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Golf Course Industry Magazine : The Past, Present and Future of RISE

Toro at The 150th Open Championship

PrimeraTurf

Just returned from the PrimeraTurf annual meeting in Cincinnati the past three days. The event was well-attended and, as always, the best "hallway conversation" meeting in the industry.

The actual meeting was notable for several things. First, the "speed dating" format used to manage meetings between suppliers and distributors. Manufacturers set up shop in hotel suites and distributors went door to door to meet for a 30-minute block of time. Then, it was on to the next one. So, every half an hour, the hotel resembled a high school hallway with everyone emerging from one classroom and meandering about and chatting with others until the bell rang for the next class. Funny, but highly efficient and a great value compared to flying around the country to meet individually.

Also notable was the discussion about Canadian "cosmetic use" pesticide bans. This nasty little trend has been going on for more than a decade north of the border and, the consensus is, will continue to pop up in the U.S. more frequently in future. The most notable lesson of the Canadian experience in attempting to fight these bans was that science and fact were weak ammunition against fear and emotion. "It doesn't matter how many big fat studies you have showing your product's safety when the opposition trots out one leukemia-riddled child in a wheelchair who they say might have gotten cancer because of pesticides," said the leader of the Canadian equivalent of RISE.

The final and most notable thing at PrimeraTurf was the vuvuzela-like buzz around the hallways about a very, very large fertilizer company's not-so-quiet efforts to either acquire or hire distribution. In short, the company is moving toward owning its own supply chain rather than working through regional and local guys. Obviously, PrimeraTurf members and others are concerned about new competition and what will happen to existing agreements to distribute the company's products to golf courses, LCOs and others. While most distributors reported a great start to the year, concerns about this development and ongoing frustration with the number of new players selling post-patent products and deflating market values had quite a few folks I talked with scratching their heads and wondering about the future.

The only thing I know is the future always has room for good service, good support and good relationships with customers. Those that stick with that, innovate and continue to be passionate about the market will survive and thrive.

As usual, I took my camera along, so look for another series of videos about the PrimeraTurf meeting featuring all sorts of people from T&O sales and manufacturing on the GCI and L&L websites in a few weeks.

Mark, We Hardly Knew Ye

I've already had a pile of calls and e-mails 20 minutes after it was publicly announced that Mark Woodward is gone as CEO of the GCSAA.

Here's what I know...absolutely nothing except that we all know what leaving to "pursue other career interests" means. I'm sure I'll get all the juicy details in a day or so, but this really was a surprise to me too. Mainly, because I wasn't paying any attention to them because I do not care what they do internally anymore.

There was a time when I paid a great deal of attention to the internal politics of the GCSAA. The whole PDI thing. Board members losing their positions. The saga of Steve Mona applying for other jobs. Their inability to lure several other prime candidates before the job eventually went to Woodward. Staff dissention and downsizing. It was a lot of fun for a while, but it's just gotten old.

Frankly, I've come to the conclusion that the GCSAA is largely irrelevant to the average superintendent -- and therefore to our editorial interests -- these days. Yes, they run a fine education program. Yes, the show is still an important -- if somewhat smaller -- platform for the industry. But does anything else that GCSAA does or says really mean a lot?

Where's the PR program? Where's the serious lobbying? Where's the much-vaunted effort to promote the role of the superintendent to owners? Where's the strategic research on how golf courses positively impact the environment?

I wish Mark well and I wish them well. But seriously, does this have any impact on your business?

August Issue Update

I'm currently vegging out on a beautiful Father's Day and awaiting the carnage that will be the final round of the U.S. Open on a golf course that -- thanks to Mike Davis of the USGA and superintendent Chris Dalhamer -- is so dry and windy it will kick the butts of the best players in the world. But, while I'm killing time waiting for the bloodbath to begin, here's the August GCI editorial preview that we sent out a few days ago:

Cover Story: The characteristics that make great superintendents great.

Feature: What's new in fairway mowing -- products and practices.

Feature: Painting greens -- a growing trend.

Product Focus: Turf varieties for greens renovations.

Special: The 2010 Golf Course Builders Excellence Awards -- see if your products were used by the winners.

Bigfoot Attacks GCI!

I'm sure that you've already made the GCI website your homepage and visit it hourly, but in case you haven't, click http://www.golfcourseindustry.com/ now to check out an extremely cool bit of digital marketing courtesy of our friends at Valent.

SPOILER ALERT! Don't read on if you don't want to know what happens. Last chance...

Okay, you'll notice that an animated Bigfoot jumps into the frame and "cleans" your screen for you. Pretty slick, huh? The animation programming was developed by Archer Malmo, Valent's Memphis-based agency, in cooperation with our digital geniuses here at GIE Media.

The point here is that we can help ANY client take a good idea and make it a reality. We truly are trailblazers in multimedia and digital, so let your imagination run wild and then give us a call to bring your brainstorm to life.

Coolest Cover Ever?

Okay, I've been involved with a lot of issues of a lot of magazines through the years, but this cover image might be one of the neatest I've ever seen.

It's a perfect complement to our story on how government and private industry do battle for revenue in the golf market (and, obviously, the differing views on whether it's even a good idea for munis to compete with daily fees).

Pretty slick, huh? I wake up every morning and thank my lucky stars that we have Andrea Vagas as our creative director and that she and Mike Zawacki are capable of dreaming up content & art packages like this that scream "OPEN ME UP AND READ ME RIGHT NOW!" every time an issue of GCI hits a reader's inbox.