Landscape Architect Articles

Peter Grass Elected President of GCSAA02-24-16 | Association News

Peter Grass Elected President of GCSAA
Officers and Board Members Elected at Annual Meeting

The GCSAA, a golf course management organization, has announced that Peter Grass has been elected association president for 2016.

Peter Grass, golf course superintendent at Hilands Golf Club in Billings, Mont., has been elected to a one-year term as president of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA).

Mr. Grass, a certified golf course superintendent (CGCS), served as vice president of the association in 2015 and has been a member of the association's board of directors since 2009. A 31-year member of GCSAA, Grass is also a member and past president of the Peaks and Prairies Golf Course Superintendents Association, one of 98 GCSAA regional chapters.

A native of Mankato, Minn., the 56-year-old Grass earned a bachelor's degree from Eastern Montana College in Billings. He succeeds John J. O'Keefe, CGCS and director of golf course management at Preakness Hills Country Club in Wayne, N.J., who served as president for 2015. O'Keefe will continue on the board as immediate past president.

"A lot of people have told me how cool they think it is that someone from a 9-hole facility can serve on the board of directors and become president of the association," Grass said. "If I can convince others that they too can benefit from being a GCSAA member, than I'll consider my year in office to be a success."

Other elected officers include Bill H. Maynard, CGCS and director of golf course maintenance operations at Country Club of St. Albans near St. Louis, as vice president, and Darren J. Davis, CGCS and superintendent at Olde Florida Golf Club in Naples, Fla., as secretary/treasurer. John Walker, director of golf course maintenance at Bentwater Yacht and Country Club in Montgomery, Texas, was appointed to complete the one-year remaining on Davis' two-year term.

Kevin P. Breen, CGCS and golf course superintendent at La Rinconada Country Club in Los Gatos, Calif., was elected to the board after serving in 2015 as an appointee. He was elected to a two-year position along with Rafael Barajas, CGCS and director of golf course operations at Boca Grove Plantation in Boca Raton, Fla.

Others continuing service on the nine-member board are John R. Fulling Jr., CGCS and grounds and facilities manager at Kalamazoo Country Club in Michigan; and Mark F. Jordan, CGCS and natural resources leader at Westfield Group Country Club in Westfield Center, Ohio.

In addition, delegates voted to approve revisions to the Class A member standards and passed 11 changes to the bylaws, which included a new definition of Class A and renaming the Superintendent Member class to Class B.

Association news and events are listed at landscapearchitect.com. To view the calendar of upcoming events, visit the "Event Search Center" on landscapearchitect.com.

If your association has news and/or events that you would like featured on landscapearchitect.com, please send your information via email to associations@landscapearchitect.com.