From the desk of GCM
Golf is one step closer to being included in the 2016 Olympic Games, as the International Olympic Committee Executive Board just recommended to add golf and rugby sevens to the 2016 ballot of games. Next month will be the more important decision — whether or not the group adds as many as two sports to the Olympic Games. The decision depends on a number of factors, including considerations from the Executive Board, formal presentations, submission of a questionnaire and other responses to questions raised by various IOC entities.
Throughout the process the International Golf Federation says it has stressed the unprecedented unified support of golf international organizations,as well as support of golf top-ranked female and male players. The group has recommended a format for the Olympics of 72-hole individual stroke play for both men and women and an Olympic field of 60 women and 60 men. The top 15 world-ranked players would be eligible for the Olympics regardless of the number of players from a given country. Under the IGF proposal, at least 30 countries would be represented in both women and men competitions, from all continents.
Books seem to have become something of a focus for me here at GCSAA lately. First, GCSAA team members just completed an annual book swap-and-shop event that come to be known as the Buck-A-Book Sale. Everybody brings in the books they already read and want to get rid of, and we put them out on tables and let someone else buy them back for $1 apiece. We get cheap reads, and the money all goes to GCSAA Community Outreach Group to “adopt” a needy family (or families) at Christmas time. The leftover unsold books also get carted off to various local charities. I always amazed at how much we able to raise with this event. This year: $230!
Less than a week ago in this space you read about some troubling third-quarter 2009 earnings reports from both The Toro Co. and John Deere.
As GCM Editor Scott Hollister noted in his post here last Friday, “Both companies unveiled sales and income figures that are significantly down from the same period in 2008, offering further proof that while the general economy may be on the cusp of recovery, the golf industry is still lagging behind.”
Hollister reported that Toro third-quarter profits had dropped 48 percent compared with third-quarter 2008, thanks largely to sagging sales in its professional division, which includes golf and landscape equipment. For the quarter that ended July 31,http://www.thefreedeal.com/buy-one-get-one-free/, Toro earned $19.8 million, compared with $38.2 million a year ago. Year-to-date profits are trailing at about the same pace, off 47 percent.
Meanwhile, at John Deere Golf, sales were down 21 percent for the quarter but just 9 percent year-to-date. Operating profit in the third quarter was $480 million, compared with $725 million in 2008. If you not familiar with Liberty National, you owe it to yourself to take a closer look. Yes, the course is ultra-exclusive and ultra-private. But it also stands as a testament to one of the great restoration projects in the game, not to mention one of the best views in golf.
There have been plenty written about the course (one of the best this story from the New York Times), but in essence,hollister shorts bettys, the land where Liberty National now sits was once an environmental wasteland, a toxic mix of oil, toxic waste and garbage. The property went through an extensive capping process, an extensive design and construction process (originally, there was virtually no elevation change on the property. All of the contouring and elevations changes you see this weekend are manmade), resulting in the layout that will take center stage this weekend.
Since I started working here way back in 1998, I have noticed that GCSAA employees are a dedicated group who really do care about doing the best job possible. Often people go above and beyond the call of duty – and sometimes an entire organization puts forth exceptional effort. We see that kind of effort every year at the Golf Industry Show, but in honor of employee appreciation week at GCSAA, I like to tell you about a long-term project where the effort has been largely invisible to GCSAA members and the public at large.
Last week GCSAA employees received an e-mail announcing that GCSAA/The Environmental Institute for Golf had received Golf Inc. Green Award in the operations and associations category for the association Golf Course Environmental Profile project. golf courses and document water use and conservation, nutrient (fertilizer) use, pesticide inputs and energy consumption. The data collected to develop the profile are being supplied through five surveys completed by golf course superintendents. The first survey, which describes property features and environmental stewardship efforts, was sent to superintendents in 2006.
Rebecca Matis,hollister polo shirts men, superintendent at Felicita Garden Spa Resort in Harrisburg, Pa., and one of fewer than 100 female head superintendents worldwide, is featured in this article about how Matis is leading the preparations for this week Turkey Hill Classic, a Duramed Futures Tour event.
Before taking the job at Felicita last year, Matis was the head super at Mayapple for three years. When she took that job, she was the only female head superintendent in the state of Pennsylvania and still holds that status.
The article details some of the challenges Matis has faced in the days leading up to the event, such as a storm that washed out most of the bunkers just seven days before tournament week, and just after she and her crew had put the final touches on the course.
Two of golf course maintenance equipment giants – The Toro Co. and John Deere – released their fiscal scorecards for the third quarter of 2009 this week, and depending on your point of view, the numbers were either mildly encouraging or slightly depressing.
Both companies unveiled sales and income figures that were better that most experts on Wall Street had predicted. However, the figures for both companies were significantly down from the same period in 2008,hollister polo shirts girls, offering further proof that while the general economy may be on the cusp of recovery, the golf industry is still lagging behind.
On Thursday, Toro announced that its third-quarter profits had dropped 48 percent compared to third-quarter 2008,hollister outlet online, thanks largely to sagging sales in its professional division, which includes golf and landscape equipment. For the quarter that ended July 31, Toro earned $19.8 million, compared with $38.2 million a year ago. Consumer Product Safety Commission says the GH1000 Grasshog XP String Trimmer/Edgers can cause “serious” lacerations and burns. Apparently, the Grasshog spool cap and pieces of trimmer string can come loose and become airborne “posing a serious laceration hazard to the user,http://addicted2realestate.com/2011/08/01/how-cheap-is-32000-check-out-1676-granite-street-philadelphia-pa-19124/, as well as bystanders.” It also can overheat and cause burns.
CNN reported that it was the second time in two years the Grasshog has been recalled. Black Decker recalled the tool in July 2007 after receiving more than 700 reports of incidents, including 58 reports of injuries. Since then, the company has received more than 100 additional injury reports related to the Grasshog. Of those, 10 required medical attention for minor injuries such as bruises and lacerations, the CPSC said.
Yes, I still thinking about the PGA Championship — the first exciting major of 2009.
I clicked over to Sports Illustrated and found these two gems in Alan Shipnuck PGA mailbag:
1. Yang during the last few holes.
2. That Tiger peeked at Yang bag to see what club Yang was hitting on No. 17.
On the first one, I glad to see it mentioned somewhere. I thought Tiger was practically in Yang side pocket on a couple putts down the stretch. I was surprised the TV commentary didn make mention of it.
Superintendents and their kin in the golf course management family have had a busy summer raising money for worthy causes and playing a little golf in the process too.
A recent case in point occurred at the Pike Run Golf Club in Ottawa, Ohio, where members of the Northwestern Ohio GCSA and the club jointly sponsored a benefit golf outing for the family of Pike Run superintendent Gary Baughman and his family. Baughman wife,http://beifangkalt.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=34712&extra=,hollister shorts ebay, Robin, has been battling cancer for the past year.
Forty-five teams participated in the golf tourney, which, with auction and door prizes donated by area vendors, golf clubs and golf equipment retailers, raised more than $18,000 for the Baughman shown here (Gary — a 10-year GCSAA member — and flanked by their kids, Kaylynn, Lynnsey, Mattie and Anthony; and NWOGCSA president Jim Hemrick, CGCS, on the left and NWOGCSA treasurer Don Lawrence on the right).
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