One of the sessions this week at the Georgia Environmental Conference was titled “Golf Course BMPs”. The speakers were Chris Steigelman, President of the GA Chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) at the Landings Club, Scott Griffith at the UGA Golf Course, Gary L. Hawkins, UGA Crop and Soil Sciences with Cliff Lewis, GA EPD moderating. Also there was the GCSAA Executive Director Tenia Workman.

Chris explaining how he uses the BMP Manual he developed for the Landings Club
Scott telling how the BMP Manuals can hopefully help people “Be Curious, Not Judgmental”
Gary discussing how protecting the soil is also helping the water

The speakers discussed how the National GCSAA BMP Manual Template was developed a few years ago for use by all State Associations and courses, how the national manual template was customized for Georgia, how golf course superintendents can tailor a BMP Manual specific to their course using the template, how the GA Chapter of the GCSAA is working to try and get all courses in Georgia to get a BMP Manual for their course, and how a few of the courses developed and are using their manual to protect water and soil resources. The GA Chapter of GCSAA is starting a series of workshops around Georgia to assist superintendents who have not developed a BMP Manuals on the steps of how to get started in developing a manual for their course. The BMP Manual Template walks the superintendent through the major BMPs that can be implemented in 12 different major categories with Planning, Irrigation, and Surface Water Management to name a few.

To learn more about the work of the Georgia Chapter of the GCSAA click on the link.