The goodness that is Golf Day (3 of 3)

National Golf Day 2011 Report
Part 3 (of 3)
By Tim Connolly, assistant superintendent, TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm

Lobenstine joined two other Maryland superintendents in the foyer of the Rayburn House Building to help tell their story as stewards of their land and leaders in their industry. Mike Barrett, CGCS of Argyle Country Club and Teddy Blauvelt of Hampshire Greens Golf Course took a short ride in on the DC Metro to be with Lobenstine. All three work within 20 miles of downtown Washington in a part of the country that’s treaded water through the recession. All are heavily involved as board members in their GCSAA Chapter, the Mid-Atlantic Association of Golf Course Superintendents.

Blauvelt, the Education Chair for MAAGCS, manages a course with many naturalized areas which he uses as opportunities to reach out to the community. He invites scout troops out to the course to help monitor wildlife throughout the season. “They love it and even if their parents aren’t into golf, they’ll start to understand more about it.” Staying positive despite hearing so many misconceptions about golf is part of Blauvelt’s credo. “We just have to be active and I don’t want to say confrontational. We have to be responsive to the people who are putting these bills in place, and that’s what we’re doing here today.”

Mike Barrett, CGCS, has been the superintendent at the 147-acre Argyle CC for 15 years and is the Media/Public Relations Chair for MAAGCS. He’s currently working on a comprehensive recycling initiative at the club and has started the challenging process of achieving certification through Audubon International. For Barrett, We Are Golf’s mission to put a face on the game is a key point. “I tell people that the survival and success of Argyle Country Club is paramount to me. It’s how I make my living, how I support my family. I have 15 guys. That’s how they support their families. It’s how we pay our mortgage payments, it’s how we pay our healthcare costs. People lose sight of just how important golf is and how many families, not just on the golf course, inside from the kitchen staff, the accounting staff, the pro shop staff, the directors. It creates jobs.”

As Rhett Evans looked over the noisy crowd that gathered in the light-filled foyer of the Rayburn Building, he suggested that our outreach doesn’t stop here, just blocks from the White House. “When you look at politics, it’s really local. There needs to be a grass roots effort that’s compatible on all levels, so that when we come in with a unified message of what golf is, it carries a lot more weight. So if the states and the local groups could get together, and form their own “State Golf Day” and march onto their state capitals and basically take this same message to their lawmakers, just think what that would do to spread the word even that much faster. And that can be done. It just takes some folks who are motivated to pull the right people together to make that happen.”

Folks like the group of superintendents who served their profession in the nation’s capital on National Golf Day.

The goodness that is Golf Day (2 of 3)

National Golf Day 2011 Report
Part 2 (of 3)
By Tim Connolly, assistant superintendent, TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm

Everyone knows golf is big in Florida. “We employ 167,000 people, about a $4.5 billion direct economic impact,” said GCSAA President Robert Randquist (pictured, center, along with Rafael Barajas, left, and Rhett Evans, right), director of golf course and grounds at Boca Rio Golf Club in Boca Raton. “So for us to get that message across to our local representatives is very important.” Randquist, just 2 months into his term, shared his thoughts regarding a relevant federal law and its effect on superintendents. “NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) is a major concern for us, we’d like to see that put back in the jurisdiction of the different legislation that we’ve been under for years, so that’s a real key point for us.”

For Jon Lobenstine, Director of Agronomy for Montgomery County Golf and superintendent at Falls Road Golf Course in Potomac Md., having NPDES on the horizon is not good. The NPDES is a part of the Clean Water Act. For over 30 years, superintendents have applied pesticides under the umbrella of FIFRA (Federal, Insect, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act). Wording in NPDES trumps FIFRA. “The NPDES is going to make it difficult for a property with a certain amount of acreage of water. It will require extra paperwork per application simply because there’s a body of water on your property. The legislation is redundant because you’re already filling out application records to satisfy state laws. It’s extra work for superintendents that are already doing a responsible job managing their properties.” A House Resolution to amend FIFRA and prevent additional permits under the Clean Water Act has passed the House but has stalled in the Senate.

Before coming to Montgomery County Golf seven years ago, Lobenstine worked for Dean Graves at nearby Chevy Chase Club. Graves is the recipient of the 2011 GCSAA President’s Award for Environmental Stewardship. Working for Graves opened his eyes to the importance of being a voice for the profession. “You realize what these people do and you just feel like you want to give back. I enjoy being involved with stuff like this.” Lobenstine’s main goal for the day in Washington was “to help reverse the negative stereotype that golf courses have, as far as the environment. You know, anytime you see a lush green golf course, people think it’s over-watered and over-fertilized. And it’s really the opposite. We’re spoon-feeding nutrients, we’re hand-watering. We’re using less everywhere. I think just getting that word out is pretty big.”

The goodness that is Golf Day

I hyped how we had Tim Connolly, assistant superintendent at TPC Potomac, at National Golf Day representing Golfdom this year. Well, Tim has turned in his story and it's a great read.

Unfortunately, it's too long to run in its entirety in the next issue... but that's one good use of the blog -- No space restrictions here! So here is part one (of three) of Tim's report on National Golf Day in Washington, D.C. Look for parts two and three on Wednesday and Thursday.

Superintendents Serve their Profession at National Golf Day 2011

By Tim Connolly, TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Spring is the best time to visit Washington D.C., when a sea of cherry blossoms adorns the city with optimism. That positive energy was palpable during the National Golf Day activities on Capitol Hill, when golf’s main organizations converged to engage members of Congress with powerful messages of the game’s impact on their constituents.

The activities, which included putting lessons, swing analysis, golf simulators, and displays that narrated the successes of golf in the United States, took place in the Rayburn House Building, across Independence Avenue from the Capitol Building. We Are Golf, a coalition of the industry’s top organizations including the GCSAA, CMAA, NGCOA, PGA of America and the World Golf Foundation, is determined to put a face on the game that’s so often reviled by politicians as an elitist pastime. According to We Are Golf, the U.S. golf industry employs 2 million people and has a $76 billion economic impact nationally. Many familiar faces from GCSAA’s Board of Directors, including President Robert Randquist, CGCS and Vice President Sandy Queen, CGCS were there with CEO Rhett Evans to open the lines of communication with Congress and push legislation that helps superintendents and the golf industry.

Before heading upstairs for a series of meetings with members of Congress, Rhett Evans clarified the mission of the day. “We’re trying to let Congress know that when they make decisions on golf, to use us as a resource so we can provide them the necessary information so that they’re not just making a decision in a vacuum. What started this was the law that went into effect regarding economic stimulus and the fact that golf was excluded and that golf was placed in a category that just was not right. We were lumped in with massage parlors and tanning salons and casinos, and that’s disappointing. Now that it’s happened, we need to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. Our No. 1 goal is that this piece of legislation doesn’t get cut-and-pasted when the next disaster relief bill comes.”

For Jay Goughnour, owner and superintendent of Raccoon Valley Golf Course in Jefferson, Iowa, disaster relief is a topic that hits very close to home. His nine-hole course, located northwest of Des Moines, was devastated by flooding in May of 2008. The flood waters affected over 60 percent of the 65-acre property with two greens completely submerged. The Goughnour family survived the disaster through dogged determination and incredible will. “When natural disasters affect golf courses, and it does happen, golf courses should be treated like other small businesses and placed in the same playing field,” said Goughnour. “Maybe aid won’t be available to those golf courses, maybe it will. But they should at least have the opportunity to apply and not be excluded for whatever reason.” He wants Congress to know that golf faces the same hardships as any other business in this economy. “There are a lot of courses that just struggle to make ends meet; there are small courses that are run like small businesses. They employ a few people and they’re great meeting places and valuable assets to the community but they’re not rich people. I own a nine-hole golf course and I can promise you I’m not rich. I’m just a hard working individual.” Indeed, the National Golf Foundation estimates that over 90 percent of golf courses in the United States can be classified as small businesses.