GCSAA Education Conference and the Golf Industry Show

I attended the GCSAA Education Conference and the Golf Industry Show last week in San Diego, California. I attended two 8 hour seminars Greens Aerification and Water Management by the Numbers as well as Plant Growth Regulators for Fine Turf. I attended the trade show on Wednesday but due to the storm NEMO I had to leave a day early on Thursday cutting my trade show time in half.

The seminars I attended relate to our particular golf course in a few ways. I have been focused on removing 20 percent of the surface of the greens through aeration each season since we had the damage on our greens two years ago. This seminar focused on new techniques and technology to remove more surface area with less aerations. Some of these procedures are very expensive and might not apply to MGC but I did take home useful information that will continue to promote healthy, firm, and true playing surfaces. Water management was involved in this seminar as well focusing on watering by the numbers given on the TDR 300 moisture meter and not watering based on evapotranspiration allowing for firmer greens, deeper root systems, and the ability to deal with mother nature’s watering practices more efficiently.

I find throughout the growing season fluctuations in the speed of growth on the playing surfaces change dramatically in different weather conditions even with frequent applications of growth regulators. I made a decision to switch the kind of growth regulators I use on the course for the 2013 season and this seminar allowed me to fine tune how I will apply this new program taking the peaks and valleys out of the growth curve allowing for more consistent playing conditions.

The trade show floor was a busy day for me as I was meeting with different company representatives concerning fertilizers, chemicals, and equipment advancements that have been recently released. I was able to speak first hand with scientists that developed the programs that we implement at MGC on a weekly basis as well as other superintendents use of certain products. The equipment manufactures were all in attendance so I was able to compare different equipment choices for upcoming purchases in one place.

I would like to thank the Madison Board of Governors for my attendance to this year’s show and for furthering my education. I look forward to applying this knowledge on the golf course this coming season.