President's Message
Matt Cowan
2018 CTGCSA President

It has been an honor serving as your association president this past year.  We had some great events at some awesome venues.  I would like to thank everyone who participated in these events.  

Every year, the turf scholarship event which kicks off our season continues to grow and more funds are raised annually to help and support our future youth.  Burger's Boys defended the McClure Cup at Ol' Brack.  Aaron Clary made easy work of it at Falconhead to be the champ and continued his good play in Corpus Christi at the trophy taking 2nd place.  Its awesome to see how special the crew event is to all of you guys.  This years event at Grey Rock, even without the greatest weather, was such a great event with great food and prizes for all of those who participated!  Lastly, the annual meeting was overwhelmingly attended!  

I would like to welcome new superintendent board members Paul Lane, Scott Robinson, Cash Lane, Rey Gomez, and our newest affiliate board member Justin White.  Craig Felton will take over as President with Jake Snyman as Vice President.  Thank you to those board members still serving Jerrett Eledge, Brody Dillard, Tony Nash, Tyler Anderson, Corby White, and Terry Harris.  Thank you to our administrator Carol Cloud for all that you do.  Next years schedule looks great and I look forward to a very successful year for the CTGCSA.  

Again, it has been an honor serving on the board for the last few years as I have learned a lot and made great acquaintances along the way.  I hope you had a great 2018, a wonderful Christmas and looking forward to an outstanding 2019. Happy New Year!

Upcoming Events

Top Stories

Austin Country Club will be hosting the Dell Technologies Match Play event March 25 th  - 31 st  . It is a great week of amazing golf, fulfilling work, and good fellowship with others in our industry. We usually need about 52 people (includes my staff) each shift to pull off this great event. Last year the tournament raised over 1.2 million for local Texas Charities and we look to exceed that this year. If you have any interest in volunteering for the week please fill out the registration form (link) below. Each volunteer gets a shirt for each day, jacket, hat, and meals for each shift along with grounds passes for the day(s) you work. If you are from out of town, we do offer housing and transportation to and from the event hotel. Spots fill up quickly so please register as soon as you can. Deadline is February 10 th , 2019. If you have questions, you can email me at  bstringer@austincountryclub.com , or call 512-314-3265. Thanks in advance for all of your help. We are looking forward to a great week.

Sincerely,   Bobby Stringer
Golf Course Superintendent, Austin Country Club

Event Wrap Ups

The 2018 crew appreciation tournament was held at Grey Rock Golf Club
and hosted by Jim Papa. This rescheduled event had a fantastic turnout
with staffs from many golf courses around Central Texas well-represented. 

If you've never taken the chance to participate or send your staff to this
event, you're really missing out on a great opportunity to reward and
recognize your hard-working staff. They're treated to a great day of golf, a fantastic meal, and great door prizes. The tradition is that everyone brings something from their course and then they are raffled so everyone goes home with a nice souvenir  from the event. 

A familiar Championship Team walked away with the trophy this year.
Wayne Slaton and his Crystal Falls team mastered the beautiful course and took on the top honors. Congratulations to these great players and to all
of the terrific participants who make the golf courses in Central Texas
second to none. We look forward to another great event in 2019.

Thank you Matt Cowan for getting all these great pictures.

























One of the most special events of any year in Central Texas is the Annual
Toy Drive. This traditional event raises money and toy donations for a local
charity through the generosity and kindness of Central Texas members and
sponsors. Held at beautiful Dominion Country Club in San Antonio, this year's
event was a very special one and we had a great array of toys and
gifts for donation.
 
Thank you to our tournament host Dane Foley and his staff for providing
a great golf course and thank you to the Dominion for rolling out the red carpet.
The Central Texas GCSA is very proud of this community service tradition and
will continue to carry on the tradition for years to come.
Thank you again to all who participated!











The Central Texas GCSA Annual Meeting was held at River Crossing Golf Club in
Spring Branch and hosted by Paul Lane. Winfield United was our event sponsor
and provided a fantastic slate of technical speakers through there very successful program, Winfield Academy. 

Attendees earned continuing education points from both the GCSAA and the
Texas Department of Agriculture. Speakers included prominent names from around the country. The Annual Meeting also included officer and director elections for 2019.
Craig Felton will serve as the 2019 President and Matt Cowan was recognized for his outstanding work in 2018 as the President. 

Thank you to all who attended and our sponsor Winfield United. The event was a
great wrap up to our 2018 events season and we look forward to
seeing everyone in 2019!





GCSAA News and Updates
A Message from Rhett Evans - 2018 Fall Board Meeting Review

For many of you, autumn is a time for winding down, while others are busy making preparations for an influx of snowbirds. We have a similar dichotomy at GCSAA headquarters. While we are bringing some of our 2018 projects to the finish line, we are gearing up for our busiest season with the Chapter Delegates Meeting and the Golf Industry Show right around the corner. And we are planning for 2019 and beyond, as you will see from the items discussed by the GCSAA Board of Directors at its Fall Meeting in September at headquarters in Lawrence:  Click here to read more
 

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GCSAA Government Affair Manager  Michael Lee Wins RISE Award

Michael Lee, manager, government affairs, earned the 2018 Grassroots  Excellence 
Award from Responsible Industry for A Sound Environment (RISE) at its annual meeting Sept. 25 in Amelia Island, Fla. Lee was honored for his work to engage GCSAA members in Maryland and Maine in responding to anti-pesticide bills working through state legislatures last spring. Lee's proactive and strategic support and  engagement with superintendents on the ground in those states lead to the defeat of the  bills as announced by RISE staff at the meeting.  GCSAA is a long standing member of the RISE coalition. RISE is the national trade   association representing manufacturers, formulators, distributors and other industry leaders involved with pesticides and fertilizers for non-ag use. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., RISE is engaged at the federal, state, and local levels of government.

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Chapter Delegates Receive Key Updates,  Discuss Initiatives
 
Chapter delegates discussed key initiatives and received various updates as part of the annual chapter delegates meeting, held in Lawrence and Kansas City. The meeting allows representatives from GCSAA's 99 chapters to provide a voice in association development, as well as meet candidates running for officer and board of director positions. Here are the key highlights:  Click here to read more

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Join us for the 2019 Health in Action 5K presented by  Syngenta  and the  Golf Course Superintendents Association of America . Proceeds from the run benefit the  Environmental Institute for Golf , the philanthropic arm of GCSAA.  The 2019 event will be held Thursday, February 7 at 6:00am at Embarcadero Marina Park North in San Diego, CA.     Register Here 




2018 Annual Sponsors




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