The Hole Story

Chapter 1: A Recap on Membership

Carey Sandland, Chapter Manager

Perhaps I will begin with some interesting stats from the SDGCSA events held in the second quarter of 2010. At my first event in April, 25 members attended the Affiliate Round Table luncheon held in Bonita. Six of these individuals were Board members. The cost for this meeting: $0. Of the 71 attendees at the Election meeting, we had 31 superintendent (or of a related class) members; 35 affiliate members and five guests. The cost for meeting and golf: $75/person. At the Spring Education meeting held in May, the attendance included 16 superintendent (or of a related class) members, five guests participating with a superintendent and five affiliates. The cost for this meeting, which included DPR 3hrs Law and Regs; 2hrs Other and .45 CEU GCSAA: $30/person. We had 116 players at the Annual Invitational in June. Cost: $165/person.

Moral of the story: what drives attendance?

With my first adventure in dues renewal processing complete, the SDGCSA membership is now close to 130 superintendent (or of a related class) members and just shy of 70 affiliate members. We have approximately 40 additional retired, lifetime and honorary members. It is worth mentioning that this year our San Diego chapter fortunately experienced only a minor drop in membership retention. Members who chose not to renew were generally as a result of a job loss or based upon the current economic conditions. We hope we can bring these members back to the Association at some point in the near future. continue

By Teddy Rosztoczy, AA Equipment.

Well, the month of September has come and gone, and it seems to have taken the warm weather along with it. Saturday, October third was sunny, warm, clear skies, and 24 hours later it’s cloudy, cold, with some scattered showers. Enough about the weather, this past month saw some projects completed around the San Diego golf course industry along with a few people changing places.

First and foremost, this past month started off with the sad news of Mark Grund losing his son, Trevor Grund in a tragic accident. Mark has been a strong supporter of our association for over 15 years and has put in countless hours working on the local board and state board, along with helping out with our various functions. However, on the bright side, Mark’s daughter, Raylin, just recently gave birth to a baby boy, Phoenix Mitchell Hutchinson. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mark and his family and congrats on the new baby! continue

This year’s Just for Fun Golf will be held on August 3, at Vista Valley CC. There was a scheduling conflict with the original date of July 30 so please update your calendars.

Dues renewals are completed and our new online membership directory is under construction now. Should be up and running any day. Be watching for that email on how to access the directory.

Membership applications on line are being rebuilt for ease of completion and payment.
Our online e-commerce will be up and running for the July event. This has been a long time in the works and I look forward to the ease of this program.

May your water issues be painless and your grass be green!

As renewals are now over, the final updating will be done and sent to the webmaster for a new version of the updated version of the membership directory. It should be live by July 1st. I will keep you posted.

Affiliate members, I will be contacting you very shortly to advise you of logo sizes for the various levels (Diamond, Platinum, Gold and Silver all have different dimensions) on the Sponsors page on the website. Be watching your email.

The invitational was a great success. Thanks to Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club, Tim Barrier, CGCS, Kevin Carroll, and Kevin Curtiss and entire staff and membership for hosting us. What a beautiful place to work. Couldn’t of asked for a better day for the tournament. Food, service, golf, and is one to definitely remember. Invitational recap will be in the 6/20 Inforemer with pictures. Glad it was 6/2 and not 6/3 for the tournament. We had rain, thunder, lightening, hail, and winds just one day after that beautiful day we had for the tournament. What a weird weather day that was. continue

By Brenda Warner, Executive Director

• Our application for e-commerce is in Underwriting at Chase Payment Tech. Once their underwriters approve this, we will have payments accepted on line for all payments to the association. Keep you informed on the progress. Thank you for your patience and understanding through this transition. So sorry for the delay. Once this is approved, I will let you know the shopping cart is up and running on our website.
• For those of you outside of the 760 area code, there will be a new area code 442 on the horizon. 442 will be used for all new phone, fax, and cell phone numbers starting this month. You will be connected automatically until October at which time you will have to dial either 1-760 or 1-442 to reach your party.
• Dues renewals will be over May 15th. Please let us know where you check is…the membership directory will be updated and the sponsorship levels accordingly. I’m told some checks went to GCSAA and not SDGCSA.
• It is the 2009 membership year, and we have a lot going for us even in this time of adversity. We can make a difference by explaining to the general public about water conservation, Audubon certification programs, and how we assist the environment, not hurt it. It is through ignorance that people just see “a big plot of land, with flag sticks, a bunch of sand, and a lot of water and pesticides going down the drain everyday.” It is the association’s responsibility to inform the ignorant.

The “Hole” Story
Brenda Warner, Executive Director

• Membership renewals are out for all membership classifications. Please take the time to fill it out and make any changes, send it back by fax or email with your changes. If you don’t tell me I won’t know what’s changed on your listing!
• Thank you to all of you for your patience and understanding as I’m learning and transitioning from paper to paperless and working closely with our online marketing agency, BigTuna Interactive, to keep your website current and up-to-date. It is like an onion with many layers. One layer at a time. Thanks for understanding and your patience.

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By Brenda Warner:

Welcome to …Ed Mower, Trinidad Sanchez, Bob Burgess, Chris Latham, Michael Dustan, Larry Blackledge, Dante Venturelli, Bryan Dobek, and Teresa Santos.

Hope you all had a great holiday season. I wish you all a very joyous and prosperous 2009! Just don’t look at your 401K statement! Now it is back to whatever reality really is. A big thanks to all who sponsored and supported our 11th Annual Scholarship and Research Tournament and Holiday Party in December. These could not happen without you and your continued support and participation.

Try to attend at least three events this upcoming year and support your local chapter. Happy trails to you on your journey to New Orleans and the Golf Industry Show. Hope all is safe and you have “memorable” times that are not captured on film!

Our new web site is up and running! If you haven’t checked it out please do so at www.sdgcsa.com. Our membership directory will be current and convenient for your use. The changes will be made in a timely manner and as current as the changes you provide. There will be no hard copy of the membership directory sent out this year. We are also switching to an email program called Constant Contact. It will have a new look and feel. We are excited to bring your these possibilities. Let us know what you think.

By Brenda Warner, Executive Director

Welcome …Butch Soto and David Kovack! Congratulations to Stephen Kimball (Bayer Environmental Science) and his wife Amy who welcomed twins on September 3rd at 7:59am. Jacob Ryan (5lbs 4ozs and 18” and at 8:13am, sister, Maria Isabelle (4lbs 10ozs and 17”).

Many thanks to all the donors for the upcoming Golf with a Hero on October 29th at the Golf Club of California. The affiliate membership is awesome. You are always there to assist us. Our HEROS left with donations from you! Thank you very much.