Three new faces have joined the Georgia Golf Course Superintendents Association board of directors after the association’s annual meeting and sell-out end-of-year gala event at The King and Prince Resort on St. Simon’s Island, GA. The new directors are Chris Bennett, from Ansley Golf Club at Settindown Creek in Roswell; Tommy Hewitt, from Windermere Golf Club in Cumming; and Lane Singleton, from Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro.
“These young men are wonderful additions and represent the next generation of leaders in our industry,” says Craig Ketelsen, CGCS from Orchard Hills Golf Club in Newnan, who was elected to a second year as association president. “We now have an excellent cross-section of youth and experience to ensure our association remains a leader in ensuring the continued health and vitality of the golf industry in the state.”
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More than 200 people attended the association’s awards banquet which saw East Lake Golf Club’s Ralph Kepple, CGCS named Superintendent of the Year. Kepple has been at East Lake for 20 years and hosts the PGA Tour’s year-end high-point, The Tour Championship, each fall. “Ralph personifies all the qualities any young superintendent should hope to command,” Ketelsen says. “His outstanding and ongoing contribution to this industry through his leadership and excellence makes him very deserving.”
Lydell Mack, from The River Club in Suwanee, was named Assistant Superintendent of the Year. He received several nominations including one from his superintendent, Rob Roy, who wrote: “His dedication and work ethic is what separates him from his peers and puts him into another level that most people do not have the mental fortitude to achieve.”
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Randy Nichols, CGCS from Roswell, was honored with the Distinguished Service Award. Nichols is a past-president of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, as well as the Georgia GCSA and is a member of the Georgia GCSA Hall of Fame.
In other major news, Hall of Fame committee chairman, Anthony Williams, CGCS from Stone Mountain Golf Club in Atlanta, inducted three legends of Georgia superintendent ranks to the Hall of Fame. They were Don Branch, from Columbus; Buzz Howell, from Athens; and Bill Womac, CGCS from Cumming. All three have retired from active superintendent roles but each boasts long and distinguished careers which also included service to the Georgia GCSA board of directors.
Scot Drader, from Brunswick Country Club Brunswick, came from six shots back overnight to win the Georgia GCSA Golf Championship with rounds of 77 and 73 on The King and Prince Golf Course. He beat out last year’s champion David Noto, from Mossy Creek Golf Course in Cleveland by a single shot.
The three-day conference capped an outstanding year for the Georgia GCSA which sold out each of 11 meetings and events in 2012. “It has to be one of the best years in the history of the association,” says executive director, Tenia Workman. “Such a high level of participation says a lot about how dedicated our members are to continual education and networking and about the caliber of the support we receive from our industry partners that help us keep our services affordable in these tough economic times.”