The GCSAA board of directors has selected Dan Dinelli, CGCS at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Ill., to receive its 2009 President’s Award for Environmental Stewardship.
Dinelli, a third-generation golf course superintendent, has been at North Shore Country Club for 34 years. He is a staunch supporter of integrated pest management (IPM) and an advocate for new practices to reduce the inputs needed to provide competitive golf turf conditions. Dinelli is also involved with developing means of measuring the value of a golf facilities' ecological and economic value of carbon sequestration.
"Dan is known by his colleagues as a critical thinker and continually works to apply practical environmental management to golf," says GCSAA President David Downing II, CGCS. "He is committed to the science of golf course management and is on the forefront of many advances in the business. He is highly respected by his peers and is very deserving of this award."
A 26-year GCSAA member, Dinelli has served on the association's Environmental Programs Committee for the past five years and as chair of the IPM Task Group. A portion of this work resulted in a research proposal to create a national IPM template. The project began in 2007 and is expected to be available for use in 2009. Dinelli is also working with GCSAA on the Pesticide Characteristics Project - a tool that will allow superintendents to assess the environmental characteristics of pesticide products.
Dinelli holds two associate degrees from William Rainey Harper College in Palatine, Ill., one in park and grounds management and one in horticulture, as well as a two-year turfgrass management certificate from Michigan State University. He is a past president of the Chicagoland Association of Golf Course Superintendents and is also an active member of the Midwest Association of Golf Course Superintendents (MAGCS). A three-time winner of the MAGCS's Ray Gerber Editorial Award for excellence in journalism, Dinelli is a frequent contributor to trade publications.
He has co-authored several technical research papers that have been peer-reviewed and published, and contributed to many more. Dinelli has assisted with the production of upcoming environmental programming on the Golf Channel and is a regular presenter at conferences and colleges. Dinelli has won multiple GCSAA/Golf Digest Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards, as well as several regional environmental stewardship awards. He earned his Master Gardener designation from the University of Illinois and he has achieved Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program certification for North Shore from Audubon International.
The award will be presented during the Opening Session at the 2009 GCSAA Education Conference Feb. 5. The conference (Feb. 2-7) will be held in conjunction with the Golf Industry Show (Feb. 5-7) at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center.
The GCSAA President's Award for Environmental Stewardship was established in 1991 to recognize "an exceptional environmental contribution to the game of golf: a contribution that further exemplifies the golf course superintendent's image as a steward of the land."