BIWABIK, Minn. - For five years Giants Ridge has had its "gentle giant" - its original golf course called The Legend at Giants Ridge, which is ranked the No. 1 Public Golf Course in Minnesota. Now it has a woolly mammoth of a golf course, with long flowing fescue grasses and wildly rolling fairways, which will open next spring, The Quarry at Giants Ridge.

When Minnesota's Iron Range Resource and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB)engaged The Legend architect, Jeffrey D. Brauer, to return for an encore engagement at Giants Ridge Resort, his charge was to "create a tournament-quality layout." According to everyone's first impression, he succeeded.

"As good as The Legend at Giants Ridge is, we feel this course will get more accolades," said General Manager Linda Roketa. "In 1997 Golf Digest listed The Legend in its Top Ten Upscale Resort Courses. It was named the Best New Upscale Public Course in 1998. In 1999 it was were rated the No. 1 public course in the state. And Golf Digest just credited it with 4-1/2 stars. But people are chomping at the bit to play The Quarry."

According to IRRRB Development Director Mike Gentile, those golfers include the high-handicappers, who will play the easier forward tees, many of whom have flocked to original Legend course, as well as scratch golfers who will be tested from the championship tees.

"The challenge we gave Jeff was to design an equal or better facility than The Legend, yet different," Gentile said. "Our emphasis was that we provide a course that challenges the low-handicapped golfer and yet is sensitive to the high-handicapper by keeping the fairways generous and the forward tees suitable. When you look at these two courses you would never dream they were designed by the same guy."

While The Legend was carved out of North Woods at the corner of the Superior National Forest, The Quarry is "distinctly different," said Brauer, with rock quarries and barren land from a century-old sand and gravel mining operation.

"While The Legend may well be the most natural golf topography in Minnesota," Brauer said, "The Quarry is by far the most unnatural. And yet, it will dazzle you with its beauty. God created 90 percent of The Legend, and U.S. Steel did 90 percent of The Quarry."

Golfers will see old mining implements, railroad ties, and other reminders that this was an active mine.

The 10th fairway pond was an old clean-out area for rail cars. The 17th hole sits on a former railroad spur. And the 18th hole is perched atop the banks of an iron ore pit - the grass bunker behind the green having once served as a loading dock.

"We used the site's dramatic topographic character, including steep banks and deep gouges from mining operations, to provide both dramatic settings and hazards," Brauer said, adding: "We replicated golf design features that golfers like from The Legend, like wide fairways, sculpted sand bunkers, and moderate-depth bluegrass roughs.

"And we added elements that some golfers said were missing from the first course. Those included short walks from green to tee; more challenge and length from the back tees for the better players; a touch more contour in the greens, with variety from postage-stamp size to ultra-large; five optional tee-shot carries compared to one on The Legend; some partially blind holes, where we tucked greens partially behind quarry spoils, reminiscent of Ireland; and a half-dozen forced carries over recoverable waste bunkers or ponds."

"Golfers will be able to experience the beauty and realize how we reclaimed that old rock and gravel quarry into a beautiful golf course," said Gentile.

"It's breathtaking," said an elated Roketa, who had just learned that SKI Magazine has ranked Giants Ridge Ski Area as No. 1 in Minnesota and No. 3 in the Midwest. "The fact that The Quarry has met all our expectations simply seals a very, very good year for us. And the promises for 2003 are over the top."

Brauer and his firm, Golf Scapes of Arlington, Texas, have designed 45 golf courses and remodeled more than 80. Giants Ridge and Canterberry Golf Course in Parker, Colo., are rated among the best affordable public courses in the United States, while his Avocet Course at Wild Wing Plantation in Myrtle Beach, S.C., was a Golf Digest best new course winner, Colbert Hills Golf Club is rated Kansas's No. 1 Daily Fee Facility, Champions Country Club is rated 5th in Nebraska and TangleRidge Golf Club is 12th in Texas. Brauer served as president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects during its 50th anniversary year in 1995-96. <<

BIWABIK, Minn. - An overflow crowd buzzed with extra anticipation here June 10 when Giants Ridge Golf & Ski Resort not only hosted its annual VIP Day but unveiled plans for its second golf course which is under construction.

The first 18 holes, renamed The Legend at Giants Ridge, has already been crowned the best public course in Minnesota, and golf course architect Jeffrey D. Brauer was on hand to promise even greater results with the new course, The Quarry at Giants Ridge.

Some 156 golfers showed up for the shotgun start over The Legend, 12 more than the expected maximum, according to Giants Ridge Development Director Mike Gentile. About 40 percent were media and most of the rest were business executives from the Biwabik area and the Twin Cities.

Gentile said most of the Minneapolis-St. Paul media was represented including the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minneapolis Star and Tribune as well as the Winnipeg media, two Duluth television stations, most of the newspapers throughout northeastern Minnesota, and a couple of golf magazines.

Troon Management gave away golf at its Scottsdale resorts to winners of a pitching contest held on The Quarry's future par-3, 195-yard 17th hole. Although the hole is not finished, a pond next to the green is, and a target was set up inside that pond.

"People had a great time," Gentile said.

It was a fine golfing day to challenge what Kevin Turnquist of Minnesota Golf Pages has termed "the Biwabik Behemoth."

Brauer has declared that as good as The Legend is, The Quarry will be "longer, stronger and ready for a championship tournament. <<

BIWABIK, Minn. (August 17, 2000) - Giants Ridge Golf Course is ranked third in the state of Minnesota, but its architect, Jeffrey Brauer, declares its sister track "will be even better."
The "encore 18," tentatively called The Quarry at Giants Ridge, will be "longer, stronger and ready for a championship tournament," said the Texan and president of Golf Scapes.
"We told Jeff we wanted this second course to be equal or better than Giants Ridge, yet distinctly different - difficult as that may be," said Mike Gentile, who is development director for Minnesota's Iron Range Resource and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB).
But Brauer believes he can deliver on this challenge from the agency whose charge is to revitalize the economy and diversify it after 50 years of domination by a now-dying iron ore economy.
"In a lot of ways this course will be even more dramatic," he said. "It is very rugged. And the quarry will give it a Pine Valley (Golf Club) look. But Pine Valley will only be an inspiration; this will not be a copycat.
"It will naturally be a little more difficult than Giants Ridge, but much more dramatic. I plan on bigger putting surfaces with more contour, sandy waste areas rather than formal bunkers as hazards, and square/rectangular tees to connote an old-fashioned look."
Three or four tees will be elevated atop spoil piles, while some sand pits are 40 or 50 feet deep.
"These are substantial, formidable hazards," Brauer said, "but we will give the golfer wide berth to play around them."
Sitting on the western edge of Superior National Forest and at the east end of the Mesabi Mountain Range, The Quarry at Giants Ridge is on a smaller piece of property than its sister course and will be more walkable. Its greens and tees will be directly adjacent. Giants Ridge almost requires that carts be used because it winds through environmentally sensitive areas that could not be touched.
"We want the second course to be walkable, partially so we can attract the State Amateur and Mid-Amateur-type tournaments and so forth," said Gentile. "We would like to bring some of those tournaments to northeastern Minnesota and Giants Ridge."
Jeffrey D. Brauer and his firm, Golf Scapes, have designed 40 golf courses and remodeled 80. Canterberry Golf Course in Parker, Colo., and Giants Ridge are rated among the best affordable public courses in the United States, while his Avocet Course at Wild Wing Plantation in Myrtle Beach, S.C., was a Golf Digest best new course winner, Champions Country Club is rated 5th in Nebraska and TangleRidge Golf Club is 12th in Texas. President of the American Society of Golf Course Architects during its 50th anniversary year in 1995-96, Brauer also designed Colbert Hills Golf Club at Kansas State, which opened in June 2000 as the cornerstone golf course for The First Tee program as well as the first collaboration between the PGA of America and Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.<<

BIWABIK, Minn. (July 28, 2000) - Flush with three years of success with its first golf course, Minnesota's Iron Range Resource and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) is adding a second 18 holes to its mix here as it continues efforts to turn the Giants Ridge area into a recreation destination.
"The demand for this caliber of golf course is so high that we decided to go ahead with a second," said IRRRB Development Director Mike Gentile, who has overseen operations of Giants Ridge Golf Course since it opened in 1997.
Officials had hoped Giants Ridge Golf Course would host about 22,000 rounds by the fourth full year of operation. "We did 22,000 between July 1 and Oct. 15 of that first year," Gentile said. "Last year we did 30,000 rounds and still turned away between 12,000 and 15,000 golfers."
Building on that success, the IRRRB has chosen Giants Ridge course designer Jeffrey Brauer/Golf Scapes of Arlington, Texas, as "the natural choice to do the second course."
"The charge we gave Jeff," Gentile said, "is to build a golf course that will be equal or better than the first course - difficult as that may be. We want the golfer, when he is traveling from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area - where 90 percent of our golfers come from - to play two rounds of golf at least and get two quality, yet distinctively different, experiences."
Gentile described Giants Ridge Golf Course as "a Minnesota North Woods experience, with a lot of pines, a lot of birches, a lot of boulders and rocks." The second course, tentatively called The Quarry at Giants Ridge, will be built three miles away on rugged, spoiled topography that straddles former taconite and sand-and-gravel quarries.
Brauer and Gentile said design plans will be complete in August, construction bids will go out in September and construction will be underway by the first part of October.
"We would probably be playing golf in two years," Gentile said.
Since Giants Ridge Golf Course opened, the IRRRB has opened a hotel on the property, enticing visitors to stay and play.
Gentile expects The Quarry course will deliver on expectations.
"Jeff Brauer uses the land and topography very, very well," he said. "He creates something out there that all levels of golfers - from the rank beginner to the experienced low-handicap golfer - are going to have a great experience. The golf course is very fair.
"Whereas the existing course is not walkable because of certain environmental constraints we were under, this course will be walkable. We want to attract the State Amateur and Mid-Amateur-type tournaments and so forth to northeastern Minnesota and Giants Ridge."
Jeffrey D. Brauer and his firm, Golf Scapes, have designed 40 golf courses and remodeled 80. Canterberry Golf Course in Parker, Colo., and Giants Ridge are rated among the best affordable public courses in the United States, while his Avocet Course at Wild Wing Plantation in Myrtle Beach, S.C., was a Golf Digest best new course winner, Champions Country Club is rated 5th in Nebraska and TangleRidge Golf Club is 12th in Texas. President of the American Society of Golf Course Architects during its 50th anniversary year in 1995-96, Brauer also designed Colbert Hills Golf Club at Kansas State, which opened in June 2000 as the cornerstone golf course for The First Tee program as well as the first collaboration between the PGA of America and Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.<<

BIWABIK, Minn. - Once a giant headache for the state of Minnesota, the Giants Ridge region now towers as a model for the entire country - a portrait of how to transform thousands of acres of sand, gravel, taconite and iron ore mining land into a wide-ranging recreational and revenue-producing resource.
"The people are the winners all the way around," said Karen Olson, a longtime resident and a geologist with Wheaton, Md.-based Environmental & Turf Services, which performed water studies and established an Integrated Pest Management program for Giants Ridge.
Once the flashpoint of opposition from environmentalists, Giants Ridge Golf Course is now the cause for accolades, the latest coming in February when superintendent Dave Solga won the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America's (GCSAA) Environmental Stewardship Award for Resort Courses. With the steel industry in the midst of a downward spiral and with the gravel pits depleted, the golf course and an ensuing hotel have helped this area on the western edge of Superior National Forest turn the corner from would-be ghost town to tourist destination.
Augmenting a then-struggling ski resort, the first Giants Ridge course has been so successful since opening in 1997 that Minnesota's Iron Range Resource and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) is proceeding with construction of a second course, tentatively called The Quarry at Giants Ridge.
"It has become a destination because of the golf course, not the ski resort," said Olson.
"Giants Ridge was a one-dimensional resort, with skiing only," agrees Mike Gentile, development director of the IRRRB, which many years ago was given the mandate to help reclaim old mining properties and diversify the economy in the Iron Range - a territory encompassing seven or eight counties in northwestern Minnesota. "We have long been saying that to be a successful full-time destination resort area, Giants Ridge had to have four seasons of activity. With the advent of golf, we have been able to achieve that."

An Economic and Recreational Boon

Before the golf course opened, a number of vacant storefronts stared blankly out at travelers through downtown Biwabik, a community of 1,000 to 1,500 people. But no more. Now travelers stop and stay rather than ramble on past.
In addition to 300 employees at the ski area and golf course, Gentile said jobs have been created in local hotels, restaurants and other businesses kept operable by the customers Giants Ridge generates. (And Gentile is proud both golf courses will be built using no taxpayer dollars; they were totally funded through IRRRB-authorized revenue bonds sold on the private market.)
In the warmer months, hundreds of people visit the IRRRB region to hunt and to fish, scuba dive and boat in scores of "pit lakes." These pit lakes, created by the mining operations and sometimes as deep as 700 or 800 feet, have been stocked with rainbow and brown trout since the early 1980s, according IRRRB mineland reclamation specialist Bruce Itkonen.
In addition to downhill skiing, the winter months are filled with snowmobiling and cross-country skiing. IRRRB crews groom 2,000 miles of snowmobile trails and another 36 miles of cross-country skiing trails at Giants Ridge - one reason it is the Midwest home for the U.S. Nordic Ski Team and the venue for many regional and national high school competitions. Having undergone $7.5 million in renovations in 1984, including chair lifts, snowmaking and night lights, the ski area attracts 85,000 people each winter.
But the centerpiece and driving force of the land reclamation and economic diversification is Giants Ridge Golf Course.
The course hosted 30,000 rounds last year "and still turned away between 12,000 and 15,000 golfers," Gentile said. "The golf quite frankly is helping subsidize the skiing."
This success persuaded IRRRB to engage golf course architect Jeffrey D. Brauer, who designed the first course, to return for an encore.
"Jeff Brauer uses the land and topography very, very well," Gentile said. "He creates something out there that all levels of golfers - from the rank beginner to the experienced low-handicap golfer - are going to have a great experience. In addition, his attention to the environment and wildlife is so extraordinary that we wanted him back."
Brauer, from Arlington, Texas, said the two golf course projects are very different - first, because the initial course was built in the IRRRB territory but not on a defiled property, while the course under construction is "an ugly scar in the landscape and we are turning it into something beautiful."

Struggles and Successes of the First Course

The first course, which was built under intense scrutiny from governmental and private environmental organizations, involved "every environmental issue possible," Brauer said, while the second course has flown through the permitting process without a single opponent.
The first time around, according to Dr. Stuart Cohen of Environmental & Turf Services, the site contained four "species of special concern": Botrychium (a plant), the barren strawberry, the floating marsh marigold, and caltha natans.
Brauer and Cohen also had to contend with concerns about runoff and ground-water from the course polluting Wynne Lake and creeks on the property, including those with the marsh marigold.
Thirdly, there was the issue of preserving ancient red pines.
Fourthly, the question of erosion troubled some people.
The answers and responses came step by step:
o To protect the "species of special concern" and ancient red pines, Brauer routed the golf course to stay 100 feet and further away from any of these plants and to keep the trees standing.
"We used to letter our preliminary routing plans A to Z. Here, we ran out of letters," Brauer quipped.
o To address the water-pollution concerns, Environmental & Turf Services conducted extensive studies with computer-simulated models of ground-water percolation and surface runoff.
It was determined that ground-water percolation was unlikely to reach Wynne Lake, or the aquifer, even in the event of a 10-year storm immediately after application of chemicals on the course.
"Giants Ridge was the first course we designed to capture every inch of runoff water," Brauer said. "And it was one of the first ever to install a systematic collection area and provide environmental filters and buffers." Those "buffers" are all natural vegetation or small wetlands, while the "filters" are holding tanks, an item that has since become almost standard in projects built near water.
"We had done other projects like Giants Ridge," said Cohen, "but it had never become so critical, nor had the architect become so intimately involved in the specing of the project. At that point in time, that was one of the most detailed sub-basin-to-sub-basin studies anyone had ever done.
"Here we had concerns about many different sub-basins. Even though there was a lot of property, there wasn't much land to work with, not much wiggle room for Jeff [Brauer]. The whole concern here was to control the amount of pesticides and fertilizers to leave the site. After a high-tech risk assessment, we had minimal concern on the ground-water side and more concern about surface water. We wanted to build filtration basins."
These basins are small wetlands, often just depressed areas, to collect water runoff. They are used to protect the wetlands.
"It gives mother nature a second crack at degrading the pesticides before they move on," Olson said.
"We designed a series of these," Cohen said, "and I was impressed with Jeff's sophistication."
Last summer Cohen and Olson followed up their work
Taking surface grab samples from several locations, they found "some nitrogen but nothing of concern," Cohen said. In a round of testing for pesticides no trace was found."
o To head off any possibility of erosion, construction crews sodded the entire golf course - 600 million square feet at an expense of $750,000 - taking special care to sod all the slopes leading to wetlands.
The icing on the cake has been the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan devised by Environmental & Turf Services and administered by superintendent Solga.
"It is state-of-the-art," said Cohen, who has worked on numerous golf projects in the United States and abroad. "Instead of saying, for instance, if it's May 15 it must be time to apply pesticide X, we enumerated 70 to 80 weeds and disease pests endemic to the area and established thresholds for each. We said, 'You can tolerate a certain amount of these on fairways and greens.' At lowest threshold you do nothing. At the second threshold there are cultural and mechanical things you can do. At the third threshold you apply chemicals."
The management plan was altered - and hand treatment recommended - for certain places close to waterways. Including myriad other topics, such as guidance on building the turfgrass maintenance facility, the plan consumes 80 pages, plus a number of appendices. The water-quality risk assessment alone is more 50 pages.
Using this IPM strategy is one reason Solga was given the national Stewardship Award in February.
"It's a combination of all the things we do here," Solga said. "They [GCSAA] were looking for use of technology, resource conservation in day-to-day maintenance, water-quality management and other management strategies. We use the IPM plan as a tool to develop the different cultural, chemical and agronomic strategies we apply.
"Basically, we are preserving what is here. Rare plants border the facility, or are upstream or downstream. Our biggest challenge is trying to keep what we apply on the site from affecting those plants."
Also, Giants Ridge has a wildlife and habitat program, and education and outreach programs that coexist with them. And this education component is one area that sets Giants Ridge apart from other resorts in the country. As Solga said: "Associations have conferences, but not golf courses."
But EAGL, which manages Giants Ridge, is committed to educating the public, and others in the golf industry, about the environment. And part of its commitment is coordinating and hosting an annual golf course superintendents' conference on environmental topics.
After the recent fourth conference," Solga said, "It seems to be growing, with wider interest."
Adding a second day - for skiing or snowmobile - has not hurt the conference attendance.

Second Golf Course a Unique Challenge

The Quarry Course at Giants Ridge is a different creature altogether than its sister course a mile or two away.
"We took the most disturbed site we could find," Brauer said. "Because of the mandate to reclaim land, part of the selection process was, rather than disturb 'the North Woods experience,' let's reclaim a disturbed site and make it a golf course. The DNR [Minnesota Department of Natural Resources] and other groups let it sail right through. Everyone agrees it is a great use of the land."
According to the IRRRB's Gentile, the 240-acre includes about 200 acres of former gravel mines and another 40 acres of red ore.
"By putting the golf course there," said Solga, "I think they're taking land that basically useless and doing something positive with it... Creating green spaces takes this barren, ugly piece of land and making something beautiful that people and wildlife can use."
Already, he said, the property boasts moose, gray wolf, black bear, deer, coyote, fox, mink, fisher, beaver and bald eagles.
"These gravel pits are old, so they have grown up and there is conifer and disciduous trees and shrubbery," Solga said. "We will add some grasses, wildflowers, different things that would not naturally grow there that will attract various wildlife species."
Brauer said 16 holes of the new course sit on land that was part of the sand quarry. A former iron ore pit lies beside the 17th and 18th holes, which has caused erosion issues because the pit is stocked with trout.
"We had to stabilize the bank below the 18th hole," Brauer said.
The architect is making "minimal attempts to disguise the site's heritage," he said. "There will be remnants of the sand-mining operations. We may bring in a few dredges. There are loading docks and railroad tracks that we will try to leave in place. For instance, we are running a cart path down the 1st hole and will leave rails exposed in the cart path."
The sand quarry will actually be helpful in the construction. The sand will be used to manufacture top soil for the course, Brauer said.
"We told Jeff we wanted this second course to be equal or better than Giants Ridge, yet distinctly different - difficult as that may be," said Gentile. "He promised it would be even better, and I think he will succeed."
"In a lot of ways this course will be even more dramatic," Brauer said. "It is very rugged - and very, very unique."
Unique in more ways than one, for non-golfers.
"Properties like this are becoming very important," said Cohen. "Quite a few mining operations will still be in business for another 30 years or so. But it is clear they are downsizing... But in tourism, it is very busy."
As Gentile pointed out, last year Giants Ridge Golf Course had a net operating profit before its bond payment, of $850,000. The bond payment was $450,000, so the course boasted a net profit of $400,000.
"We are shooting for a spring 2003 opening of The Quarry Course," Gentile said, "but if we open in the fall of 2002, all the better."
"All the opponents are now silent," said Olson, "because a) the sky did not fall; the golf course was built and the environment is doing fine; and b) look at the economy!"
Well, they have silenced nearly all the critics. There was a pollution problem more than 100 miles away, and someone there blamed the course.
And at a public meeting in Biwabik, after spring water tests showed zero pollution from the course, one lady stood up and said: "Couldn't you do better?"
After all the accolades, Brauer said: "No, Mam. We couldn't."<<

If the three national winners of GCSAAs 2001 Environmental Steward Awards had their way, the Golf General Session stage at this month's International Golf Course Conference and Show in Dallas probably wouldn't be large enough.
Although each of the superintendents expressed joy, satisfaction and considerable surprise upon learning their respective golf courses earned the association's coveted environmental honor, they all also regretted that the ESAs unfortunately fail to recognize the big picture and give credit where credit is due.
"It's been addressed as an individual honor, but it's not possible to do this kind of project without the support and work of the full-time maintenance staff here," says Joe McCleary, CGCS at Saddle Rock Golf Course at Aurora, Colo., the national public coarse winner. "That's the biggest key I see in earning something like this - a teamwork effort."
Scott Jorgensen, superintendent at the private course winner, Spanish Hills Golf & Country Club in Camarillo, Calif., adds that his crew members along with other club management officials deserve to join him at the ESA ceremonies at conference and show.
"This award is not for me. The way I see it, it's a team effort. There's a lot of excited people around here, and they should be - they deserve it," Jorgensen says.
And if he had his way, Dave Solga, CGCS at the winning resort course, Giants Ridge Golf & Ski resort, near Biwabik, Minn., would probably charter a bus to Dallas loaded with not only golf course personnel, but a number of state officials as well - all of whom fought hard for eight long years just to see the first spade of earth turned at the environmentally supersensitive venue in the pristine far reaches of northeastern Minnesota.
"So many people worked long and hard to see this project through," Solga says of the legal and environmental issues that had to be overcome before the Giants Ridge course opened a few years ago to state and national acclaim. "We're all pretty happy about this (ESA), I can tell you that."
The praises of teamwork aside, however, the national ESA winners have proven track records in their own rights, and, even though each expressed surprise at the honor, others knowledgeable in the industry were less taken aback.
Solga and Jorgensen both earned ESA plaudits a year ago - the former was a charter winner in the public course category, and Jorgensen garnered a merit award. Although this is McCleary's first foray into the program's application and evaluation process, Saddle Rock - one of three certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary courses run the the city of Aurora - has been noted as an environmental gem ever since it opened in the summer of 1997.
Earning an ESA in different course categories in successive years is rare indeed, but Solga hints that there's more to come from Giants Ridge, which recently became a full-fledged golf and ski resort when it completed construction of a hotel and other amenities. The persevering powers that be at the state-owned facility have launched the creation of a new course, The Quarry, which will be built in and around some oki strip-mining sand and gravel pits in the area.
The most genuinely stunned of all is Jorgensen, a verteran of more than two decades in golf course management who, despite the 2000 merit ESA, points out that Spanish Hills remain a few months away from full Audubon Sanctuary certification. He figured the big prize was a year or two down the road as well.
Along with the national winners, II chapter and IV merit honorees are included in the 2001 ESA. For the ninth consecutive year, the program is being presented by GCSAA in partnership with Syngenia Professional Products, Rain Bird, Textron Golf, Turf & Specialty Products and Pursell Technologies Inc. All will be formally recognized at the Dallas conference and show Feb. 15 during the Golf General Session.
In recognition of the winners, the sponsoring companies will donate nearly $24,000 to the GCSAA Foundation. Since the ESAs began in 1993, participating sponsors have contributed nearly $150,000 to The Foundation.
Once again, the awards were determined by a panel of independent judges comprising agronomists, turfgrass consultants, pesticide and irrigation specialists and representatives from allied golf organizations and environmental groups. Judging emphasized the event to which superintendents address environmental issues and how they are setting examples for the industry in their ongoing efforts to help solidify the future of the game. <<