Eastern North Carolina Turfgrass Association

Ronnie Wayne McGhee, 64, died peacefully on Sunday March 9, 2014.  Born in Vance County, he was son of the late Mozelle Stroud McGhee and Connie Lee McGhee.

Ronnie, a loving husband, father and friend, graduated from Aycock High School in Vance County, was a veteran of the U. S. Air Force and retired from U. S. Postal Service.  An avid lover of golf, he spent years employed at Green Hill Country Club in Louisburg.

Ronnie is survived by his wife, Jan; two children, Addie Armstrong and husband Mike of Wake Forest, Nathan Walker and wife Andrea of Raleigh; brother, Calvin McGhee and wife Deborah of Henderson; mother-in-law, Jeanette Poythress of Henderson; grandchildren, Lily and Camden Armstrong; numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.  He also leaves behind his beloved dog, Bella.

In honor of Ronnie’s huge heart and love for animals, contributions may be made to the Franklin County Humane Society PO Box 338 Youngsville, NC 27596

NEXT MEETING: Thursday April 17 Birchwood Country Club Nashville, NC Speaker: Lee Butler, NC State Turf Diagnostics Lab Topic: Out with the Old, In with the New: Diseases of Bentgrass & Bermudagrass Putting Greens Host: Kyle Oakes

Please call Southern Seeds by Monday April 14th at 1-800-682-1102; so we can make adequate accommodations or use E-vite to inform us that you are coming, but do not use both.

ENCTA Members and Colleagues

ENCTA started off the year with our annual pesticide conference at Wayne Community College.  The meeting was sponsored by Green Resource, one of our platinum sponsors.  Rob Woods hosted the meeting that included 3 hours of pesticide credits, 1 hour of aquatic credit and .40 GCSAA educational credits.  The lunch was great as well; it was catered by McCall’s Bar-B-Q & Seafood out of Goldsboro.  Special thanks goes to Ryan Stanley from Foster Lake and Pond Management, Joseph Roberts and Travis Gannon Ph. D both from NC State for their presentations.  They did an excellent job.

Jim Hoffman and Frank Fragale will host our March meeting at River Bend Country Club in New Bern.  Peter Maybach from M & M Consulting will speak on “Understanding soil and water quality and how it affects your overall turf health”.

Kyle Oakes will host our April meeting at Birchwood Country Club on April 17^th.  Lee Butler from NC State will speak on Diseases on Bentgrass and Bermudagrass greens.  Lee’s presentation will give everyone an opportunity to learn about the most common diseases found in bentgrass and bermudagrass greens; they will learn the optimum fungicide selection, application method and timing for each of the common diseases; and will learn cultural management strategies that reduce pressure from each of the common diseases while reducing fungicide applications.

Daniel Lancaster will host our fundraising tournament at Wedgewood Golf Course on May 15^th in Wilson.  The fundraising tournament will be sponsored by Cardinal Chemical, another one of our platinum sponsors.  Please plan on joining us for this important event where the proceeds help support turfgrass research, scholarships and other aspects of the turf industry.

I would like to thank all of our 2014 sponsors and the ENCTA board members for their continued efforts to ensure the success of the association.  Please visit our website at www.encta.org and our Facebook page for more dates and information on our 2014 schedule.

Stanley Elliott, CGCS

ENCTA President

Cypress Landing Golf Club

elliottyardboy@gmail.com

252-378-5743

NEXT MEETING: THURSDAY MARCH 20 RIVER BEND COUNTRY CLUB NEW BERN, NC SPEAKER: PETER MAYBACH, PRESIDENT OF M & M CONSULTING TOPIC: UNDERSTANDING SOIL AND WATER QUALITY AND HOW IT EFFECTS YOUR OVERALL TURF HEALTH HOST: JIM HOFFMAN / FRANK FRAGALE

PLEASE CALL SOUTHERN SEEDS BY MONDAY, MARCH 17TH AT 1-800-682-1102, SO WE CAN MAKE ADEQUATE ACCOMMODATIONS OR USE E-VITE TO INFORM US THAT YOU ARE COMING, BUT DO NOT USE BOTH.

NEXT MEETING: Thursday February 20, 2014 Annual Pesticide Meeting Wayne Community College Goldsboro, NC Host: Rob Woods Speakers: Ryan Stanley (Fosters Lake and Pond Management) Joseph Roberts, NCSU Dr. Travis Gannon, NCSU Topics: ID and Control of Algae and Aquatic Weeds Management of Turf Diseases Updates about Herbicide Use for Golf Courses, Lawns and Landscapes Aquatic, Pesticide and GCSAA credits will be available

PLEASE CALL SOUTHERN SEEDS BY MONDAY FEBRUARY 17 AT 1-800-682-
1102; SO WE CAN MAKE ADEQUATE ACCOMMODATIONS.

ENCTA Members and Colleagues:

The fall of the year normally allows all of us in the golf maintenance industry a chance to catch up with our colleagues and members of ENCTA had 2 great opportunities to do that in November. On November 6th, many of us had the privilege to travel to Bald Head Island Club and compete for the Coastal Cup against members from Cape Fear Superintendents Association. Although we did not come out on top, everyone had a great time competing and enjoyed playing an immaculate golf course prepared by Steen Wansley and his staff. A special thanks goes to Steen and the board of the Cape Fear association for setting up this awesome event.

Many members of ENCTA traveled to Myrtle Beach for the annual CGCSA Conference and Trade Show in mid-November. What an excellent event and great opportunity for affordable education. Thank you to all of the staff of CGCSA and the board members for making this a success. It was very enjoyable spending time with everyone at the social events and great to see David Jacob from Benvenue Country Club take home $5000 as winner of the John Deere 27 hole challenge, it could not happen to a nicer person. That makes 2 years in a row that an ENCTA member has won the $5000 as Dean Baker, CGCS from Kinston Country Club won last year.

On December 5th, the members of ENCTA came together at The State Club and Lonnie Poole Golf Course for the annual membership meeting. Out going board members Andy Ipock from Country Club of the Crystal Coast, Jonathan Richardson from Coastal Floratine and Roger Olmstead from Reedy Creek Golf Course were honored and presented with plaques of appreciation for their service. Anthony Whitehead from Whitehead Golf and Turf was also presented with a plaque of appreciation and a special gift for his 18 years of service as sergeant at arms. Stanley Elliott, CGCS from Cypress Landing Golf Club was elected as the new president and Buckley Brockmann from Washington Yacht and Country Club was elected as the new vice president. James Duke from Cardinal Chemical Company was elected as the new sergeant at arms and the new board members elected for 2-year terms were Austin Allison from Timberlake Golf Club, Dean Baker, CGCS from Kinston Country Club and Jim Hoffman from River Bend Country Club.

ENCTA is extremely fortunate to have outstanding support from all of our sponsors. 2013 has been an outstanding year for the association and we would like to thank you all and encourage all of our members to support companies that help make ENCTA and our industry so successful. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.


Brian Green
Lonnie Poole Golf Course
(919) 828-7820

NEXT MEETING: Thursday December 5th Lonnie Poole Golf Course Raleigh, North Carolina Annual Business Meeting Host: Brian Green

PLEASE CALL SOUTHERN SEEDS BY MONDAY, DECEMBER 2ND AT 1-800-682-
1102; SO WE CAN MAKE ADEQUATE ACCOMMODATIONS.

ENCTA Members and Colleagues:

We have had a couple of great meetings over the last two months that were well supported by our members and members of the Cape Fear association at our joint meeting in August. In August, we were at North Shore Country Club where Matt Martin updated us on new pesticide strategies when managing both ultradwarf bermudagrass greens and bentgrass greens. Brian Williams and his staff had the golf course in fantastic shape and many people took advantage of the great weather and teed it up.

In September, we had a large crowd on hand at Greenville Country Club to listen to Dr. L.T. Lucas share with us what he has seen on all of the golf courses he has visited this year with the CGA. Chris Parham and his staff had the golf course in championship condition for the ENCTA championship following Dr. Lucas’s presentation and a wholesome lunch. Les Bailey from Tri State Pumps had the low round of the day at 79 to win the overall championship edging out Wilson Sutton from The Emerald Golf Club who shot an 82. Roger Olmstead was the net champion with a net of 69 edging out Bill Jones of Southern Seeds on a scorecard playoff. Nice playing guys!

Traditionally we have our Coastal Cup matches against Cape Fear in October, but this year those matches will be on November 6^th at Bald Head Island Club. Everyone as you can imagine is excited about the opportunity to play at Bald Head Island and of course the competition of our yearly grudge match.

Our year will rap up with our annual membership meeting on December 5^th at Lonnie Poole Golf Course at N.C. State where everyone will have the opportunity to check out the new Carol Johnson Poole clubhouse that is scheduled to open on December 1^st. At the annual meeting, we will be electing three new board members and honoring outgoing board members, our out going past president Drew Ramsey and our retiring sergeant at arms Anthony Whitehead. Anthony has served as sergeant at arms for close to 20 years and has contributed greatly over the years to the success of the ENCTA. He will be greatly missed but we will still be able to turn to him for advice, as he is not retiring from the golf course industry. We look forward to seeing everyone at one of our upcoming meetings and at the annual CGCSA Conference and Trade Show.

Brian Green,

ENCTA President

Lonnie Poole Golf Course

(919) 828-7820