25th version of the biennial will be held March 9-10 in suburban Milwaukee.
Wisconsin-based Reinders will be hosting their 25th biennial Turf Conference March 9-10, 2022 at the Waukesha Expo Center in suburban Milwaukee.
While celebrating the rich history of their partnerships with customers and vendors, a lineup of nationally recognized speakers as well as more than 20 educational seminars set the stage for the Midwest's largest independently run turf conference.
Educational tracks are available for golf course superintendents, lawn care professionals, sports field and grounds managers, and equipment technicians.
Attendees will enjoy a special performance from Emmy-winning journalist, comedian, and creator of the Manitowoc Minute, Charlie Berens. Additionally, there will be Reinders’ famous homemade donuts, games, networking opportunities, and refreshments.
Visit Reinders.com/turfcon22 for online registration, seminar updates, and conference information.
The AIS-compliant Flo-Flex Model 345 is a foot valve flapper style swing check valve offering the same benefits as the original Flo-Flex Model.
Flomatic Valves has introduced the Flo-Flex Model 345, the latest model of their American Iron and Steel-compliant, foot valve flapper-style swing check valve. Ensuring years of quality and reliability, the new model is designed to meet the needs of demanding industrial and municipal pumping applications and centrifugal pump applications including ponds and lakes, dewatering applications, frac pits and more.
“The Flo-Flex Model 345 is a just another example of our high-quality American-made valves and cutting-edge technology,” Flomatic Valves president Nick Farrara said.
Available in sizes 3-inch through 12-inch, the 345 is designed according to ANSI/AWWA C508 standards and is constructed in a corrosion-resistant, fusion-bonded, epoxy-coated ductile iron body featuring a 316 stainless steel strainer and class ANSI 150 flange connections. Its screen open flow area is more than three times the open area of the nominal area pipe size while the one-piece molded disc allows 100 percent full flow in the open position.
The 345 features a number of reliable functions including a 45-degree valve-seat angle for short disc travel, non-slam high performance resulting in the reduction of water hammer, optional drilled/tapped/plugged raised boss for easy installation of gauges or accessories, and a low head loss design. It is specifically designed to seal securely and tightly to minimize pump suction losses.
LESCO Drax and LESCO Stronghold are the newest solutions in a brand offered by SiteOne Landscape Supply.
SiteOne Landscape Supply has introduced a pair of LESCO fungicides: LESCO Drax and LESCO Stronghold Fungicide SC.
LESCO Drax is a preventative contact fungicide for golf course use that provides control of multiple diseases, including dollar spot, brown patch and leaf spot.
Containing 4.17 pounds of active ingredient fluazinam per gallon, the fungicide’s multi-site contact active ingredient includes no known resistance and can be applied up to 12 times per year. LESCO Drax is a broad-spectrum fungicide for use to control diseases on golf courses only.
“The innovation behind the new LESCO Drax makes this the only turf fungicide in FRAC Group 29,” said Brian Rowan, vice president category management at SiteOne. “Drax’s unique class of chemistry and multi-site mode of action translates to minimal risk of fungicide resistance. When partnered with chlorothanlonil (LESCO Manicure)-based fungicides, it provides season-long contact protection for optimal efficiency.”
LESCO Stronghold Fungicide SC targets Pythium disease as well as Phytophthora and downy mildew diseases on ornamental plants in landscapes. The active ingredient, cyazofamid, features a novel mode of action that puts it in FRAC Group 21, and makes it a candidate for resistance management programs.
LESCO Stronghold Fungicide is labeled for use in the following areas:
Golf Course Industry is seeking a 2022 editorial intern who wants to participate in a practical, high-energy learning program.
Innovative and flexible B2B publishing company GIE Media is looking for four 2022 editorial interns to work with different content groups, including Golf Course Industry magazine.
Our 2022 intern participated in a fun and engaging program featuring learning, résumé-building and mentorship experiences led by our editors. This summer’s program will be tailored to fit the ideal candidate’s career needs and includes opportunities to:
Candidates should be journalism, communication, English or turfgrass management majors available to work 35 to 40 hours per week Monday-Friday for approximately 12 weeks. Golf Course Industry is based in Northeast Ohio. To provide the best possible internship experience, our preference would be to have the ideal candidate work in the office at least a few days each week.
Golf Course Industry is the leading independent publication in a competitive market with a nationally recognized team of editors, columnists and contributors. Our @GCIMagazine Twitter and Facebook accounts are followed by more than 23,000 golf industry professionals and the Superintendent Radio Network podcast network attracted more than 14,000 listeners in 2021. In addition to a monthly print magazine, we produce a weekly newsletter, a minimum of six podcasts per month, daily website updates and high-quality sponsored content with select industry partners.
To apply, please send a resume, cover letter and three examples of published work to Brittany Coccitto, bcoccitto@gie.net. Interns will be paid $12 per hour.
GIE Media is also seeking editorial interns in the manufacturing, recycling and horticulture markets.
Guy Cipriano spends two days in suburban Philadelphia to observe how the country’s fastest-growing private golf operation is taking employee development and growth to another level.
Scott Bordner received direct messages before the event ended: His colleagues, peers, friends and former co-workers are already seeking to participate in the second edition of a career development and training program his massive club debuted earlier this month.
Bordner is the director of agronomy for The Union League of Philadelphia, a 160-year-old club that included zero golf courses less than a decade ago. A three-course operation today, the Union League is the country’s fastest-growing private golf operation.
Supporting the rapid growth — the club purchased its third golf course last March and will unveil all 27 holes at much-ballyhooed Union League National Golf Club in southern New Jersey this summer — requires talented and committed employees. Finding and retaining those employees in 2022 requires investing in people. Investing in people requires providing continuing education and career advancement opportunities.
The two-day event brought more than 70 industry professionals to Union League Liberty Hill, a suburban Philadelphia lodge and conference center with an 18-hole golf course. Nearly half of the attendees were employees on the three turf teams Bordner oversees.
Bordner handpicked outside attendees, purposely trying to avoid overcrowding the room with industry professionals from similar clubs or backgrounds. Bordner urged attendees to sit next to different people during meals and educational sessions. Union League University represented a rare event where a horticulturist, assistant superintendent, equipment technician, vendor and established superintendent exchanged stories at same table.
And to think, Bordner didn’t start the process of organizing the event until mid-December. Hectic might be a mild way of describing the Union League’s current golf pace, thus the accelerated planning process.
“I knew what I wanted,” Bordner says. “I knew the speakers that I wanted, I knew the differences in personalities I wanted, and I wanted all levels of clubs represented. I handpicked Year 1 and I had to text some of my friends to tell them, ‘Don’t be offended. You’re on the invite list, just not for this year.’ I want different perspectives each year and I want different bloodlines here. I didn’t want all the superintendents I worked with at Merion here hanging out together because they hadn’t seen each other. Go do that somewhere else.
“This was my social experiment to see who I can invite and how I can make sure there are enough vocal and loud people combined with those ‘silent assassins,’ the real quiet people who when they ask a question, it’s a really good question. How can you mix that with the people who are more outgoing and make it all work?”
Because the event wasn’t affiliated with an association or a presenting sponsor, discussions were candid, with attendees receiving inside info and guidance from respected internal and external voices, including Union League CEO Jeff McFadden and director of golf Sean Palmer, Club Thinking Partners president Dan Denehy, Manufacturers’ Golf & Country Club green chairman Jeff Jones, former superintendent-turned-sales professional Jamie Kapes, and industry consultants Steve McDonald and Tyler Bloom. McFadden’s and Palmer’s macro-level presentations about the Union League and its golf operation combined with breakout sessions led by the club’s three course superintendents — Pat Haughey, John Canavan and Andrew Dooley — localized the program for club employees.
Union League National irrigation technician Herb Phillips led one of the most engaging presentations, using practical concepts, hands-on visuals and a zest for his craft to describe the transition from PVC to HDPE pipe and satellite to 2-wire. Phillips, a former superintendent who temporarily worked as a carnival game operator before returning to the industry in 2019, interjected dry wit into descriptions, inciting laughter from all generations in attendance. “I tell everybody with irrigation that you have to use your 95 senses which you were born with,” he deadpanned at one point.
Union League University resembled a turf retreat. Every educational session, meal and networking event was held at The Lodge at Liberty. Bordner quickly found companies to sponsor meals and an evening networking event. “I looked across our financials and said, ‘Who do we spend the most money with?’” Bordner says. “I went to the top five and they all said yes right away.”
Massive scale and tremendous facilities make it difficult for most clubs to emulate Union League University. But as education needs evolve and the emphasis on employee well-being expands, it might be time to consider bringing structured programming and different personalities to your facility for a day or two.
It doesn’t take 95 senses to understand the need for employee growth.
Guy Cipriano is Golf Course Industry’s editor-in-chief.