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Executive Director Update
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October/November
WCTA Fall Update – September 2011
Where did you come from, where did you go? A question asked quite a lot of me lately and I can say it has been an extremely busy time with our TARS program and other events/functions/meetings, each with their own story!
July 4 BC Allied Golf Meeting (now NAGA-BC)
July 7 BCGSA Board meeting
July 11 Township of Langley tour with WCTA Vice-President, Tab Buckner
July 13 Empire Stadium and North Vancouver parks tour
July 18-19 Washington State University Turf Research Field Day, Puyallup, WA
July 21 RBC Canadian Open, Shaughnessy
July 27 NAGA BC meeting, Vancouver
August 11 BCGSA Board meeting
August 13-16 BCGSA Exchange Tournament, Quesnel
August 19 Inside Golf Meeting, Richmond
August 22 Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides meeting, Victoria
August 23 TARS, Seymour Golf Club
August 31 PGA of BC buying show, Richmond
September 8 BCGSA Board meeting
September 15 Fraser Valley Superintendents tour of Pagoda Ridge Golf Course, Aldergrove
September 16 VIPGSA Equipment Show, Royal Roads, Victoria
September 21 meeting with Canadian Cancer Society, Cordova Bay Golf Course
September 28 CanWest Hort Show
September 29 Lower Mainland BCGSA Fall windup, Whistler
October 4 BCGSA Board meeting
Oct 11-13 Premier Pacific Seeds trip to Oregon
Upcoming adventures include:
Nov 27-29 Alberta Property Managers, Red Deer
Nov 30 IIABC Conference, Richmond
As evident by the above list, the WCTA is working hard at re-establishing allied relationships and moving forward with new ways to work together, especially with the BCGSA. Along with the BCGSA, we’re playing a key role in the National Allied Golf Association – BC Chapter as it develops into what will hopefully become a strong provincial body representing the BC Golf Industry in its entirety.
Other travel included WCTA Vice President Tab Buckner visiting Moncton, New Brunswick July 20-22 for the Sports Turf Association first ever field day held outside of Ontario and President Scott Mitchell and Past President Dave Duncan travelled to the Northwest Turf Association Conference held September 25-27 in Pullman, Washington.
With all that roaming around we’re still getting lots done and the WCTA recently announced a partnership with Inside Golf Magazine (iG) to manage our official publication, the Turf Line News (TLN) magazine. We’ve worked on this for over a year and are very excited about the skills, professionalism and new possibilities iG brings to the table. There will be four timely TLN editions per year starting with the January 2012 (Conference) Issue and part of the agreement is a new website scheduled to launch in December that will dramatically increase our information and communication abilities.
There is a lot of work happening right now to transition the magazine, build a website and everything that goes with it but we’re also working hard on conference preparations. The program is nearly ready to be released and you might think the theme this year is ‘Somebody call a doctor?’ as we’ve got five PhD’s on the program (pending final confirmation). Not to worry though as there are lots of practical seminars too including an entirely new track for non-turf manager decision makers, ie golf course owners, general managers, golf pros, etc. We’re going to need every superintendent to help make this work by lobbying the powers that be to attend our show. Tell them that Richard Zokol will be speaking on ‘How a shift in golf course maintenance philosophy can affect your business’ and that we’re planning an all-golf industry symposium on Tuesday afternoon that will see a panel of leading golf industry personnel from all sectors discuss the ‘State of the Industry’. Feel free to bring you own challenges and success stories to this wide open discussion.
A golf tournament is planned for Saturday, January 21, hosted by Highland Pacific Golf Course and run by the Kwantlen University Turf Club. Only 72 spots so jump on the opportunity when it comes. There will also be two pre-conference seminars on Sunday this year both with limited seating, one sponsored by the BCGSA and our regular WCTA session. Dr. Frank Wong will be spearheading the BCGSA talk and Dave Doherty along with Bob Oppold will continue where they left off in Victoria in 2009. There is much more exciting conference news to come so keep an eye on the Turf Line News and/or check our website at www.wctaturf.com
As for the pesticide issue, we’ve seen a lot of media attention surrounding the BC Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides. The last meeting was cancelled and we’re uncertain of the schedule as the fall sitting of the BC Legislature begins with the Throne Speech on October 3rd. We continue encouraging both individuals and regional representatives to connect with their local MLA to let them know how you feel about further pesticide legislation and how it would affect your operation. With a fall sitting planned and the committee tasked to provide legislation to parliament, it’s either now or never.
All the best throughout the rest of the 2011 season and see you in Victoria in January!
Jerry Rousseau
Executive Director
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