf course superintendent, and his assistant, Patrick Johnson. This was the first time we have been to Twin Hills since the second day of the “Border War'“ of 2007.

Our speaker for the meeting was long time OTA member, Casey Koch, golf course superintendent at Crestwood Country Club in nearby Pittsburgh Kansas. Casey has hosted many opening day “Border War” events with the Kansas chapter, (a quick plug, this year the “Border War” will be held at Ledgestone C.C. and Pointe Royale in Branson. It actually brings back some fond memories as the last time Pointe Royale hosted the second day of the event was my first Border War in 2005). Casey talked about the green drainage project they had done on their 9th green. The process was pretty interesting given that it wasn’t a total green renovation. Some good discussions were held about the growing in process of the new seed, as many members talked about seeding issues they have run into during renovations and course improvements. Casey also touched on his efforts to find staff members every season. He does take advantage of Pittsburgh State being there along with getting some high school students.

After a nice lunch of cheeseburgers with all the fixings, salad (for the health conscious, and famous Ott’s dressing, which my family used to take bottles of Ott’s back to Florida, when we used to come up and visit Granny) along with cookies! Teams were assigned and we headed to the golf course. Two teams played a shamble format and 3 teams played there own ball, with the team format being a best ball for the team. The winning team with a 68 took advantage of not only the shamble format, but the local knowledge of long time Twin Hills C.C. superintendent, Jim Weaver (retired) , current superintendent Kris Moore, our speaker Casey Koch, from Crestwood C.C. and Mark Slaughter of Gold Partner, GreensPro. The other shamble team will remain anonymous, but they did finish last, with a 74, so the format wasn’t that much of an advantage. The second place team with a score of 70, also took advantage of local knowledge from Patrick Johnson, assistant superintendent at Twin Hills, and neighbor Maron Towse, superintendent at Schifferdecker G.C. in Joplin, rounding out the team was Chad Hoerschgen, superintendent at Millwood Golf and Racquet Club, and Matt Strong, with Silver Partner VGM. The other two teams finished with 72’s, so a few putts here and there could have lead to a different outcome.

Thanks again to the staff at Twin Hills C.C. for hosting us!

Next on the calendar will be the OTA Championships on September 24, sponsored by Clear Creek Vehicles and Club Car. It will be held at Hidden Valley Golf Course. Make sure to mark your calendar!

Scholarship and Research Outing a Success

After a delay of a week, the scholarship and research outing was held on May 30th at Silo Ridge and Country Club. Despite the delay, and a few teams not being able to play, due to the date change, the day was a great success.

The day started with registration and lunch. I believe new this year was enchiladas added to the Mexican buffet, well they were certainly new on my plate.

As we gathered for our instructions before heading out on the course, President Sam Richart thanked everyone for coming and recognized our 2018-19 scholarship winners. The Karl Anderson Legacy award went to Ms. Haley Johnson, daughter of Steve Johnson, CGCS, the golf course superintendent, (and a past president of the OTA), at Payne’s Valley, Big-Cedar Lodge in Branson. She is attending Mississippi State. Our other scholarship winner was Mr. Caleb Kerr, a staff member at Fremont Hills, where Sam is the golf course superintendent. He finished his school year earning a 4.0 GPA at Missouri State.

The winning team despite missing their captain, host superintendent Ronnie Harman, the Silo Ridge I team took advantage of local knowledge and fired a winning score of 53, (either that or they skipped a hole?). In second place was the team from Gold Partner, Precision Turf, who shot a 56. In third place was Gold Partner, Professional Turf Products with a score of 60. In first flight, the winning team was Osage National with a score of 64. Second place in that flight was Gold Partner VanWall, with a score of 65. In third place, was The Andersons fertilizer, with a score of 66.

Prizes were being handed out fast and furiously, so I don’t have a list of the closest to the pin winners, but, besides the gift cards they received, Paul Carlson from Syngenta donated tickets to a St. Louis Cardinals game, which was won by Woodland Hills Golf Course superintendent, Jon Kindlesparger.

Also this year we had sponsor recognition prizes, which didn’t require any golfing skills. Our hole sponsors gave out $20 gift cards via drawing of raffle tickets. The following sponsors were, Professional Turf Products, Precision Turf, GreensPro, Bayer, VanWall Golf, Knox Fertilizer, Clear Creek Vehicles/Club Car, BASF, Kansas Golf and Turf, Syngenta, The Andersons, Midwest Turf and two gift cards sponsored by NuFarm. A total of $1,600.00 of prizes were handed out. While the final accounting is still to be done, it looks like just over $4,100 dollars were raised through the event, which will cover next year’s scholarship recipients. Thanks to all the participants who made this possible.

Also we would like to recognize and thank BASF, who with their sponsorship of a team in the Scholarship and Research Event, have now become a Gold Partner.

Another big shout out to Superintendent Ronnie Harman, his assistant Shawn Hoffman, their crew, along with Bryan Daniels, Jake Mann and the Pro Shop staff, and with Don Stidham and the restaurant staff, also Kayla, who kept us well hydrated both on the course and back at the bar. Their efforts make this a successful event every year.

Hope to see everyone out next year!

Mel

Mother Nature Wins - Scholarship and Research Outing Rescheduled

Mother nature finally got the best of us today May 23rd. It forced us to postpone and reschedule our Scholarship and Research Outing. It has been changed to Thursday May 30th. This is a first for me in my 15+ years in the Ozarks. We have certainly got lucky in previous years.

Nobody was probably more disappointed than host superintendent, Ronnie Harman and his staff. They took advantage of some sunny and windy weather that had dried the course out from heavy rains the night before.

We are looking to get the last laugh next week.

Thanks!

Mel

Congratulations to our Karl Anderson Legacy Scholarship Winner

"We would like to congratulate our Karl Anderson Legacy Scholarship winner from the 2018-19 school year, Ms. Haley Johnson. She just finished her Freshman year at Mississippi State, studying International Business and has embarked on a three week international trip to Paris and Stockholm.  We wish her safe travels and an excellent learning experience."

Haley is the daughter of Steve Johnson, CGCS, Golf Course Superintendent at Payne's Valley at Big Cedar Lodge. 

April 30th Meeting Results

So far we’re 2 for 2 vs. the weather people, although the decision to go to a scramble format surely helped us at this meeting. The weather turned rough as our members headed for home. Hoping all made it with little issue.

Our meeting started with a presentation by Derek Nees, Project Manager for Brotcke Well and Pump. It was a great presentation with some good questions asked, we always feel a speaker has been successful when there is good discussions between the speaker and attendees.

We followed that with a pizza bar lunch presented by the Island Green Kitchen Staff. We announced the teams and off we went, honestly hoping to get at least 9 holes in. We did get some showers on the back 9, enough so to put the rain gear on, but it ended quickly, and we finished all 18 just in time. (I think the rain did not want to see my Florida State umbrella).

Winners were, in first place, Team Slaughter, who took advantage of the local knowledge of our host, Toby Burkhart, superintendent at Island Green, the team work of Twin Oaks Superintendent and Assistant, Tye Heidbreder and Jay Butler, Lee Davis, Superintendent from Randel-Hinkle G.C. in Mt. Grove, and team capt. and pro golfer, Mark Slaughter, from one of our Gold Partners, GreensPro. Second place in a tie, (with the tie breaker, handicap holes), the team of Maron Towse, superintendent at Schifferdecker G.C. in Joplin, Barry Siems, professional check casher, and owner of Gold Partner, Precision Turf, Bubby Oliver, retired, and Chad Short, superintendent at Mt. Vernon Municipal G.C. In third place was the team of Russell Cole, turf equipment salesperson with Kansas Golf and Turf (KGT), Jim Pyle, superintendent at Ledgestone C.C., Eugene Jesse, assistant superintendent at Osage National, and OTA president and superintendent at Fremont Hills C.C. Sam Richart. We are seeing some repeat winners, just wondering if we will have to supply them with 1099’s at the end of the year? Thanks to our Gold and Silver Partners who make the meetings affordable and help with the prize fund.

Much thanks to our host Toby Burkart, his assistant Jason Spragg, and all members of the Island Green C.C. team!

Our next meeting with be at Silo Ridge C.C. on May 23rd. It is our Scholarship and Research outing, we will get more details out next week, but start getting your team together!

Thanks for reading!

Mel