This weekend is one of the most important weekends in the golf industry. I’m not referring to the Par 3, 16th Hole at the Phoenix Open, with the stadium-effect in full volume, and thousands of beer guzzling golf fans trying to be the one “Baba Booey” that the viewers at home hear, ushering in the beginning of a hopeful PGA Tour season.
The Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida hosts the annual Golf Industry Trade Show, and the joint conferences of the Golf Course Superintendent Association of America and the National Golf Course Owners Association from Saturday, February 3rd through Thursday, February 9th.
Golf Course Superintendents from around the nation gather to learn how to make grass grow, how best to manage the staff that grows the grass, how to navigate the ever-burgeoning governmental and environmental rules impacting grass growing, and how to mow the heck out of that grass after it grows.
Owners, meanwhile, will learn how to improve their marketing strategies for a digital age, hear case studies of the successes and failures from the NFL that can be applied to course ownership, and they’ll probably play some golf, as well!
The Golf of Maine 