Divot Mix

"A tolerable day, a tolerable green and a tolerable opponent, supply, or ought to supply, all that any reasonably constituted human being should require in the way of entertainment." -- A.J. Balfour, 1890

2005 Joe Dey Award winner named

Pearl Carey of Seaside, Calif., a former president of the Western States Golf Association and a member of the USGA Regional Affairs Committee, will be the second woman to receive the USGA Joe Dey Award.

Given since 1996, the award is named in honor of the late Joe Dey, who served as USGA executive director for 35 years and was later commissioner of the PGA Tour. It is given in recognition of meritorious service to the game of golf as a volunteer.

“The chairman [of the selection committee] called me a couple of weeks ago and I've been sick ever since,” said an elated Carey.  “I can't eat, I can't sleep.  Oh my … this is such an exciting thing I can't believe it.  I would have never thought I would get such a thing.”

Carey grew up in an era when many golf facilities were unavailable to minorities and vowed to help change that in her community.  As a member of the Western States Golf Association (WSGA), one of the oldest African-American golf associations, she held numerous positions and championed programs to open the game to minorities.

Among her many contributions to the game, she secured funding from the USGA Foundation to implement the Seaside Junior Golf Program in 1997.  Four graduates of that program are currently playing college golf.  She is a former Monterey area director of the Pacific Women's Golf Association and was the Association's president in 1994.

Her previous awards include the 2002 California Golf Writers Association Golden State Award for lifetime service to the game and especially to junior and women's golf.  In 2003, she received the Helen Lengfeld Award from the Pacific Women's Golf Association for outstanding service to the Association.

She follows Adele Lebow, who was the first woman to receive the award, in 2004.

The Joe Dey Award has previously been awarded to Charles Eckstein (1996), John Staver (1997), Joe King (1998), Frank Anglim (1999), Jack Emich (2000), Bill Dickey (2001), Clyde Luther (2002), John Hanna (2003) and Adele Lebow (2004).

Nevada Senator proposes turf reduction rebates

According to the Las Vegas Sun , Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has announced a $200 million rebate program to help public agencies remove turf and save water.

The program would be funded through proceeds of federal land sales authorized by the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. Under the plan, schools, local, state and federal agencies could replace grass with desert landscaping, which would save enough water for about 500,000 people in Southern Nevada annually.

Ensign says the Nevada congressional delegation supports the legislation he plans to introduce that would amend the public land management act.

"Into the future we need to be thinking outside of our boxes," he told a meeting of the Colorado River Water Users Association. For the complete story visit the Las Vegas Sun Web Site.

Appropriations bill includes turfgrass research

Recently, President Bush signed into law Consolidated Appropriations bill H.R. 4818, funding of Fiscal Year 2005 for several federal agencies, including the USDA- Agricultural Research Service (ARS). In the bill, new funding for turfgrass research ($275,000 total) was included at two new locations. This new funding was added as a result of efforts by the turfgrass industry to inform Congress of its research needs and the importance of the National Turfgrass Research Initiative. Turfgrass research is now funded within USDA-ARS at $760,613.

The breakdown of the funding is as follows:

• $485,613 - restored funding for the current research position at the U. S. National Arboretum in Washington, DC (was about $490,000 - all programs were cut by 0.8 percent)
• $150,000 - new funding for turfgrass research at Beaver, W.Va.
• $125,000 - new funding for turfgrass research at Logan, Utah

The Utah location will conduct research within Component I (Improvement of Water Management Strategies and Practices) and Component II (Collection, Enhancement and Preservation of Turfgrass Germplasm) of NTRI. Turfgrass research at Beaver.

West Virginia will fall under Component V (Enhancement of Soil and Soil Management Practices) of NTRI. The turfgrass industry will work with ARS in determining the research priorities at each location.

Due to last minute Congressional negotiations in resolving differences between House and Senate versions of the bill, the funding for West Virginia and Utah turf research positions was reduced by half of what was in the original bill.

Kevin Morris, executive director of the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program, said, "Considering many programs and agency budgets were reduced in this lean budget year, we feel very fortunate to show an increase for federal turfgrass research. Thanks to everyone for their efforts in making this happen!"

More on the National Turfgrass Research Initiative can be found at http://www.turfresearch.org/ .

Methyl bromide critical use exemption finalized

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a rule creating the critical use exemption to the phase-out of methyl bromide.

Critical use exemptions are available for those uses of methyl bromide for which the parties to the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer agreed there are no technically and economically feasible alternatives. This rule takes effect on January 1, 2005. Details of the process are available online at http://www.epa.gov/ozone/mbr/ .

After careful consideration of all the comments received on the proposed rule, the EPA is implementing the most simple and least burdensome option for the regulatory framework.

It is also creating a framework granting "critical use allowances" to producers and importers of methyl bromide that would allow them to produce and import up to 30 percent of methyl bromide baseline for critical uses in 2005.

In addition, the agency is distributing an additional 5 percent of baseline worth of "critical stock allowances" to producers, importers, and distributors that would allow the holder to sell methyl bromide to critical uses from stocks that were manufactured or imported before January 1, 2005.

End users of methyl bromide that meet specified criteria as critical uses will be able to purchase methyl bromide from their supplier as they normally do and will certify, under penalty of law, that they are approved critical uses.

An additional 2.5 percent of baseline was recently authorized for 2005 critical uses by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol at their meeting on November 26, 2004. EPA is beginning the notice and comment rulemaking process to make supplemental quantities available for critical uses as quickly as possible.

Only approved critical uses may avail themselves of critical use methyl bromide.

Each year, EPA will promulgate a rule through the notice and comment process that will cover the amount of methyl bromide to be made available yearly for critical uses in the future. These rulemakings will follow the decision(s) taken by the Parties to the Protocol at their annual meeting regarding methyl bromide exemptions for critical uses. The United States has proposed a multi-year process for CUEs, however, to date, this proposal has not been adopted by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol.