I got the chance to attend this years Georgia GCSA equipment mangers meeting at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Ga.. It was great to see 95 equipment managers from all over the state gather to share ideas and learn more about the art of brazing, cutting, stick welding and MIG welding. There were videos on safety and proper equipment use techniques as you might expect, but the real show stopper was the hands on demonstrations in the afternoon. The meeting notice for this event asked that you bring your personal protection equipment, which is something you don't see very often. During the afternoon sessions there were four work stations where participants could learn to braze metal together, use a cutting torch on various pieces of steel, use a MIG welder to joint steel plates and use several different rods to stick weld pieces of steel together. All the stations were manned by professionals giving technical advice to the equipment managers learning new techniques for metal working.
The meeting content was the idea of three equipment managers who work with the Georgia GCSA board of directors on annual meetings; Cory Phillips, Horseshoe Bend Country Club, Roswell, Ga.; Trent Manning, Ansley Golf Club, Atlanta; and David Blowers, East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta. Having the input from these three gentlemen ensures that the content is useful and pertinent to all the attendees. Utilizing the equipment managers to work directly with the board in Georgia seems like a wonderful idea and results in meetings that not only have important content but are very well attended, too.
One last note about the meeting; TPC Sugarloaf, who hosted the event, may have the cleanest, most organized maintenance facility I've ever seen. Kudos to certified golf course superintendent Mike Crawford, and his equipment manager David Duren for their housekeeping practices.
