Many years after my first run as President back in the 90’s, I am honored to once again be writing a GCGCSA President’s message. The message hasn’t changed much, but the industry has changed a lot.

We’ve been through the technology era, and we now face the A.I. era.  Electric mowers, autonomous mowers and many other great inventions are headed our way making life easier … or perhaps more complicated? Time will tell. The one entity that has not changed is our wonderful volunteers who have kept this organization going over the years.  They are the backbone of this great industry!

I would be remiss if I didn’t begin by acknowledging Tony Dierkers, first and foremost.  Over the past several years Tony has filled the role of Chapter Administrator and filled it well, leading us through the pandemic and steering our ship when we needed him most.  We are thankful for his guidance, dedication, time, and talent throughout the years.

I also want to thank our entire board for the past year.  They’ve been instrumental in putting on our educational events, scholarship tournaments, etc. Special thanks to our last two past presidents, Scott LesChandler and Tim Kelley.

As we look forward to 2024, we have some new faces on the board.  Most importantly we have hired a new Chapter Administrator. Effective January 1, we will be managed by the Greater Cincinnati Golf Association, in particular Todd Johnson (Director of GCGA) and Dave Miller who will be working with us hand in hand. More details about this venture are to come in the upcoming months. Each of these gentlemen brings a vast amount of experience and knowledge. More importantly, we are bringing the region’s golf stakeholders under one umbrella. This will be a new beginning for us.  Exciting changes are to come, and we look forward to growing as a chapter similar to the way the GCGA grows the game of golf.

Finally, we rely on you, our members, to support the organization. It’s what keeps us solvent and allows us to promote our profession to the masses. We will also be communicating our sponsorship opportunities and promoting our upcoming events to our industry partners. We will rely on our fellow Superintendents to host meetings and I personally challenge you to consider hosting a meeting or event which may consist of education, golf, or social. We have had many great folks host us in the past and we are looking forward to the next great group to host us in the future. We are currently looking for a scholarship outing venue, fall superintendents’ championship venue, and fall education venue. Please contact me or a board member for more details about hosting.

Thanks,

Dan Walter