Two-day fall program includes a visit to Desert Mountain

The GCSAA EXCEL Leadership Program, presented by Nufarm, visited the Phoenix/Scottsdale area October 9-10. The program offers leadership training for personal, career and community/industry stewardship for assistant superintendents — the future leaders in the golf course management industry.

The fall program started with a visit to Desert Mountain and a tour of the golf courses with Director of Agronomy Todd Bohn and the Desert Mountain leadership. Located in North Scottsdale, Desert Mountain features 7 golf courses and more than 2,000 homes nestled within 8,300 acres of property. Along with the tour, Bohn gave a comprehensive presentation on how to plan and budget for a golf course renovation and hosted a question-and-answer session. 

Following Bohn, career expert Carol Rau, PHR, prepped attendees for mock interviews. The interviews were conducted by Bohn; Woody Moriarty, assistant director of agronomy at Desert Mountain; Steve Vincent, Nufarm sales manager turf & ornamental; Jeff Eldridge, CGCS, Nufarm golf segment lead; Christa Reinersman, Nufarm events manager; and Matt Brown, director of corporate sales for GCSAA.  Each attendee had a 15-minute interview followed by a debrief and skills wrap-up provided by Rau. 

That evening, the group was treated to a BBQ dinner, country line dancing and a rodeo at the world-famous Buffalo Chip in Cave Creek. Fortunately, nobody decided to participate in the amateur bullriding event.

The second day featured numerous educational speakers. I led off the day discussing GCSAA’s Government Affairs Priority Issues as well as current regulations affecting the golf industry from the state and federal level. 

I was followed by Grayhawk Golf Club Director of Agronomy and Cactus & Pine GCSA President Ernie Pock who spoke to the attendees about communicating with the golf staff and upper management and identifying the proper career opportunities for assistant superintendents. 

Next was a superintendent panel featuring Pock, GCSAA Past President Sandy Queen, CGCS; and Winters Run Golf Club (Westminster, MD) Superintendent Mark Jones, Jr. 

The day was concluded with an inspirational talk from Queen on his career journey and the importance of service to GCSAA, the golf industry and your local community. 

It was a great two days and I was honored to speak to the group and meet the next generation of leaders in our golf industry. Special thanks to Nufarm for their sponsorship of the program as well as GCSAA Director of First Green and Workforce Development Leann Cooper, GCSAA First Green and Workforce Development Coordinator Yasmine Etienne and GCSAA Account Manager Karin Candrl for putting the event together.