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WOGSA 2011
Greetings to all…… After some teasing, Mother Nature has reminded us of her power and put things back into a deep freeze making the early openings of 2010 all but a memory. This is probably good as I am sure there are many Superintendents out there who would like to forget about the year that was 2010 and move on to better things. Let’s hope for better weather conditions this summer, and let’s look forward to hooking up with colleagues at our monthly WOGSA events.
Let me start off in keeping with tradition by thanking our event hosts from last year, John Taylor at Grand Niagara, Dan Lavis at Tarandowah, Kris Brown at Glendale GC, Mark Dawkins at Blue Springs, Mark Piccolo at Galt CC and John Gall at Cherry Hill Club for hosting the fall classic matches. I think everyone would agree that it was a fine year thanks in large part to the contributions of these individuals and their respective golf courses.
The WOGSA has arranged another great year of events which is no small feat considering the state of the economy and the stretching of everyone’s dollars and budgets. A great deal of thanks must go to the hard working Board of Directors of the WOGSA. It includes Angelo Capannelli, Gavin Kellogg, Trevor Hunter, Tom Brain and Ted Clark. These individuals do a great deal of work behind the scenes as well as on event days to keep the organization firing on all cylinders.
Let me quickly go over a few items for 2011. Membership dues will hold the line at $ 50.00 (no HST here) and we are maintaining our bonus of any additional member from your organization who signs up and pays at the same time will pay only $ 30.00 (bring the crew !!) After much discussion at our annual board meeting, it was decided that retired members will continue to pay a $30.00 membership fee. The WOGSA is a non-profit organization meaning all funds collected go directly back into the organization. The WOGSA awards yearly scholarships to the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture and the two year diploma course at the University of Guelph. Also funds collected through membership fees go towards offsetting the costs of hosting the monthly meetings as we have recently seen clubs asking for green fee’s at these events. We at the WOGSA are all about trying to give as much back to our membership by keeping our prices affordable, but making sure everyone has a good time at events.
Our events will run the same way with registration being handled by the host club and event notices sent out by Email. If you would like mail notification, please let us know and make sure we have your current mailing address. Please ensure that we have an accurate Email address for you when registering. Prizes for events will again be divided into flights based on the lowest score. And please as always, no guests at events (unless they are in the industry), the host clubs accommodate us in the golf industry and we don’t want to spoil that privilege. PLEASE CALL TO REGISTER FOR AN EVENT. IF YOU REGISTER AND MUST CANCEL PLEASE CALL THE PRO SHOP. THE ASSOCIATION IS IN A POSITION THAT WE MUST GUARANTEE NUMBERS OR LIMIT NUMBERS THAT CAN ATTEND OUR EVENTS. WE TRY TO MAKE THINGS EASY AND BE ACCURATE AS POSSIBLE FOR OUR HOST CLUBS THAT ARE GIVING UP VALUABLE TIME FOR US. PLEASE DO YOUR PART!!!
Without further delay, I will introduce our wonderful lineup for the 2011 season which is as follows :
- Monday May 16th – Beechwood GC – host Lennie Cienik
- Monday June 20th – Hornby Glen GC – host Brian Brooker
- Monday July 4th –the Club at North Halton – host Dean Baker
- Monday August 8th – Craigowan GC – host Jerry Richard
- Monday September 26th – St. Catharines GC – host Dennis Piccolo
The WOGSA will again be competing in the Fall Classic matches against the WNYGSA which will be held in the U.S. this fall. Team Canada won back the cup this past fall and it’s our intention to keep it on this side of the border where it belongs! The selection of this team is made up of board members, meeting hosts and frequent meeting attendees.
There are a couple of other items that need to be addressed here for the 2011 season. The Board has listened to feedback from the members and we have tried to stay away from early morning shotguns. We are investigating methods for on-line payments for events and membership fees and hopefully we will have a system in place shortly. If anyone has any photos or other contributions to make to the website, please do so, any input is greatly appreciated. And finally, congratulations to WOGSA member Aldo Bortolon, Superintendent at Lookout Point CC and his dog Bronson who was voted dog of the year for the Lebanon fertilizer “Dog Days of Golf” calendar. Aldo and Bronson were awarded a cash prize as well as a contribution to the WOGSA !!! A representative from Lebanon fertilizer will be attending a WOGSA meeting this summer to make the presentation, Way to go Bronson and thanks to all those individuals who voted at the GCSAA show in Orlando !!!
Please take a moment to update your information and return it with payment or bring it to a meeting and pay there. Also please take a moment to visit our website at www.wogsa.ca. We appreciate your cooperation.
For the WOGSA
John Taylor
President
