Industry News

PGA Fall Expo rolls into Vegas Aug. 26-27

Return on investment is the underscored objective at the redesigned 2008 PGA Fall Expo, set for Aug. 26-27, at Mandalay Bay Resort & Convention Center in Las Vegas.

The 2008 event has been redesigned to provide new and improved vendor sourcing, equipment testing, networking, business solutions and best practices in a compact timeframe all while reducing attendees participation expenses.

“Our objective is to make attending the PGA Fall Expo not only worth it from an expense standpoint, but worthwhile,” said PGA Shows Group Vice President Ed Several. “While reducing attendees’ expenses has been a top priority, we are most proud of the efforts to improve participation value.”

The Expo will offer:
• 400-plus vendors including over 120 apparel brands and 20-plus equipment companies
• More than 100 companies new to the expo
• Demo Day featuring some 40 top golf vendors at Badlands Golf Club
• More than 20 business and education seminars focusing on solutions to today's economic climate and identifying new business platforms to increase participation and profits
• Free interactive roundtables and exhibit floor business presentations offering retail solutions and marketing expertise to traditional golf facility and off-course retailers
• Free shuttle services to off-site events
• Industry welcome reception on opening night that provides free entertainment and dining

The Fall Expo annually attracts more than 4,000 international golf retailers and some 400 top golf vendors to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.

The Expo is an industry-only event open to PGA professionals, retailers and industry leaders; visit http://www.pgaexpo.com.

Aquatrols launches Water Impact Alliance

Aquatrols, the maker of products that help customers optimize their use of water resources, announces the formation and launch of the Water Impact Alliance, an organization dedicated to facilitating effective communications between regulators, consumers and water users in the green industries.

The WIA will serve as a communications planning resource for green industry professionals on key issues affecting water resource regulation primarily at the state and local level. The organization intends to partner with other green industry groups such as GCSAA, The Environmental Institute for Golf and others to identify information and unique ways that industry professionals can use to communicate as effectively as possible with regulators, consumers and other key stakeholders about water stewardship and conservation.

"The launch of the Water Impact Alliance comes at a crucial time for our industry," said Mark Esoda, GCSAA certified golf course superintendent at Atlanta Country Club in Duluth, Ga. "The group gives our industry a way to perform an important public service, as well as an excellent platform for making our voices heard in the regulatory debate."

The Water Impact Alliance was formed in part as an industry response to seeing customers struggle with the increasing water regulation on the federal, state and local levels.

"We realized that the turf and ornamental industry has a tremendous amount of knowledge about wise water management," says Kathy Conard, marketing manager for Aquatrols. "It's not enough to craft and adopt Best Management Practices - we need to communicate that to consumers and other key stakeholders, so they get the true picture of our industry's hard work and positive effects in this area.”

The alliance helps evaluate the needs of its partner groups and provides counsel and planning tools. "We encourage green industry professionals to be proactive and get involved early on, at the local level," said Conard. "Being part of the discussion before new regulations are created is essential to influencing that process."

For more information contact Conard at 800-257-7797, kathy.conard@aquatrols.com.

H&E Sod supports G.I.V.E.

H&E Sod Nursery of Markham Ill., has announced its support of the Iowa PGA Section Golf for Injured Veterans Everywhere (G.I.V.E.) Foundation. G.I.V.E. is a unique partnership of the Iowa Veterans Administration Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa, and the Iowa PGA Section, created to enhance each veteran’s quality of life through the game of golf. Wounded veterans receive free personal golf instruction from Iowa PGA professionals, tailored to the physical and emotional needs unique to each injured Vet. Free golf clubs are provided to each veteran, customized to accommodate each player’s injuries. The results have been life changing.

With more than 300 freedom heroes on the waiting list, H&E Sod Nursery is pledging to donate 1 percent of revenue from the sale of bluegrass, bentgrass, blue-fescue and tall fescue sod products to the G.I.V.E. Foundation.

H&E Sod Nurseries is a family tradition supplying top quality turfgrass to golf course superintendents in the Midwest for more than sixty years. Contact Darin Habenicht 708-596-7200, ext. 40 or e-mail: darin@hesod.com.

Bernhard and Co. offers 10 trips to England

For the third year running, Bernhard and Co., manufacturers of Express Dual and Anglemaster grinders, is sending 10 GCSAA Class A members to the British & International Golf Greenkeepers Association’s Turf Management Exhibition, Jan., 18 - 22, 2009, in Harrogate, England.

Winners will have the opportunity to attend the conference and exhibition, participate in education seminars, network with greenkeepers from the UK and Europe, and visit golf courses in England.

Register online at http://www.bernhard.co.uk/gcsaa-registration.0.html or call 888-474-6348. The deadline for applications is Nov. 14, 2008. Bernhard and Co. will notify the winners by Dec. 5, 2008.