Support of the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association’s annual Conference and Trade Show in Myrtle Beach, SC, continues to grow. The four-day event once again set new records in multiple categories including the size of the trade show and overall attendance. It is the eighth consecutive year of growth.
“We’re approaching a point where we are having to find new ways to create room to accommodate companies and attendees,” says Carolinas GCSA executive director Chuck Borman.
This year’s trade show saw more companies (218) exhibit with more booths (406) than ever before. The 1,211 seats sold for education seminars was also a new record. Overall attendance at the trade show was also up five percent on last year’s high. Out-of-state visitation also grew, further affirming the event’s growing profile as an event for the Southeast, not just the Carolinas. The Carolinas GCSA, which provides education and services for the advancement of golf course superintendents, has close to 1,800 members and an annual operating budget of more than $1-million.
Other highlights of the 2006 show in November included:
- Presentation of the association’s Distinguished Service Award to Randy Allen, CGCS, director of golf course operations for The Burroughs and Chapin Company in Myrtle Beach;
- Election of Billy Lewis, from Carolina National Golf Club in Shallotte, NC, as president for 2007;
- A special panel presentation on surviving Hurricane Katrina by Gulf States superintendents. Carolinas GCSA members gave more than $35,000 to the Katrina hurricane relief appeal;
- Paul Jett’s third win in the Carolinas GCSA golf championship, beating a field of around 330. Jett, CGCS, was host superintendent for the 1999 and 2005 U.S. Opens at Pinehurst No. 2;
- A crowd of close to 500 at a new Monday night party presented in partnership with Jacobsen, to launch Conference and Show week.
“I think the real beneficiaries in all of this are the people who play golf in the Carolinas,” Borman, says. “Their courses benefit from the some of the best trained, most committed golf course superintendents in the country. Around 80 percent of our superintendent members now attend our show for the most up to date research information and education. Our members are at the leading edge of their profession.”
National Golf Foundation president and chief executive officer, Joe Beditz, National Golf Course Owners Association president, Henry DeLozier, and Golf Course Superintendent Association of America secretary-treasurer, David Downing, CGCS, also spoke on a major presentation “Where Golf is Going.”
The Carolinas GCSA 2007 Conference and Trade Show in Myrtle Beach ran Nov. 12-15.