US Turf Conference – San Antonio 2015

I am now back from a week at the US turf conference. This years theme for the week was “Where big things happen”. Big things did happen in terms of the weather. IT WAS FREEZING and many did not make their flight outs at the end of the week due to Dallas airport being shut down.

The beginning of the week was great mid 20’sC high teens then Tuesday came and this what i experienced for most of the week.

This year I did a broad range of seminars with the following take home messages:

• Sure Fire ways to plant health- all said and done water is the number one thing to manage
• Understanding nematodes- each nematode can be very different and cause different levels of damage
• Getting to the root of oil borne diseases- prevention is best

If anyone is interested in these topics feel free to contact mine. i will be posting information throughout the year on these topics.

The trade show this year was bigger than previous time I attended (2013) and it seems the US golf industry has really turned a corner with new exhibitors (mainly machinery and golf carts). Even Samsung were there showcasing brand new battery technology for golf carts- really worth a look.

There was expected to be about 13,000 people come through but final figures have not come out yet that I know of.

If you were thinking of rolling fairways (as Merion did for the US open)

Glad to see Tru turf Rollers there again displaying the Aussie flag proudly.

Tweet Up and Social Media Awards 2015 Presented by GCI Magazine and sponsored by Aquatrols

Again at this years show I attended the social media awards (I can’t win because I’m trade) but it was good to put some faces to more supers and researches I have been communicating with over the past few years.It was also good to see familiar faces John Kaminski and Scott McElroy (who were out lats year if you recall) plus Mike Fidanza who is the fairy ring expert. As well plenty of new supers to meet especially a few who work on kikuyu which is rare in the US.We did actually have a pre awards drink you could say on the River Walk organised through twitter (thanks @turfpathology).

As usual Pat Jones from GCI magazine hosted the event and does an excellent job. Pat is a great guy and has so much experience in life and passion for the industry. I would love to have him come out to Australia one day. maybe I’ll ask John Kaminski to organise that one. A special mention to download their magazine on the app store (its free) and it was also good to see Mathew Bywater who is no working for Aqautrols after being out of the industry for a few years.

For a full coverage see this link GCI awards

A few pics from the ceremony

There was also the Tech Drive Centre which is run mostly by my mates from Turf Republic. There was some really cool stuff about and what really caught my eye was the 3D printer they had there. It was a simple on but was great to see one of these in action. Here it just made a few plastic figurines.

Plus some of the technology that can be used on course to make life easier for a turf manager. In that at the AGCSA turf conference myself with Gareth Hammond (2IC NSW Golf Club) will be presenting a session on keeping up with technology on the Tuesday afternoon and hope you can all make it. More on that later on.

I’ll leave you with a few pictures from the show. I hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather and i look forward to catching up with you throughout the year.