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Futurist to headline CGSA golf conference

Jim Carroll, a leading global futurist, will be keynote speaker March 2 at the Canadian Golf Course Management Conference in Ottawa. His address is titled, “the future and innovations.”

For the past 25 years, more than two million people have shared his insights. Organizations from around the world have turned to Carroll for strategic guidance into strategies they need to adopt and trends with which they must align.

Conference education sessions scheduled for Monday, March 2 include:

• Ninja level poa growing: optimizing plant health while minimizing annual bluegrass weevils and leather jackets (presented by Dr. Ben McGraw, Penn State University)
• Technician beyond the wrench (presented by Hector Velazquez, Hector’s Shop)
• Drones and golf: gaining detailed insight from above (presented by Willie Carroll, Location Intelligence & Design)
• The tactical technician (presented by Hector Velazquez, Hector’s Shop)
• Learn to develop a culture of accountability and ownership (presented by Mark Thompson, The McKinley Group)

Conference education sessions scheduled for Tuesday, March 3 include:

• Golf course operations and health & safety: do you know what you don’t know? (presented by Sheila James, Workplace Safety & Prevention Services)
• Clues for winter damage repair (presented by Dr. Leah Brilman, DLF Pickseed)
• Personal resiliency (presented by Cynthia Schoopmann, HumanaCare)

Conference education sessions scheduled for Wednesday, March 4 include:

• Putting it all together: species, genetics and management for less problems (presented by Dr. Leah Brilman, DLF Pickseed)
• Contemporary issues in turf disease control (presented by Dr. Rick Latin, Purdue University)
• Balancing life on and off the course: where turf management and mental health meet (presented by Judy Johnson, Light of Day Coaching)
• Using information about how golf is played to solve turf management problems (presented by Dr. Brandon Horvath, University of Tennessee)
• Sand characteristics and impact to topdressing and aerification backfill (presented by Dr. James Murphy, Rutgers University)
• The five levels of leadership (presented by Stephen Keating, the Toro Company)

In addition to the conference education sessions, two specialized learning workshops will be presented on Sunday, March 1. The first is titled, “21st century turfgrass insect control: successes, failures and strategies for managing pests in changing environments,” to be presented by Dr. Ben McGraw of Penn State University. The second session is titled, “Managing your most important asset – human capital,” to be presented by Mark Thompson of The McKinley Group.

Dr. Brandon Horvath of the University of Tennessee will present a third specialized learning workshop on Thursday, March 5, titled, “Managing bluegrass greens: ecologically sound disease management.”

BASF, Bayer and Belchim Canada will make product presentations during the day on Tuesday, March 3.

The conference is a presentation of the CGSA.

For more information about the conference, visit https://golfsupers.com/ottawa2020.