GCSAA Podcast

This episode of the GCSAA Podcast features an interview with the winner of this year's Most Valuable Technician Award — Greg Neill from Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club Dallas at Las Colinas. It also features a Partner Profile conversation with Bayer's Paul Giordano, Ph.D., and Mike Hirvela about the company's Signature XTRA Stressgard line of fungicide products and a quick look into the crystal ball to see what superintendents might be facing for the rest of 2019.

Curtis Tyrrell, CGCS, MG, the longtime head of golf course maintenance at Medinah Country Club, leads off this episode of the GCSAA Podcast. Tyrrell discusses his career, his time at Medinah — which included hosting the 2012 Ryder Cup — and his newest foray into online video and podcasting. Also in this episode is a Partner Profile conversation with Bayer's Mark Clodfelter and Sean McNerney about the company's new FlexSolutions program.

Thom Nikolai, Ph.D. — the "Doctor of Green Speed" — is our guest on this episode of the GCSAA Podcast. The senior turfgrass academic specialist at Michigan State talks about his career path into golf course management, how he became interested in and established himself as an industry leader in putting green maintenance, green speeds and the benefits of lightweight rolling and his role in the annual Turfgrass Talk Show at the Golf Industry Show.GCSAA members can receive .08 education points for listening to this episode of the podcast, so stay tuned to receive the event approval code at the end of the podcast.

In this episode of the GCSAA Podcast, we revisit a conversation with Matt Shaffer, the longtime superintendent at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., that was originally recorded last fall. We talk about his storied career in golf course management, how the business has changed over the years and the things that are holding his attention after retirement (hint: it involves fishing).

In this episode of the GCSAA Podcast, we dive into the world of assistant superintendents and talk with Carol Turner and Phillip Fisher, two members of GCSAA's Assistant Superintendent Task Group. Carol is the second assistant superintendent at Ladies Golf Club of Toronto, while Phillip is the assistant superintendent at Brickyard Crossing Golf Course in Indianapolis, Ind. We also feature another of our Partner Profile conversations and talk to Bayer's Patrick Burgess, Ph.D., field development scientist.

In this episode of the GCSAA Podcast, we go into the shop and talk with two of the industry's leading equipment managers — Patrick Drinkard from the Clubs of Cordillera Ranch in Boerne, Texas, and Kayla Kipp from Wisp Resort in McHenry, Md. We discuss the journey they took to their current positions, the challenges and opportunities facing golf course equipment managers and their roles on GCSAA's Equipment Managers Task Group.

In this episode of the GCSAA Podcast, we talk with award-winning golf writer Gary D'Amato, senior writer with Killarney Golf Media and the website Wisconsin.golf. A longtime golf journalist who has covered more than 75 majors — including every Masters since 1993 — D'Amato talks about his recent story that chronicled his day volunteering on the maintenance team at The Oaks Golf Course in Cottage Grove, Wisc. ("Feeling super"), golf in the state of Wisconsin and how the coronavirus has impacted the industry there.

This episode of the GCSAA Podcast — recorded live at the 2020 Golf Industry Show in Orlando — features golf course architect Gil Hanse. The lead designer on the Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who also oversaw the renovation of the West Course at Winged Foot Golf Club, site of this June's U.S. Open, Hanse talks about how he got into a career as a golf course architect, some of his most notable projects and his working relationship with golf course superintendents. 

This episode of the GCSAA Podcast — recorded live at the 2020 Golf Industry Show in Orlando — features Jeff Corcoran, the manager of golf courses and grounds at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. Corcoran talks about his long affiliation with Oak Hill, a club that has hosted 12 previous major championships and will play host to the PGA Championship in 2023, his career path to Rochester and why mentoring future generations of superintendents is so important to him.

This episode of the GCSAA Podcast features a conversation with 2020 GCSAA President John R. Fulling, CGCS. We discuss his career in golf course management, his volunteer service at both the state and national levels, his goals for his year in office and, of course, his love of music and his role as the drummer for the country rock band The Bronk Brothers. You can read more about Fulling in the cover story for the March issue of GCM magazine, available now. https://www.gcmonline.com/profession/career/news/john-fulling