IGA Holds Club Rep / Volunteer Appreciation Day
Wakonda Club Hosts Annual Event
The
Iowa Golf Association held the 2007 Club Representative and Volunteer
Appreciation Day at Wakonda Club on Monday, October 15th.
This event has become an annual staple on the IGA’s calendar, although
typically held in the spring in past years. In all approximately 50 IGA
Club Reps and Volunteers were on hand for the day’s events.
The day consisted of a brief program in the morning featuring Dr. Dave Minner of Iowa State University. Dr. Minner spoke on Turfgrass Issues and Challenges that presented themselves throughout Iowa in 2007. His talk was specifically focused on inhibiting poa annua from taking over turfgrass and also on eliminating moss from our putting surfaces.
Dr. Minner provides Iowa golf courses with an extremely valuable service through the ISU Turfgrass Extension. He made the point during his talk that he is always willing to answer any questions and help out superintendents across the state. He even provided the room with his cell phone number! You can learn a lot more about Dr. Minner’s work by visiting this website.
Next Bill Dickens, Executive Director of the IGA, and Jeff Wendell, CGCS Executive Director, spoke about the recently formed Iowa Golf Alliance. The Iowa Golf Alliance consists of representatives from major golf organizations throughout the state. Their mission is to direct efforts toward promoting the golf industry as a driver of economic activity in Iowa and facilitate the implementation of programs that help grow the game in our state.
A key item the speakers presented was the recently released report on “The Iowa Golf Economy 2006”. The study was done by the Stanford Research Institute and found that total impact of golf in Iowa is nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars! View the complete report in pdf format by clicking here.
After the ‘classroom’ work was done, the group hit the links at Wakonda. The sky was dark and cloudy but, except for a hard drizzle for about 30 minutes, was quite comfortable. There was no official competition, aside from a few proximity markers, as players were encouraged to have fun and enjoy the course.
The IGA sends a special ‘Thank You’ to the Wakonda Club and their staff and members for their generous hospitality Monday. The day was an absolute success and we look forward to many more Club Rep/Volunteer Appreciation Days in the future.