I hope everyone had a wonderful offseason. I’ve lived in the mid-Atlantic area my entire life and can say it’s been a mild winter and one with little snow. While it’s been a productive winter for many maintenance teams, I hope the mild weather did not hamper everyone’s ability to relax, recharge and gear up for the season.
For well over 20 years, I’ve been part of the golf course maintenance industry in the mid-Atlantic. I grew up and went to school in Maryland, was an assistant superintendent at several Baltimore-area clubs, and then served Fountain Head Country Club as their golf course superintendent for 15 years. During that time, I’ve gotten to know many of you in the region and I’m excited to work with all of you in my new role as a USGA agronomist. Having utilized the USGA Course Consulting Service for my entire career, I understand how valuable the visits are and I’m looking forward to continuing the tradition of being a trusted partner for golf facilities.
As another season starts, it’s always a great time to begin new habits. Data collection has become an increasingly important part of agronomic decision-making. If you don’t currently collect much data at your course, now might be a good time to try something new. I’m sure you’ll find that data gives you a better understanding of how maintenance practices influence turfgrass performance, which leads to higher-quality conditions and improved efficiency. I urge everyone to look into the USGA’s DEACONTM platform, the new GS3 and our GPS Service to see how these tools can help you collect and analyze data to make more-informed decisions. Starting something new means some extra effort and challenges, but I’m confident you’ll see the rewards. Don’t hesitate to reach out if I can help with data collection or any other aspects of your course maintenance program and I look forward to seeing all of you in my travels!
Northeast Region Agronomists
Darin Bevard, senior director, Championship Agronomy – dbevard@usga.org
Elliott L. Dowling, regional director, East Region – edowling@usga.org
Brian Gietka, agronomist, East Region – bgietka@usga.org