From the desk of GCM

GCSAA veteran to retire in 2013

An institution among golf course superintendents announced his plans to retire.

Nobody who is active as a practicing GCSAA member has more years of service to the organization than Clem Wolfrom, a 56-year member of GCSAA. Today, though, it was announced that Wolfrom plans to retire March 1, 2013, according to a prepared statement by the Detroit Golf Club, where Wolfrom marks 50 years of service this March.

Detroit Golf Club also announced it has begun a national search to find the replacement for Wolfrom, who is the sixth superintendent in the club's 112-year history.

Wolfrom, the son of a superintendent (Clarence Wolfrom was in charge at Maple Lane Golf Club in Sterling Heights, Mich., for 54 years), arrived in 1962 at Detroit Golf Club from Dearborn Country Club. Wolfrom oversees two golf courses at Detroit Golf Club, designed by the legendary Donald Ross.

During his career, Wolfrom served on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association for 22 years, including four years as president. He also was a member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Turfgrass Association for 12 years, including two years as president.

Read more about Wolfrom in an upcoming issue of GCM.

Golf course management comes to American Idol

 

If you didn't already watch the cultural phenomenon that is Fox's "American Idol," now you have a reason. Actually, two reasons, at least for those of us who work at GCSAA headquarters.

One of this year's contestants is Jason Hamlin, who goes by the nickname "Wolf" ... obviously. During his audition filmed in San Diego, Wolf ripped out versions of Credence Clearwater Revival's "Midnight Special" and Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" to earn his way to Hollywood.

But of more interest to those reading this blog is Wolf's current profession. Wolf, you see, is a mechanic. A golf course mechanic. And just to make it a little more interesting for those of us working at GCSAA HQ, Wolf is originally from Eudora, Kan., which is just a short drive from our home-away-from-home in Lawrence.

We're chasing a little more information about Wolf and exactly what course he works at and his upbringing in the great state of Kansas, but in the meantime, you can enjoy his performance during the "American Idol" auditions above.

Big first day at Harrogate Week

If the first full day of activities at the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) Turf Management Expo is any bellweather of things to come, then 2012 is shaping up to be a comeback year for the golf course management industry.

The first day of Harrogate Week, which the event is commonly referred to on the other side of the pond, attracted 3,009 total visitors, which represents and increase of 753 over last year and is 918 more than 2010.

"We are absolutely delighted with the figure, and it vindicates the huge amount of work that was carried out in advance of the show to encourage visitors to attend," said BIGGA CEO Jim Croxton. "I am sure that the positive trend will continue today."

GCSAA hits the floor at BIGGA show

This is a big week for our industry compatriots across the pond, as the annual BIGGA (British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association) Turf Management Exhibition — otherwise known as Harrogate Week to those in the business — is off and running.

GCSAA is well represented at this week's activities. The association has a booth on the trade show floor, several staff members in attendance — including CEO Rhett Evans and senior director of member programs Carrie Riordan — along with two members of the national board of directors — president Robert M. Randquist, CGCS, and director Keith A. Ihmas, CGCS.

Carrie is helping us out at GCM with some on-the-spot coverage of all the comings and goings in Harrogate (which, in case you were wondering, is about 60 miles northeast of Manchester and about 200 miles due north of London) and sent along these photos from Tuesday's activities. More to come here on the blog throughout the week.

Sweet charity in the Great Northwest

GCSAA 2012 Old Tom Morris Award recipient Peter Jacobsen proved again why he is being honored.

Jacobsen,  professional golfer and businessman, announced yesterday that $100,000 was raised for non-profit partners from his Umpqua Bank Challenge that GCM covered in August in Oregon. The charity golf event, which featured people such as legend Arnold Palmer and rock 'n roller Huey Lewis, benefited "I Have a Dream" Foundation-Oregon and Randall Children's Hospital at Legacy Emanuel.

Since 1986, Jacobsen has helped raise more than $13 million in his hometown of Portland, Ore.

"To be able to use the game of golf as a means to unite people in the spirit of giving back, and having fun, is very special," Jacobsen, who was featured on the cover of the December 2011 issue of GCM, says on his website.

Jacobsen will receive the Old Tom Morris Award on Feb. 28 in Las Vegas during the GCSAA Education Conference at Celebrate GCSAA! presented by Syngenta.The Old Tom Morris Award is presented annually to an individual who "through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf has helped to mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris." The award has been presented annually since 1983. Nick Price received it in 2011.

 

New Southwest rep in GCSAA field staff program

The Southwest region has a new GCSAA field staff representative.

Jeff Jensen, a veteran of more than a decade in the golf industry, has been selected to that position. He replaces Richard Pavlasek, CGCS, who previously served in that role before relocating to New Jersey late last year.

Jensen (pictured here) comes to GCSAA after having served more than six years as the chief financial officer at Imagine Marketing Inc. in Henderson, Nev. While there, he oversaw the day-to-day operations of the company, which in 2009 earned the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year award.

Before that, Jensen spent more than 11 years in the golf industry in several roles in the Memphis, Tenn., and Las Vegas markets, including stints as an assistant general manager/golfshop manager, director of golf operations and director of sales and marketing.

The complete release announcing Jensen's hiring is posted below:

Everything’s coming up Roses

Crystal Rose-Fricker, the president of her family’s new company, Pure Seed, was not only born into the turfgrass seed business but she has stayed in it all her life.

From picking Marionberries on her grandmother’s farm at age 9, Rose-Fricker graduated to helping her siblings with irrigation and driving the combine and truck on the family farm. When she was 13, she started working at Pure-Seed Testing, the turfgrass breeding company founded by her father, Bill Rose.

As an undergraduate at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Rose-Fricker majored in biology, ran cross-country and track and toyed with the idea of being an accountant. Her dad had other ideas. “He said, ‘You don’t want to be an accountant and stay inside all day,’” she recalls, and he took her to meet Warren Kronstad, Ph.D., an internationally renowned wheat breeder and geneticist at Oregon State University in Corvallis in the heart of grass-growing country. “As soon as I had that meeting with him, it all clicked. I thought ‘I could do that.’

After graduation from Oregon State, Rose-Fricker worked at Pure-Seed Testing as a full-time plant breeder, took charge of the company’s breeding program in 1996 and became president in 1999.

As Rose-Fricker worked in the turfgrass seed industry, evidence accumulated indicating that she had merited and not just inherited her position. In 1999 she was named Outstanding Young Farmer; in 2000, Sports Illustrated called her the “Sixth Most Influential Woman in Golf”; and in 2008, she was awarded the National Council of Commercial Plant Breeders Genetics and Plant Breeding Award for Industry, which is administered by the Crop Science Society of America and recognizes “scientists who have made significant contributions to plant science through basic, applied, or developmental research in genetics and plant breeding during their careers in the private sector.”

GCSAA stamps approval of IGCEMA program

GCSAA has announced its support of the certificate program from the International Golf Course Equipment Manager's Association (IGCEMA), which is designed to meet the training and skills needs of equipment managers.

In announcing the decision, GCSAA president Robert M. Randquist, CGCS, said, "We applaud the IGCEMA for establishing its certificate program. Creating competencies and developing resources to address them is a process GCSAA has followed in its professional development program. We are pleased the IGCEMA has developed this resource and certainly encourage golf course superintendents and their facilities to support the participation of their equipment managers and technicians in this certificate program.”

The full release from the IGCEMA is posted below:

Rounds-played numbers make modest gains

For the first time since last summer, there was good news to report in the number of rounds played in the United States in November.

Ending four consecutive months of decreases, the number of rounds-played in November was up 1.7 percent when compared to November 2010 according to the latest National Golf Rounds Played Report issued by the National Golf Foundation, Golf Datatech and Weather Trends International. That increase wasn't enough to halt a year-long slide in rounds-played numbers, however — for the year, rounds played are off 3.5 percent vs. 2010.

Double-digit increases in both the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions were the main reasons for the overall increase in November. Taking advantage of warmer-than-usual temperatures, the number of rounds played were up 28.2 percent in New England and 14.5 perent in the Mid-Atlantic vs. November 2010. The biggest local spikes were in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, where rounds played were up a whopping 39.1 percent in November.

Rounds-played were down slightly in four of the eight regions tracked in the report, led by the East North Central region which was down 5.8 precent when compared to November 2010.

Presidential audience for We Are Golf, GCSAA

The We Are Golf initiative — which includes GCSAA backing — got a high-profile shoutout today from none other than the President of the United States.

Golf industry leaders, including GCSAA CEO Rhett Evans, were on hand at the White House today for the formal announcement of Summer Jobs+, an effort to encourage businesses, non-profits and the government to work together to provide employment opportunities for America's youth. In addition, golf was honored by the Department of Labor for its strong response to the Obama Administration's summer jobs initiative in 2011.

A full copy of the news release from We Are Golf is posted below. In addition, you can get more information about the Summer Jobs+ program by visiting this website: