GCSAA honors Florida chapter for government relations efforts

The Florida Golf Course Superintendents Association (FGCSA) has earned the 2015 Excellence in Government Relations Award from the national association for its statewide collaboration with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to establish best management practices for golf courses. The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) annually recognizes a chapter or superintendent for outstanding advocacy or compliance efforts in government relations.

This award lauded the completion and long-term use of the publication, “Best Management Practices for Enhancement of Environmental Quality on Florida Golf Courses,” which was first published in 2007 and has been adopted by nearly 300 of the state’s more than 1,000 golf courses.

“This is a nice recognition for all the advocacy efforts on behalf of Florida golf course superintendents,” says Bill Davidson, CGCS, president of the FGCSA. “What we have done can be a good foundation for a lot of other associations.”

The goal was to agree on attainable management practices to keep golf a profitable business in Florida while protecting state water and natural resources, according to the Clean Water Act and other state and local ordinances.

The result is a valuable document that has become an aid for all state regulatory agencies, including the Florida DEP, the Florida Department of Agriculture and the Florida Department of Community Affairs.

“The golf management industry as a whole is working toward statewide and regional best management practices so that we demonstrate environmental stewardship in all that we do,” says Rhett Evans, GCSAA’s chief executive officer.

The chapter will be formally recognized on Feb. 25 at the opening session of the Golf Industry Show in San Antonio. The Florida chapter will also be featured in an upcoming issue of GCSAA’s official monthly publication, Golf Course Management magazine.

Nominees were judged on how their efforts best serve the interests of the golf course superintendent profession and the golf course management industry. The GCSAA government relations committee made the selection.

The FGCSA consists of 11 local chapters and more than 1,000 individual members.