When I first joined the staff of GCM some 13 years ago, one of the first things that struck me about this business was the way that superintendents, by and large, stuck together and helped each other out.
Even when they came from neighboring golf courses who competed for a slowly shrinking pool of golfers and were intent on putting each other out of business, superintendents have always had a penchant for lending a hand to their fellow supers. Advice, equipment, the name of a good turfgrass consultant ... in my experiences, if one superintendent needed an assist from the superintendent up the road on anything, he got it, regardless of the competitive situation that framed their relationship. In short, they had each other's back.
That may offer up some clues about why the communicators who work in this industry — magazine editors, public relations and marketing professionals, sales people — have embraced the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association the way that they have. The membership rolls of our little group are filled with competitors. There are folks from Toro, John Deere and Jacobsen, representatives from Syngenta, Bayer and BASF. There are rival PR agencies competing for the same green industry dollars. And, yes, there are editors from competing publications such as GCM, Golfdom and Golf Course Industry.
Yet much like what I've seen from GCSAA superintendents around the country, the members of TOCA are able to put at least a temporary hold on their competitive differences and pull in one direction to improve how we all communicate about the green industry. And nowhere are more egos left at the door than at the group's annual meeting, which took place last week in Asheville, N.C.
Now, there's certainly competition at this event — TOCA's annual communications awards for writing, design and photography tend to bring out the competitive fire (more on that later). But for the most part, a neutral observer would be hard pressed to pick out any particular loyalties from the crowd gathered at these annual meetings. The group eats together, drinks together, plays golf together, takes tours of notable local landmarks together, rides to the airport together (thanks for the lift, Golfdom guys!) and, yes, even learns together.
This year's TOCA annual meeting also had a definite golf course management air about it. The winner of the group's Environmental Communicator of the Year Award was a superintendent, Anthony Williams, CGCS from Stone Mountain Golf Club outside of Atlanta. He is third superintendent to win the award in the 13 years it's been handed out. Greg Lyman, GCSAA's director of environmental programs, was on hand to present during a session on sustainability and the green industry. And your's truly served as a member of a panel discussion on social media and the changing face of information distribution in the green industry, was elected to TOCA's board of directors ("a chicken in every pot ...") and hit two of the greatest 5-woods of his life during the annual golf outing at Grove Park Inn and Resort Golf Course (thanks to superintendent Mark Rogers for the hospitality).
As for the lone competitive part of the whole week, I'm happy to say that GCM came out of the communications contest in good shape, taking home a total of 10 awards. Ultimately, the opinion of GCSAA members and GCM readers matters most to us, but it is always gratifying to have the work you do honored by your peers, and I'm exceedingly proud of the work that our staff members, past and present, and contributors turned in this past year.
Mad props to all of the following award winners:
- First place, Photography: GCSAA senior manager of creative services Roger Billings, Picture Story category (two or more photos to illustrate an article in a printed magazine), “A little bit of tunnel light,: April 2010 issue of GCM
- First place, Writing: Former GCM senior staff writer Terry Ostmeyer, Environmental Stewardship Article,"Little Big Man," Feb. 2010 issue.
- First place, Writing: Free-lance writer Kurt Lawton, Product Information Article, "Underground revolution," June 2010 issue
- Merit, Design: Billings and senior manager of creative services Kelly Neis, Overall Magazine Design, May 2010 issue
- Merit, New Media: GCM editor-in-chief Scott Hollister, Blogs, From the Desk of GCM (yea, that's what you're reading right now)
- Merit, Special Projects: Billings, Miscellaneous Special Projects, 2011 Dog Days of Golf calendar
- Merit, Writing: Free-lance writer Trent Bouts, Turf Feature Article, "Renovation Risk," July 2010 issue
- Merit, Writing: Former GCM senior associate editor Seth Jones, Operations Profile, "Perfection by the lake," August 2010 issue
- Merit, Writing: Jones, General Feature Article, “The Price of success," December 2010 issue
- Merit, Writing: Hollister, Writing for Web Content, Original Content, “Biologicals take center stage at LebanonTurf event,” From the Desk of GCM
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