Eastern North Carolina Turfgrass Association

ENCTA Members and Colleagues,

In August, we were at The Emerald Golf Club in New Bern where Andy Priest from the Carolina Golf Association (CGA) spoke on the rules of golf and how to mark you golf course. Phil Kilmer and his staff had the golf course in excellent condition for those of us who were fortunate enough to play golf.

In September, we had our largest crowd of the year show up at The Sound Golf Links at Albemarle Plantation in Hertford to hear Dr. Leon Lucas do his last meeting for the ENCTA. He spoke on what he saw on golf courses during his travels this summer. Dr. Lucas is retiring at the end of the year from the CGA. He is a fixture in the turfgrass industry here in the Carolinas and he is going to be missed. He was giving a Lifetime Membership to the ENCTA along with some other gifts. Mike Horton and his staff had the golf course in championship form for the ENCTA championship. Wade Faircloth from Taberna Country Club had the low round of the day at 77 to win the overall championship edging out Drew Ramsey from Cutter Creek Golf Club who shot an 81. Bill Jones from Southern Seeds was the net champion with a net of 65.

In October, we will be having our annual Coastal Cup matches against the Cape Fear Association at Cypress Landing Golf Club. This once a year grudge match has been lopsided for the last couple of years and the ENCTA are really looking forward to the opportunity to bring home the cup this year.

We will wrap up our year with our annual business meeting on December 4th at Kinston Country Club. At the annual meeting, we will be electing three new board members and honoring outgoing board members. The outgoing board members are Chris Pearson with Green Resource, Daniel Lancaster with Wedgewood Golf Course and Brian Williams with North Shore Golf Club. I want to thank those guys for all of their hard work that put in for the last two years.

The ENCTA board of governors is so thankful for the support that we have received from our many sponsors this year. Please let us know if there is anything that the association can do to better. 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
252-378-5743
elliottyardboy@gmail.com

ENCTA Members and Colleagues,

Our fundraising tournament sponsored by Cardinal Chemical took place on May 15 at Wedgewood Golf Course in Wilson, NC. Thanks to Daniel Lancaster and his staff for having the course in great condition. Les Bailey, CGCS, and his team from TSP were the runaway winners followed by Chris Parham, GCS and his team from Greenville Country Club. The teams from Green Resource, Southern Wayne Country Club and Wilson Parks & Recreation rounded out the top five. Eric Woods, Jeff Harold, Les Bailey, CGCS and Mark Bitzenhofer were our closest to the pin winners; and Jacob Kallam and Mark Miller were our long drive winners sponsored by Halifax Fertilizer and Best Sand & Gravel.

On June 19th our meeting was held at Morehead City Country Club hosted by Willie Toms. Mr. Rick Fetcher from NuFarm spoke about fungicide resistance and rotation. Mr. Fetcher did an excellent job. After our meeting, everyone enjoyed a beautiful day of golf.

Dale Edmonds hosted our family night at the Wilson Tobs baseball game on July 24th. This event was sponsored by Vandemark Farms. This was a great opportunity to relax and spend time with our families.

Our next meeting will be at The Emerald Golf Club hosted by Phil Kilmer on August 21. A representative from the Carolinas Golf Association will be our speaker and he will be speaking on “How to Mark Your Golf Course”. In September we will have our Annual Golf Championship at The Sound Golf Links at Albemarle Plantation hosted by Mike Horton. Leon Lucas will be speaking on what we saw in the summer of 2014. We would like to thank all of our 2014 sponsors and invite all of our members to our next few meetings. 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
252-378-5743

ENCTA Members and Colleagues

We had a great meeting in April. Thanks to Jim Hoffman and his staff at River Bend Country Club in New Bern for hosting the event. Peter Maybach from M & M Consulting did an excellent job and we would like to thank him for coming. He talked about how your water quality affects turfgrass.

ENCTA has so much to be thankful for. Between the support of our renewing sponsors for 2014, our new sponsors for 2014 and everyone that supported our recent fundraising tournament. We are having a great year. Our fundraising tournament sponsored by Cardinal Chemical took place on May 15 at Wedgewood Golf Course in Wilson, NC. Thanks to Daniel Lancaster and his staff for having the course in great condition.

In March, we loss a long time ENCTA member, Ronnie McGhee, he was a loving husband and father; he was a veteran of the US Air Force and retired from the US Postal Service. An avid golfer, he spent years employed at Green Hill Country Club in Louisburg. Our prayers go out to his family.

Our next meeting will be at Morehead City Country Club hosted by William Toms on June 19. Rick Fletcher from NuFarm will be speaking on Fungicide resistance and rotation. In July we will have a family night at a Wilson Tobs baseball game, sponsored by Vandemark Farms. This event will be hosted by Dale Edmonds on July 24th and will give us a great opportunity relax and spend time with our families. We would like to thank all of our 2014 sponsors and invite all of our members to our next few meetings. 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
252-378-5743

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

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

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

August 2013

ENCTA Members and Colleagues:

Late summer as everyone knows in the golf maintenance industry is a time when we must focus most of our efforts and energy on the responsibilities at our respective golf courses. Those of us who manage bentgrass greens are counting down the days until we can aerify and have consistent 60-degree nights while a growing number of superintendents who are now managing ultradwarf bermudagrass have plenty to do with the cultural practices that go along with their management.

July gave the members of ENCTA an opportunity to get together after hours and fellowship with our families at a Wilson Tobs baseball game. Dale Edmonds with the City of Wilson hosted the July meeting and everyone that attended had a great time. Stanley Elliott, the vice-president of ENCTA threw out the first pitch of the game and Kristen Edmonds, daughter of Dale Edmonds was presented with the Bill Sutton scholarship during the game.

Our August meeting will be a dual meeting at North Shore Country Club with the Cape Fear Superintendents Association. Brian Williams will host the meeting on August 22nd and Matt Martin will give us a golf course pesticide presentation. This is sure to be a great time and will allow us to fellowship with the Cape Fear guys. I am sure that Brian will have the golf course in great shape.

On September 17th we will travel to Greenville Country Club where Dr. L.T. Lucas will give us a presentation on what he has seen in his travels this summer in the Carolinas. Chris Parham and his staff do a fabulous job at Greenville and I am sure everyone will be excited to play there for our annual ENCTA Championship.

The board of directors of ENCTA is so thankful for the support that we have received from our many sponsors this year. We all look forward to the summer winding down and everyone’s stress levels getting back to normal levels. Please let us know if there is anything that the association can do to better serve our members. We would like to invite all of our members to our next few meetings. Please visit our website at www.encta.org for more dates and information on our 2013 schedule.

Good luck to everyone over the next several months!

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

May 2013

ENCTA Members and Colleagues:

ENCTA has so much to be thankful for. Between the support of our renewing sponsors for 2013, our new sponsors for 2013 and everyone that supported our recent fundraising tournament, we are having a great year. Our fundraising tournament took place on May 16th at Wilson Country Club. Everyone enjoyed the pleasant weather and the well-conditioned golf course that was prepared by Craig Clemmer and his staff.

Past ENCTA President Drew Ramsey and his team from Cutter Creek Golf Club were the runaway winners followed by board member Roger Olmstead and his team from Reedy Creek Golf Course. The teams from Lonnie Poole Golf Course, Tri State Pumps and Cypress Landing Golf Club rounded out the top five.

Mark Moore, a chef at Kinston Country Club was the winner of the offshore fishing trip that was raffled off to benefit the Bill Sutton scholarship. Mark will enjoy a trip aboard the Sudden Impact charter boat out of Atlantic Beach NC. Sudden Impact is owned and captained by former golf course superintendent Jerry Elliott owner of Elliott Enterprises. A special thanks goes to Jerry for his support of ENCTA and the Bill Sutton Scholarship over the last two years.

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2013 Bill Sutton Scholarship is Kristen Edmonds who is the daughter of ENCTA board member Dale Edmonds. Kristen is graduating from Wilson Fike High School. She has a weighted cumulative GPA of 4.9. Kristen will be attending the East Carolina University Honors College where she will be an Early Assurance Scholar for Physical Therapy.

We recently learned of the loss of one of our lifetime members, Max Weeks. Max’s wife wrote to us to notify us of his passing back on September 15, 2012. Max was 73 years old. Max had a B.S. in Animal Husbandry and was a dairy farmer for many years before going back to school and getting a B.A. in Education. After completing his degree in education, Max taught mentally challenged children for many years before going to work for Dupont where he retired from in 1985. After his retirement from Dupont, Max moved to NC and went back to school and took the career path that he loved the most as a Golf Course Superintendent at Quaker Neck Country Club. Max will surely be missed by many.

Our next meeting will be at Southern Wayne Country Club hosted by Jeff Johnson on June 25th. Ryan Boyles from NC State will be our speaker and his topic will be Understanding Climates. This should be an interesting topic and one that I am sure a lot of people are interested in. In July we will have a family night at a Wilson Tobs baseball game. This event will be hosted by Dale Edmonds on July 25th and will give us a great opportunity relax and spend time with our families. We would like to thank all of our 2013 sponsors and invite all of our members to our next few meetings. Please visit our website at www.encta.org for more dates and information on our 2013 schedule.

Good luck to everyone over the next several months!

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

March 2013
ENCTA Members and Colleagues:

ENCTA kicked off our year with our annual pesticide conference at Wayne Community College. Rob Woods hosted the meeting that included 4 hours of education and a great lunch. Special thanks goes to Casey Reynolds, Jim Kerns PhD, Travis Gannon PhD, and Rick Brandenburg PhD all from NC State for their presentations.

Damon Libby hosted our March meeting at Star Hill Golf Club. David Jacob CGCS, spoke on Cultural Practices for Management on Ultradwarf Greens. David did a great job of condensing several hours of information into one hour and even had time to answer everyone’s questions. David’s presentation was followed by some great fellowship prior to lunch and golf.

David Bentley CGCS will host our April meeting at Scotch Hall Preserve on April 18^th. Don Riley a Certified Wildlife Biologist, will speak on Native Vegetation Establishment and The Benefits. Don’s presentation will be an opportunity for us all to hear something new that we are not use to dealing with on a daily basis and Scotch Hall Preserve is the perfect setting.

Our fundraising tournament will be on May 16^th at Wilson Country Club hosted by Craig Clemmer. Please plan on joining us for this important event where the proceeds help us support turfgrass research, scholarships and other aspects of the turf industry.

I would like to thank all of our 2013 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 for more dates and information on our 2013 schedule.

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

January 2013

ENCTA Members and Colleagues:

ENCTA would like to thank Buckley Brockman from Washington Yacht and Country Club, Justin Helms from Scotch Hall Preserve, and Ben Peters from Smith Turf and Irrigation for their service as a board member for 2011 and 2012. Their service and the support from the companies and clubs that they work for does not go unnoticed and is greatly appreciated. Our new board members who will serve for 2013 and 2014 are Daniel Lancaster from Wedgewood Golf Course, Brian Williams from North Shore Country Club and Chris Pearson from Green Resource. We would like to welcome our new board members and look forward to working with all of them.

Our 2013 meetings are all set with the first meeting being our annual pesticide meeting held at Wayne Community College and hosted by Rob Woods on February 21st. Thanks to Casey Reynolds, Fred Yelverton, Jim Kerns, and Rick Brandenburg from NCSU for some great information and their willingness to speak to us.

Damon Libby at Star Hill Country Club will host our March meeting on March 21st and David Jacob will be speaking on Cultural Practices of Ultradwarf Bermudagrass Greens. Our April meeting will be on April 18th and will be at Scotch Hall Preserve located on the Albemarle Sound where we will be learning about Native Vegetation Establishment and the Benefits.  I am sure that David Bentley, Justin Helms and their staff will have the golf course in fantastic shape.

Our fundraising tournament will be on May 16th at Wilson Country Club hosted by Craig Clemmer. Go ahead and mark your calendars so you can be sure to join us.

As we begin this year, we would like to thank all of our sponsors who have supported us throughout the years and continue to support us. It is because of you that we are able to be such a strong organization and offer great fellowship and education to our members.

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