The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) has selected Kevin Doyle as the association’s field staff representative for the Northeast region (New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Ontario) effective March 13. He will be based out of Milford, N.H.
Doyle, a GCSAA Class A member, comes to GCSAA after having served as golf course superintendent at Londonderry (N.H.) Country Club since 2003. During his time, he instituted several facility changes including drainage, design and grow-in of new golf holes and tees, irrigation improvements, and development of best management practices for minimizing inputs. He also served as superintendent at Amherst (N.H.) Country Club and was an assistant at Green Meadow Golf Club in Hudson, N.Y.
A graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1995 with a B.S. in biochemistry, Boyle also earned a master’s in business administration from Southern New Hampshire University in 2010. He has authored articles in various trade magazines, including GCSAA’s GCM (Doing More with Less: a Statistical Analysis of fertilizer costs, December 2011). Doyle has also volunteered as the facilities director and facilities expansion chair for the Milford Community Athletic Association, the Lowell Professional Hockey Booster Club president and a coach for Kids in Disability Sports (golf).
“We are pleased to have Kevin join the GCSAA team and continue the implementation of the very popular field staff program,” said GCSAA President Sandy Queen, CGCS. “Kevin has an impressive background with a great knowledge and understanding of facility management, volunteerism and professional development. He will be a great asset to GCSAA, and our members and chapters in the Northeast.”
To assist in the effort of serving members through chapters, GCSAA has continually added resources to facilitate an enhanced relationship between the association and its chapters, including the expansion of the GCSAA field staff program. Initially a pilot program designed to help chapters utilize GCSAA programs and services to a fuller extent, it has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from chapters that are staffed with representatives. These chapters report a greater connection with GCSAA, an enhanced ability to utilize GCSAA programs and services, and access to additional resources to advance chapters in a strategic manner.
In expanding the field staff program, GCSAA divided its chapters into nine regions with plans to place a field staff representative in each. Having resident field staff resources on the ground will help chapters implement programs developed by GCSAA, and will serve as a direct communication link back to GCSAA to share the successful practices chapters have implemented. The program is designed to be mutually beneficial for the association and its chapters.
GCSAA’s resident field staff representatives include John Miller, CGCS, in the Great Lakes Region (Kentucky, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio), Brian Cloud in the South Central Region (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico and Louisiana), Jeff Jensen in the Southwest region of the country (California, Hawaii, Nevada and Arizona), and Ralph Dain in Florida. GCSAA plans to fill the Northwest (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado), the Southeast (Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi) and Mid-Atlantic (Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia) regions later in 2012; and the Central Plains region (Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri) in 2013.