President's Message

Dear CTGCSA Members,

I hope you are enjoying the cooler temperatures as much as I am.  Grass clippings will be slowing down and for most of us we can begin to breathe a sigh of relief that we have made it through the summer.  

Hopefully your growing season was full of productivity and triumph over your obstacles.  Some of us may just be getting ready to kick off a big winter project, but it just doesn't seem as daunting without the 100 degree heat bearing down on you.  No matter your circumstance, the fact you can read this newsletter means you survived the Texas summer!

Our next event will be the Crew Appreciation Championship on Monday, October 16th and it is being hosted by Jeremy Laak at Olympia Hills.  I'm sure the course will play great, so bring your crew out and give them a fun day enjoying the sport they so often get to watch and seldom get to play. 

This year we will be switching the timing of the last two events.  The Toy Drive will be played on November 15th at Flintrock Falls. Due to conflict with the TTA convention, the annual meeting will be pushed all the way back to December 18th.  Hopefully this switch provides us with some better weather for the golf event while putting us indoors in December when we know the weather can be so unpredictable. 

As always, a huge thank you goes out to our annual sponsors as well as all who have sponsored events this year.  We truly could not keep this association going without your wonderful support, both financially and with your time.  Lastly, I want to thank Carol Cloud for keeping this train moving, you are very appreciated!

Jared Heine
CTGCSA President 2017
Upcoming Events

The Time Has Come....for you to show your appreciation to your
hard working crews and assistants. This years venue will be at
Olympia Hills. Round up your 4-man team or two.

Every person on the team needs to bring an item
(hat, golf balls, towel or similar) for our special drawing

 
 

Superintendents and Vendors
We would love to have you join us and show your appreciation
to all these hard working folks. If you have a special treat or
would like to just help us pamper them we would welcome it all.

Contact the office if you have some great ideas
or if you plan on being there.
carolcloud2003@gmail.com or 512-215-4612.

Schedule
10:00 am Registration
11:00 am Lunch
12:00 pm Shotgun Start

Cost / Format
$30.00 per person

THANK YOU

T-Shirt Sponsor


Lunch Sponsor


Top Stories
Quarry superintendent Burger provides local golf amateurs with quality course

By Justin Meyer, Staff Writer Friday, July 7, 2017

Sitting in a large black chair in an office overlooking his back nine, Bruce Burger watched some of San Antonio's finest golfers compete on his course Friday. When 84 golfers teed off at the Quarry Golf Club for round one of the three-day Greater San Antonio Men's Amateur Championship, they all witnessed the work of the "Godfather."

Burger, 54, has been the course's superintendent since it was built in 1993, masterfully orchestrating the rolling rocks and atypical terrain at Quarry.

He has played in the GSA Amateur Championship more than 20 times since 1991, but now watches the fruits of his labor blossom from the sideline, swapping his swings to pull strings.
"It's fun to be the puppet master," Burger said with a smile as peered out at his well-kept jungle. "I can get the greens the way I like them."

As golfers trickled into the clubhouse after finishing their rounds, most commented on the state of the course, in awe of the perfection Burger presented.     

Hundreds of volunteers around the world take part in third-annual competition to document variety of species that call golf courses home.

Hundreds of enthusiastic community volunteers documented almost 2,000 unique species of animals, plants, fungi and insects living on golf courses around the world.  Now in its third year, Audubon International's BioBlitz creates an opportunity for school children, community members, golfers, and more to take a closer look at the habitats provided on golf courses. In addition to demonstrating the large diversity of species on golf courses, the competition also engages local interest and support of the green space and recreational opportunities they provide to their towns. 
Digging deep for labor solutions
By Seth Jones and Grant Gannon

Any of the following five ideas could be the difference between a skeleton crew and a successful crew.
    • Refer a friend
    • Inmate labor
    • A win-win in Ohio
    • If you build it, they will come
    • MilitaryHire.com
There were no new Terminator movies this summer, but Skynet clearly hasn't won. Most work on the golf course is still done by humans.

But finding those humans - and expecting them to "be back" each season - has proven a constant challenge for courses around the country.

In the final part of our three-part series on labor, we share five ideas that superintendents around the country have used to successfully navigate the current labor market. In the first two parts, we discussed the challenge of the assistant superintendent position and the challenges of the H2-B program and attracting laborers.




Event Wrap Ups

First a big thank you to the fellas that cooked lunch for everyone.

Bob Ducote
Trevor Ogden
Mike Valdez

Thank you to the Valdez family for cooking the beans and potato salad.
The association appreciates those that attended this first ever barbecue cook off. We hope to move this education and barbecue back to January next year so if you are a barbecue cooking guru start thinking about your entry!

This year we had a tie for top barbecuing dog.
Congratulations to Bob Ducote and Mike Valdez.


Each received a $100.00 gift card from our title sponsor Helena.


CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM OUR GREAT DAY AT RIVERCROSSING


CTGCSA President Jared Heine (L) recognizes River Crossing host
Paul Lane (R). River Crossing is always a great host for our chapter. 


Dr. Bruce Martin from Clemson University gave a great presentation 
on Disease and Nematode Management for Bermudagrass Greens.


Dr. Brad Shaver, Agronomist with Helena Chemical talked about
New Technology in Turf


Craig Felton is making a very important point while other members
are just trying to get down to business on some great BBQ.



In the end, everyone had a great time. The education program 
was great and the BBQ was excellent. The only thing that suffered a little 
was our waist lines but we didn't mind at all!
GCSAA News and Updates
Hurricane Disaster Relief

In light of the tragedy caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, GCSAA and the Environmental Institute for Golf have established a relief effort for victims. This effort will focus on providing support directly to the GCSAA members who suffer personal loss due to this disaster. GCSAA's deepest thoughts and prayers go out to those affected as they cope with the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Golf Industry Show 
Registration Opens Oct.17
GCM magazine launches GCMOnline.com

Golf course superintendents have a new one-stop shop for the latest news and information from the golf course management industry - GCMOnline.com, the new website of Golf Course Management (GCM) magazine. Debuting today, the site will feature news updates, information from the golf course management industry and content from the award-winning publication, all in a dynamic, fully responsive and user-friendly format. Click photo.
2017 Annual Sponsors


2017 Event Calendar
OCTOBER 16
Crew Appreciation Championship @ Olympia Hills GC, Universal City Sponsored by PMTS and SiteOne

NOVEMBER 15
Toy Drive Tournament @ Flintrock Falls GC, Lakeway
Sponsored by Harrell's

DECEMBER 5
Texas Turfgrass Association Conf.@ Arlington Convention Center, texasturf.com

DECEMBER 18
Annual Meeting @ Plum Creek Golf Course, Kyle
Sponsored by Winfield

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