Back-to-Back Storms Hit Carolinas

For Josh Costner, ice from the first of two winter storms to hit the Carolinas in January was so severe he couldn’t get out of his house in the mountains of Western North Carolina for an entire week. Which meant Costner, the golf course superintendent from Blowing Rock Country Club, finally stepped out just in time to get hit with snow from the second storm. That storm dumped more than a foot of snow on some of his colleagues in the eastern part of the state.

At Harbour Pointe Golf Club in New Bern, NC Chris Dunn measured 13 inches. “I think we’ve had all the snow we wanted and then some,” Dunn says, before adding what every superintendent in the region is thinking: “We are ready for spring.”

Myrtle Beach, SC, known nationwide for its sun and sand, saw six inches with up to eight inches in North Myrtle Beach. The 11 inches that fell in Charlotte, NC was the fourth-highest amount in the city’s history. Pinehurst, NC saw nearly eight inches.

On their own, neither storm was enough to cause many superintendents any kind of long-term headaches. The Carolinas got off lightly compared with the “catastrophic” impacts forecasted in the ice storm. But the fact the weather events came back-to-back meant many bermudagrass greens spent an extended period under covers.

McCarty Proudest of Work with Students

For all the work Dr. Bert McCarty has devoted to finding answers for golf course superintendents throughout his long career, his biggest kick came from teaching the next generation. Accepting the award at GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in Orlando, FL last week, McCarty wasted no time answering the question of what achievement he was proudest of.

“Probably training students,” he said. “Training both undergraduate and graduate students has been a pleasure. And not only training them but following them throughout their careers.”

McCarty received the award, one of the national association’s major honors, at the conference’s opening session. The award recognizes individuals who have made “a lasting and significant impact on the golf course industry.”

“Dr. McCarty’s legacy in turfgrass management is unmatched,” Rhett Evans, GCSAA chief executive officer, said “His dedication to advancing the science and mentoring future leaders has helped shape the industry in profound ways.”

McCarty grew up in tiny Batesburg, SC but he has left an outsized footprint on the industry through more than 40 years of research, education and service. Among numerous other awards and honors, the Clemson legend received the Carolinas GCSA’s Distinguished Service Award in 2018.

Now semi-retired, he still teaches at Clemson and shares the role of Carolinas Golf Association agronomist with longtime colleague and friend Dr. Fred Yelverton, who won the Outstanding Service Award in 2023 and the Distinguished Service Award the same year.

Given how busy he remains after so long, it was reasonable for opening session host Lauren Thompson to ask when McCarty might consider slowing down “completely.” “Good question,” he grinned. “My wife wants to know that too!”

Dr. Bruce Martin may be gone, sadly, but he is certainly not forgotten. His name was prominent during the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in Orlando, FL last week. Martin was named a posthumous recipient of an Excellence in Mentoring Award from Golf Course Industry magazine.

But before the presentation on the trade show floor, Clemson University’s Dr. Joe Roberts let everyone know about a memorial fund set up to honor Martin’s memory. The fund will support graduate turfgrass and plant pathology at the Pee Dee Research Center in Florence, SC.

“We have two years to raise $100,000 at which point Clemson will regard the fund as self-sustaining and manage it as an ongoing concern,” Roberts says. “The proceeds will be invested in research at the Pee Dee Rec.”

Roberts says the fund “still has a ways to go” to reach the target but he was encouraged by several conversations with prospective donors during the GCSAA conference.
 
Martin was one of six honorees and the only educator-researcher in the first Excellence in Mentorship Awards. He was one of the world’s leading turfgrass pathologists and it was a measure of his impact on the golf world that, just three weeks before his passing on October 15, he was inducted into the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame.

In a moving tribute in support of his most recent award, Mike Johnson, of Agrono-Lytics Turf Consulting, wrote that: “Bruce was a family man and turf giant...Bruce made so many people better by the day, listening and learning about them...He displayed and demanded integrity, commitment and persistence from those around him.”

Donations to the Dr. S. Bruce Martin Memorial Holding Account can be made by scanning the QR code above.

Carolinas Celebrate Along with GCSAA

Close to 250 members and friends of the Carolinas GCSA attended Carolinas Night at the National in Orlando, FL during the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show. The party at Dave & Busters was among several the highlights and memorable moments of the week for Carolinas GCSA members.

Earlier in the week, the Carolinas GCSA took home team honors in the annual Health In Action 5km. Winning team members were past president Steve Hamilton, CGCS from The Dunes Golf & Beach Club; Brook Sentell, from Sea Pines Resort; Madelyn Tappan, of Syngenta; and William Brooks, of Advanced Turf Solutions.

The Carolinas GCSA also had a hand in celebrating the predominant theme of the week which was GCSAA’s centenary. Past president and last year’s Distinguished Service Award winner, Bob Farren, CGCS from Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, was one of 10 people to who served on a committee planning the celebrations.

Those celebrations included the largest gathering in the history of GCSAA with a night at Orlando’s ICON Park. Thousands turned out for the party which occupied a large and varied mix of indoor and outdoor terrain. The trade show also featured an extensive exhibit highlighting the history of GCSAA and featuring some of the tools of the trade over the years.

Carolinas turfgrass students performed well at GCSAA’s annual Student Turf Bowl. More than 275 students from 33 universities competed in the 32nd annual competition. A Team from Clemson University was the best performed from the Carolinas, finishing 11th of 79 teams. Horry-Georgetown Technical College came in close by at 13th and North Carolina State University was 17th.  

Chase Watson, from Old Barnwell, was the best performed Carolinas GCSA member in the national golf championship. He finished in a tie for 10th with the title going, for the second year running, to Michigan’s Mike Gianopoulos.

Fingers Crossed for Clemson Event

The curse of the Carolinas GCSA Winter Meeting struck again in January when a major storm forced the cancellation of the event at Callawassie Island Club in Okatie, SC. That is now five weather-related cancellations in the past nine years.

“Maybe we need to move it to the Caribbean,” Carolinas GCSA executive director, Tim Kreger, says ruefully. “When the meeting was introduced years ago it was meant to be a chance for members to head south and see some better weather. We haven’t been very lucky over the past decade.”

Hopefully, better fortune and better weather are around the corner for the annual USGA Southeast Regional Conference at Clemson University on March 23 and 24. The two-day affair begins with a golf tournament and reception at The Walker Course followed by a full day of education at the adjacent Madren Conference Center.

Golfers will find a revised 18th hole, new pro shop and relocated parking, all part of a project to create a $50-million-plus alumni center, which now towers over the 18th green and Lake Hartwell. Those changes inspired Walker Course superintendent and Carolinas GCSA past president Don Garrett, CGCS to dip a toe in the new wave of autonomous mowers.