Eastern North Carolina Turfgrass Association

October 1, 2012

ENCTA Members and Colleagues:

The Eastern NC Turfgrass Association has had several events over the past couple of months. Our first event was the Richard Williams Memorial Golf Tournament at Falling Creek Golf Course in Kinston on September 13, 2012. There was an awesome outpouring of support for this event that was organized to help support the family of Richard Williams, our President who passed away in July. A big thanks goes out to everyone who helped organize this event, those who donated items for the silent auction, those who sponsored the event, those who volunteered at the event, and those who participated in the event. Richard’s family was overwhelmed by the support and extremely thankful for all the help that they have received from our industry.

Our most recent event was our annual Member Championship, which was hosted by Roger Olmstead at Reedy Creek Golf Course in Smithfield, NC. Dr. Leon Lucas was our guest speaker and he updated everyone on what he has seen this year as he has traveled the Carolina’s with the CGA. Terry Kallam edged out Les Bailey as the gross champion on a scorecard playoff after they each shot 77. Jonathan Richardson was the net champion with a net of 64 followed by Robert Furr who had a net of 68, good playing guys.

Our next event is our Ryder Cup matches against the guys from the Cape Fear Association. This event will be Monday October 15th at Carolina Colours in New Bern. I am sure Jason Price and his staff will have the golf course in great shape for this fun event. We will end the year at the Country Club of the Crystal Coast on December 6, 2012 with host Andy Ipock where we will have our Annual Meeting and elect 3 new board members. Thanks to everyone who supports our association and our industry.

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

April 1, 2011

Bill Sutton Scholoarship

ENCTA Members and Colleagues,

The Eastern North Carolina Turfgrass Association is presenting its First Annual Bill Sutton Fishing Trip Raffle for ENCTA members and anyone interested with helping the Bill Sutton Scholarship. Jerry Elliot with Elliott Enterprise Fertilizer Company has graciously offered his services as a Captain on his charter boat “Sudden Impact”. The lucky winner will have an opportunity to take three of his friends on a 3/4 day fishing trip out onto the blue Atlantic Ocean waters off the Morehead City shoreline. Caption Elliot chartered these waters for years and knows where the big fish like to go. This trip is valued at $900.00. The drawing will be December 15th 2011.

All proceeds will go towards the Bill Sutton Scholarship that is given every year. If you are interested, please log on to www.encta.org website and contact any one of our Board members listed in the Directory. Raffle tickets are $10.00 and you can buy as many as you want. Remember anyone can buy a ticket.  Download Poster (PDF Format).

I would like to give a special “Thanks” to Jim Hoffman and the Clubhouse staff for the hospitality given at the ENCTA March meeting. The lunch and professionalism shown to the membership was top notch. Tom Reil with North Carolina Lake Management and Cliff Edwards with Premier Ponds gave educational information on topics for aquatic weed control and managing fish and their habitats in ponds and lakes. This is a job well done, guys.

The ENCTA would also like to recognize Roger Olmstead with his new job position at Reedy Creek Golf Club, in Four Oaks, North Carolina. I know the ENCTA membership is happy to have you back in the Eastern Carolina. Also, Brad Brooks, CGCS, former Superintendent at Carolina Colours in New Bern will be stepping in a new adventure with Hendrix and Dail, Inc., located in Greenville, NC. Brad will still be a member of the ENCTA and will offer superintendents all around the area turf management services. Best of luck!

I hope everyone has a great spring season and look forward seeing you at our next meeting.

Sincerely,
Drew Ramsey
ENCTA President

Dear Members,

I’m sure there are many members wondering what the reason was for the
postponed date for the ENCTA meeting this past Monday and why the
decision was made at the last minute. These are certainly good questions
to ask and answers you should know.

The year-end meeting is an important meeting where the ENCTA Board of
Directors can inform members on how the Association has faired over the
course of the year.  It is also a time to honor past board members and
introduce new board members.  Also, the year-end meeting historically
held the ENCTA Golf Championship, where members enjoy a tournament style
format, and opportunities to win prize money in the host’s Pro Shop.
The winners of the Gross and Net scoring formats are also awarded
plaques for their winning scores.

With all this being said, and this past weekend’s weather forecast
began to become more predicable for Monday, December 5, 2010 (Sunday
Temp low 23- Monday High 37 – strong winds), it was apparent that there
was going to be little, to no participation in the golf tournament.
Also, there would have been no guarantees that the golf course could
have been open for play, due to the potential of frozen greens.  The
board felt it was in the best interest of the entire association to
reschedule the meeting to where we may have a better opportunity to
conduct the 2010 Business Meeting and have the Championship Golf
Tournament all in the same day.

I have no idea what the future for December 20, 2010 holds in regards
to weather. That being said we will have the meeting on this date.
Hopefully, this will also be a better weather day than December 6, 2010.

I’m sincerely sorry for any inconvenience anyone may have incurred
with the sudden change in date. I hope to see you all on Monday,
December 20, 2010.

Drew Ramsey
ENCTA President

The Eastern NCTA decided the past fall to incorporate a scholarship for children or grandchildren of members of the association. This scholarship is named for the leadership and dedication that the late Bill Sutton gave the Eastern NCTA for many years. We had four people apply and their applications were reviewed by a professional familiar with scholarships before a decision was made. The Eastern NCTA is pleased to announce the $1,500 scholarship winner for 2010 year is Tony Whitehead. Tony is the son of long-time Eastern NCTA member Anthony Whitehead.

Tony graduated from Greenfield School in Wilson, NC in 2007. While at Greenfield School, he was a member of the National Honor Society, SAVE club and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He received a citizenship award for outstanding conduct and leadership. He was on the headmaster’s list. He played baseball and was the team captain. He was all-conference for four years and all-state for three years. He was also named basketball MVP while attending Greenfield.

Tony has attended North Carolina Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC since August, 2007 and is transferring to East Carolina University. He is majoring in political science and English. He was in the National Honor Society and the secretary-treasurer in the Political Science Club. He played on the baseball team and was academic all-conference, while his baseball team won the regular season championship his freshman year and the conference tournament his sophomore year.

Tony has worked several jobs while attending high school and college. He has worked for the City of Wilson in the Parks and Recreation Department, the maintenance department at Greenfield School and as a bagger at Food Lion.

Tony wrote an essay about his work ethic as part of the scholarship application process. In this essay, he thanked his grandfather, Randolph Whitehead, for providing him so many examples of hard work. Tony provided many examples of hard work his grandfather has shown. He summarized his essay by stating, “Having a strong work ethic is essential to being successful in life, because nothing in life comes easy.”

The Eastern NCTA would again like to congratulate Tony. We send him best wishes and good luck as he continues his education at East Carolina University in August 2010.

As President of ENCTA I found myself wondering how did the Association first being, what was the main purpose of the association, who was involved with the creation, and what was a meeting like during the beginning.  So I starting asking people that been involved with the Association and I was lead to three people (Joel Johnson, Leon Lucas, John Mills) whom could recall the history of the Associations creation.

Here are some highlighted points of what it was like to be member during its first years of existence.

• The Eastern North Carolina Turfgrass Association was started in 1973
• President- Jake Pennel, Superintendent of Jacksonville Country Club
• Board Members:

Joel Johnson Porter Brothers (Jacobsen Dealer)
Ed O’Donnell, Superintendent Brook Valley Country Club
John Hilton, Superintendent Cape Fear Country Club
Bill Sutton, Superintendent Walnut Creek Country Club
Dr. Gilbert, Professor North Carolina State University
Dr. Blake, Professor North Carolina State University

• This group of individuals are responsible for the Creation and incorporation of the By-Laws and the over all foundation of the ENCTA today.
• Mission Statement for the ENCTA in 1973 and today;

“To educate the Golf Course Superintendent on golf Course Maintenance, and to improve the level of knowledge and image towards the profession. Dues were $25.00 a year, which covered educational meetings for the year.  If you stayed for the meal (which was usually a steak dinner) a $5.00 additional cost was required. There were six ENCTA meetings per year.  They all concentrated on education.  The meetings would start at 12:00 p.m. with a round of golf, cocktail hour at 5:30 p.m., and dinner at 6:30 p.m., and concluded with an educational speaker for the last hour.  It’s important to note that Golf Course Superintendents at the time where not allowed in the clubhouse, so having a ENCTA meeting inside a Country Club was considered a big accomplishment.  Each member attending the meeting was expected to wear a coat and tie, and if not, that person was not allowed to attend the function. The Eastern North Carolina Turfgrass Association was important to a turf grass professional because many Golf Course Superintendents did not receive any turf growing education before being a Golf Course Superintendent.  So the most convenient, affordable way to receive education, ideas, and relationships in the turf grass field was through the ENCTA. The average attendance for an ENCTA meeting was around twenty members. Members had to pay their own way to the meeting, where the club did not see fit to offer the expense. Turf grass vendors in the area played a big part in spreading the word about the ENCTA to turf grass professionals across the area.  They were also big at the recruiting new potential members.

I hope this article educates and reminds some of our members of what it was like to be a member of the ENCTA in the beginning, and shows just how far the image and education of a Golf Course Superintendent and Turf Professional has come in 37 years which is the ENCTA mission statement.

Sincerely,

Drew Ramsey
President ENCTA

The ENCTA had its Fifth Annual Pesticide meeting on February 18th, 2010. The meeting included four hours of pesticide points and GCSAA credits. Rick Brandenburg, professor from North Carolina State University, started the morning off with educational updates on controlling certain pests in the Eastern part of North Carolina. Then, Lee Butler of the NC State Turf Diagnostics Lab came to talk to us on current diseases and new fungicides for Bentgrass and Ultradraft Bermuda grass. The ENCTA supplied the attendees with a great lunch and dessert to help get everyone through the day. Cindy Lauderdale, extension agent from Wilson County, came to talk about controlling weeds in landscapes and ornamental beds. Cindy was a new speaker for us and did a great job answering questions throughout her presentation. Then, we finished up the afternoon with Dennis Sheppard (representative from Syngenta) to talk about growth regulators and how they can help professionals in the industry grow better turf.

The Eastern North Carolina Turfgrass Association is very excited about the upcoming year with hopes of continuing to bring in speakers that will educate our membership and make them a better professional.

If you’re a Golf Course Superintendent in North or South Carolina, please remember to fill out your form Rounds 4 Research that will help our local research facilities. You can go to the Carolinas web site and download a Donation Form. There’s only a few weeks left.

I would like to say “Thank You” to all the vendors who have supported our association for many years and continue to support us in the difficult times.

Please remember the vendors who support our Association.

Cutter Creek Golf Club
P.O. Box 7
Hookerton, NC 28538 December 11, 2009

Dear ENCTA Members:

The Eastern Turfgrass Association is wrapping up a great 2009 season and is in the planning period for 2010. We had our year-end meeting at Northgreen Country Club in Rocky Mount, NC on Thursday, December 3, 2008. We discussed year-end business and planned ideas for the 2010 season. We had three Board members to leave their positions. These individuals were very dedicated and provided great ideas and support to the Association. James Duke, who is the Head Fertilizer Salesman in the Turf Division for Halifax Fertilizer, was a Director. Roger Olmstead, Golf Course Superintendent of The Cardinal Golf Club, was also a Director. Finally, Richard Williams, Superintendent at Fallen Creek Golf Club, was a Director. These men served two-year terms and their time and hard work were very much appreciated. There are three new members who will serve two-year terms as Directors. These men are: Josh Stutts, Superintendent of The River in Bunn N.C., Stanley Elliott, Superintendent of Cypress Landing, and Bill Jones, owner of Southern Seed. Cale Cooke, our President for the past two years, is now stepping down and Drew Ramsey is the new President. The ENCTA also has a new Vice President, Richard Williams. We are very excited about the 2010 year and would like to thank these individuals for wanting to give their time to the association.

The ENCTA was also able to hand out its sixth honorary member award at the year-end meeting. Obbie Godette was given this prestigious award for all the years he has been a part of this industry that ranges well over thirty years. Obbie accumulated most of his years working at Cherry Point Golf Club in Havelock, North Carolina where he was the Golf Course Superintendent for over twenty years. Obbie then decided it was time for him to relax and retired in 2007. Obbie is among a long line of honorary members: John Hinton, Joel Johnson, John Mills, Ed Snow, Bill Sutton, and Max Weeks. The ENCTA is happy to put Obbie Godette with this company.

After conducting the business meeting, there was an opportunity to play a golf tournament at Northgreen Country Club. Cale Cooke had the golf course in great shape, and we thank Cale and his crew for their hospitality. The winners in the Net category are: first place- Bill Jones (67), second place- Roger Olmstead (67), and third place- Ben Peters (75). The winners in the Gross category are: first place- Brad Brooks (78), second place- Al Hunter (80), and third place- Chris Pearson (84). The winners in the Closest to the Pin category are: hole #4- Rob Wood, hole #8- Brad Brooks, hole #13- Drew Ramsey, and hole #15- Brad Brooks. We would like to show appreciation to the vendors who sponsored these prizes: Halifax Fertilizer, Best Sand and Gravel, Southern Seed, and Green Resource. The Association appreciates all members who came out to participate in this meeting and tournament. It was a great way to end our 2009 year.

Looking forward to 2010,
Drew Ramsey
President