The following are notes from interviews with Dave Downing, vice president of the GCSAA board of directors and past president of the Carolinas GCSA, and Mitchell Wilkerson, CGCS, the incoming president of the Carolinas GCSA, during the Carolinas GCSA’s annual conference and trade show, which took place mid-November in Myrtle Beach:
1. In 2008, the GCSAA will focus on building management teams at golf facilities to make them more successful.
“Some owners view superintendents as lacking the boldness to come out of the maintenance facility,” Downing says. “Superintendents need to be involved in the game. Golf is the basis of what we do. Golf also changes. Right now, rounds and players are flat overall, and the game is stagnant.”
2. The GCSAA needs to strengthen relationships with its 104 affiliated chapters nationwide because there has been a disconnect between the two over time.
3. Water usage is another area the GCSAA is focusing on.
4. The No. 1 thing golfers look for on a golf course is the conditions of bunkers and greens.
5. Twenty-five percent to 35 percent of GCSAA members want to be general managers at some point in their careers.
6. Golf’s financial impact in the Carolinas is $5 billion.
7. Superintendents are in the recreation business, providing recreation for club members and golfers.
“We need to know what our members want,” Wilkerson says. “If the patrons or members don’t enjoy what we provide them, then we’re not doing our job. Simplifying what we do for our members is the No.1 thing.”
8. Behind the scenes, superintendents work with computers and are environmentalists, therapists and conservationists.
“We change with the times,” Wilkerson says. “We don’t accept what was yesterday.”
9. The Environmental Institute for Golf is funding data collection about golf course superintendents about maintenance practices. So far, the GCSAA has conducted land-use, water use and pesticide-use surveys, all of which will be the baseline that will determine how good superintendent as a profession are.
“We say we’re good, but we need to have data to back it up,” Downing says.
10. The GCSAA has spent $1.1 million on brand marketing last year.
11. When weather conditions negatively affect golf course conditions, superintendents need to ask members what they expect during those times. Draught conditions are an example.
“It’s up to us to communicate to members that this is what they’ll see based on weather conditions,” Wilkerson says. “If golfers aren’t happy, they might leave and not spend money in the clubhouse.”
12. Regarding the replacement of Steve Mona, the GCSAA hired the search firm Spencer Stewart, which is the first time the association has used the firm. Spencer Stewart will bring 10 finalists to the board, which will narrow the field from there.
“We’d like to announce the new person at the show, but if we can’t find the right person, then we’ll have to wait until we do,” Downing says
13. The GCSAA is a $20-million business.
14. For the first time at the trade show, there were more than 400 booths.
