President’s Final Message

So this is the end of my service as your Oregon Golf Course Superintendents Association (OGCSA) President.  There will be no confetti, farewell parties, and/or cannon fire (firing squad, maybe?).  However, we did end with a bang, our Rounds 4 Research campaign was a new record of participating courses (34), number of rounds (41), and dollars to the OGCSA for research ($7000 +).  I would like to thank our members and their courses for their generosity, members of the board for recruitment, and Alexis for keep us to task.

Last June the OGCSA Board of Directors met with Steve Randall, Director of Chapter Outreach with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA), regarding chapter assessment.  Our primary concerns were engaging, with members, through communication and relevant meetings, programs, and events.  We did not want to, “Throw the baby out with the bath water” and in turn we didn’t want to, “Do it because that is what we did before.”

I hope the membership will notice some of these subtle changes.  Some programs maybe temporarily discontinued, the Environmental Seminar due to dwindling interest.  Other programs will be expanded; the Pesticide Seminar is our most attended event annually.  For the day and a half seminar we rent the room for 2 days.  It is the plan this year to have an optional additional education program (no additional ODA credits) regarding some of the topics you’ve asked for that second afternoon.

It’s not always a pleasure to serve, but it will always be an honor.  In the years that I have served the OGCSA, GCSAA, Golf Alliance of Oregon, Oregon Turfgrass Foundation, and Oregonians for Food and Shelter.  It has consumed significant time, but the returns have been abundant.   I have met, dined, and had adult beverages with the leaders of our industry.  More importantly, I have enjoyed the company of superintendents, and others similar to myself to share ideas, stories, and life experience.  I will always remember the night in a subterranean bar in Washington DC that severed 5000 different beers with 3 other superintendents.

I would like to thank the OGCSA Board of Directors, past and present, for engaging and serving with me.  I hope your experience has been as beneficial to you as it has been to me.

Thanks to Alexis for keeping me and the Board of Directors on track.  I’ll miss the farm fresh eggs.

Finally, thanks to my wife, Barbara, for the love, support, and understandings.

Respectfully,

Chuck Wolsborn