Cactus & Pine GCSA holds second annual Water Summit

Summit focuses on water management in the state of Arizona

Pictured from left: Cactus & Pine GCSA Board Member Mike Murphy, Cactus & Pine GCSA President Rory Van Poucke and GCSAA CEO Rhett Evans

The Cactus & Pine GCSA held their second annual Water Summit at Gainey Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona on August 28.

The summit was organized to provide Arizona politicians, government agencies, leading water experts, municipalities and allied golf organizations with an overview of the golf industries Best Management Practices (BMPs) in regards to water management.

Sponsored by Rain Bird, the summit was kicked off by GCSAA CEO Rhett Evans who spoke on the importance of golf course sustainability and the GCSAA BMP template that is being implemented by states around the country including Arizona.

Other featured speakers included golf course architect Gary Brawley of Gary Brawley Golf Design, Wesley Cook of Arizona Public Service, Chuck Cullom of Central Arizona Project, Jimmy Fox of Evergreen Turf, Bruce Hallin of Salt River Project, Kirk Hardin of Rain Bird, Dave Kopec, Ph.D., of the University of Arizona, Jeff Tannler of the Arizona Department of Water Resources and myself.

“Water availability and cost are critical to the golf industry in the Southwest,” said Rory Van Poucke, Cactus & Pine GCSA president and general manager/Class A superintendent of Apache Sun Golf Club. “We need to communicate to our policymakers that golf uses only 1.9 percent of the total freshwater in the state, but contributes $3.9 billion to the state economy. This is a tremendous economic return on a minimal natural resource investment.”

The event was attended by 88 Cactus & Pine members and guests including representatives of the Arizona Women’s Golf Association, Club Managers Association of America, Southwest Section PGA and numerous policymakers from local municipalities, state agencies and water districts including the Arizona Department of Water Resources, Arizona Public Services, Central Arizona Project and the Salt River Project.

“Golf is big business in Arizona,” said Cactus & Pine GCSA Executive Director Carmella Ruggiero. “Approximately 11.6 million rounds are played annually, the industry directly employs nearly 19,000 individuals and we contribute $72 million in state and local taxes. We have a terrific message to share and events like the Water Summit give us that opportunity.”

For more information, visit Cactus & Pine GCSA or view the Arizona Golf Industry Economic Impact Study.

Arizona and California BMP committees making progress on state manuals

Committees to publish state level BMPs by summer of 2018

The Arizona and California BMP committees both met recently and are progressing in meeting their goals of fashioning state-level BMPs by the summer of 2018.

The Arizona committee is currently editing all 12 sections of the document and will have a rough draft of those edits by September 15. The turfgrass team at the University of Arizona headed by Dr. Paul Brown, Dr. Dave Kopec and Kai Umeda, along with Cactus & Pine GCSA chapter executive Carmella Ruggiero, are overseeing overall project management.

Other committee members include Stephen Bais, Arrowhead Country Club; Gary Brawley, ASGCA, Gary Brawley Golf Design;  Doug Dykstra, CGCS, White Mountain Country Club (Chair); Shawn Emerson, Desert Mountain; Clay Fetherbay, Landscapes Unlimited; Keith Hershberger, Desert Mountain; Andy Huber, Pine Canyon Club; Ryan Jackisch, Arizona Department of Water; Jeff Jensen, GCSAA; Jim Key, Desert Mountain, Barrett LaMay, Apache Wells Golf Club, Marvin Mills, Marvin Mills Irrigation Consulting; Jack Peterson, Arizona Department of Agriculture; Phil Shoemaker, Desert Highlands Golf Club, Dr. Kirk Smith, Maricopa County Environmental Services Division; Jeff Tannler, Arizona Department of Water; Rory Van Poucke, Apache Sun Golf Club and Brian Whitlark, United States Golf Association.

The Arizona committee is working diligently with state regulators including the Arizona Department of Agriculture, Arizona Department of Air Quality, Arizona Department of Water and Arizona OSHA.

Upon completion, the Arizona BMP manual will be endorsed by the Office of Arizona Governor Doug Ducey.

The California BMP committee was formed in the spring and quickly went to work issuing an RFP for a third-party consultant to assist with overall project management and completion of the project.

Five third-party consultants responded to the RFP by the July 7 deadline and now a subcommittee made up of representatives from each of the state’s GCSAA chapters is evaluating the proposals and will be awarding the contract in late September.

The California BMP committee is chaired by Gary Ingram, CGCS, Metropolitan Golf Links. Other members include Jim Abate, TPC Agronomy; Jim Ferrin, Sun City Roseville; Pat Gross, United States Golf Association; Ali Harivandi, University of California Co-operative Extension; Josh Heptig, County of San Luis Obispo; Jeff Jensen, GCSAA; Craig Kessler, Southern California Golf Association; Tennessee McBroom, Montecito Country Club, Rancho San Marcos and Sandpiper Golf Clubs; Jim Schmid, The Lakes Country Club; Terry Vassey Old Ranch Country Club; Kurtis Wolford, Cherry Island Golf Course and Vince Zellefrow, El Camino Country Club.

Irene Cline, executive director of the California GCSA, Central California GCSA and Sierra Nevada GCSA is overseeing the administrative needs of the committee.

Once the BMP manuals are completed, they will be published online in an editable format that superintendents from both states can access and make specific to their facilities needs and local regulations.

More information on the project and to view the national BMP template