The Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association, Michael Crawford, CGCS, and Richard Gagnon have been selected to receive 2010 Excellence in Government Relations (EGR) Awards from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA).
The awards will be presented at the 2010 GCSAA Education Conference during Celebrate GCSAA! presented in partnership with Syngenta, Feb. 9. Formerly the Opening Session and Welcoming Reception, Celebrate GCSAA! is hosted by GCSAA President Mark D. Kuhns, CGCS. The conference (Feb. 8-12) will be held in conjunction with the Golf Industry Show (Feb. 10-11) at the San Diego Convention Center.
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"Mike, Rich and the Carolinas GCSA are such passionate leaders in our industry," Kuhns said. "It is an honor to recognize their government relations work. They are shining examples of GCSAA and its members seeking to be part of the solution, not part of the problem."
The Carolinas GCSA, an affiliated chapter of GCSAA representing approximately 1,800 members in North and South Carolina, is receiving an EGR Award in the advocacy category. Since 2003, the chapter has established a government relations program that has achieved significant success on behalf of golf course superintendents and the wider golf industry in the region. The Carolinas GCSA led a delegation of superintendents and golf industry allies to Raleigh in 2007 for the first North Carolina Golf Day, as proclaimed by the North Carolina governor.
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The delegation delivered key messages to lawmakers about golf being a key industry providing positive economic, environmental and social benefits, and presented findings from the North Carolina Golf Economic Impact Study, which measured the industry's economic contribution at $5.3 billion and 70,000 jobs annually. Relationships forged with state lawmakers from the lobbying efforts of that day, and a similar event two years later, helped the Carolinas GCSA and its allied associations stave off a proposed 7.5-percent tax on all golf rounds in the state in 2009.
The association also sends dozens of members to the annual South Carolina Golf Week, sponsoring multiple teams in the legislative classic golf tournament – raising money for junior golf and providing superintendents informal discussions with a legislator on each team.
The Carolinas GCSA has made significant progress on water issues in both states and maintains regular dialogue with the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. The association's input was instrumental in shaping North Carolina’s water allocation study, which will help determine future access to water, and placed two superintendents on the South Carolina Drought Response Committee.
Crawford is a GCSAA certified golf course superintendent at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Ga., and receives an EGR Award in the advocacy category. A 21-year GCSAA member, Crawford has been at TPC Sugarloaf for 14 years. A past-president of the Georgia GCSA, Crawford serves as co-chairman of the GGCSA Government Relations Committee. He has led educational and lobbying efforts the past two years regarding the management of water use on golf courses to a wide array of audiences including the governor, lieutenant governor, Georgia Environmental Protection Division, and state and local officials.
Working with the Georgia EPD and the University of Georgia, Crawford spearheaded an effort to provide the state with new scientific data on golf course water use, supplementing the water conservation best management practices already submitted to the state. Under his leadership, the GGCSA produced and distributed a brochure entitled “Georgia golf saves water," as well as a public relations campaign educating the citizens of Georgia on how homeowners can conserve water at home.
Gagnon, a GCSAA Class A superintendent at Segregansett Country Club in Taunton, Mass., will receive an EGR Award in the compliance category. In a cost-saving effort, Gagnon hired high school students to work on his grounds crew. In preparation of employing minors, he began researching the commonwealth's child labor laws to determine their applicability to golf course operations. Gagnon partnered with a company that provides training for employees concerning right-to-know, safety training, and labor laws, to present labor law issues for clarification to the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General about age limits on operating workplace equipment.
From these proactive efforts, the Fair Labor Division in the Office of the Attorney General helped interpret the laws as they apply to the turf management business and clarified the tasks minors may perform in the workplace. The information was compiled into a checklist that Gagnon shared with other golf course superintendents across the commonwealth to assist in complying with state child labor law requirements.