AGCSA Workshops

The AGCSA hosts two series of educational workshops throughout each year. The Spring workshop series is generally held in September/October and the Autumn series in March/April. The exact months and dates are determined each year based on speaker availability.

2009 AGCSA Spring Series Workshops

Sustainable Golf Course Management with Steve Isaac (The R&A) 

The R&A is golf’s world rules and development body and organiser of The Open Championship. It operates with the consent of more than 130 national and international, amateur and professional organisations from over 120 countries and on behalf of an estimated 30 million golfers in Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas (outside the USA and Mexico, which is under the auspices of the United States Golf Association).

Among its many and varied activities The R&A also provides best practice guidance on all aspects of golf course management, with specific reference to ecological and conservation issues, to help grow the game in a commercially and environmentally sustainable way.

In 2003 The R&A appointed Steve Isaac (pictured) to the role of director of golf course management to develop and enact The R&A Golf Course Committee’s sustainability programme. Isaac, who spent the previous 18 years with the UK’s Sports Turf Research Institute, which included acting as the consultant agronomist at three Open Championships, has toured the globe spreading the word on sustainable golf course management and to date he has travelled throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, New Zealand, South America and the USA.

In conjunction with the AGCSA and the state superintendent associations, Isaac will head to Australia for the first time this September. As well as seeing how the Australian industry measures up, Isaac will host five workshops around the country where he will share The R&A’s philosophy of sustainable golf, The R&A’s role in southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand and use of golf course benchmarking as a management tool.

Isaac’s visit will be an invaluable opportunity for golf clubs, their superintendents and management to find out how the game’s governing body is aiming to meet the challenge sustainable course management practices as well showcase some of the excellent work being undertaken at Australian golf courses. The seminars will be held on the following dates (venues will be announced shortly):

Melbourne: Tuesday 8 Sept
Sydney: Thursday 10 Sept
Brisbane: Monday 14 Sept
Adelaide: Thursday 17 Sept
Perth: Monday 21 Sept

 

Past Workshops

2008
Spring Series: Presentation and Communication
Autumn: AGCSA Poa annua Control Trials

2007 
Spring Series: Human Resource Management
Autumn Series: Environmental Management and the e-par system 

2006
Spring Series: Environmental Management System - e-par®

2005
Spring Series: Business and Personal Financial Management for the Turfgrass Professional
Autumn Series: National Chemical Spill Exercise

2004
Spring Series: Latest Strategies for Weed and Disease Management
Autumn Series: Spraying Techniques

2003
Spring Series: Preparing a Water management Plan

2002
Spring Series: Bentgrass Trial Evaluation
Autumn Series: USGA Greens Construction Specification