An overview of the GCSAA’s centennial celebration

A 100th anniversary doesn’t happen often, so when it does, better treat it right.

That is what GCSAA plans on doing at the Centennial Celebration, scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 3, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at ICON Park in Orlando during the association’s annual conference and trade show. It’ll be a different kind of party than ever before — bringing together all attendees at one location instead of spread out at various receptions and parties. 

“We’re going to kick it off with a great party where all the industry can come together — not just the superintendents, the assistants and the mechanics, but also all our partners — in one location,” says Rhett Evans, CEO, GCSAA. 

ICON Park, billed as “Orlando’s ultimate entertainment destination,” is located near the Orange County Convention Center and features 40 attractions for attendees. Blake Shelton’s Ole Red offers southern food and live music. Uncle Julio’s offers fresh Tex-Mex and margaritas. Tin Roof is an American dive bar with a juke joint feel.  

“It’s a plaza area, a central park and 12 various restaurants,” Evans says. “Many of these have been rented out by exhibitors, and they’ll be open to all who attend.”

T.A. Barker, CGCS, president of GCSAA, is excited to see it all come together during his presidency. He says the Centennial Celebration will offer entertainment for all attendees, including children.

“It’s great because we’ve brought everyone together instead of separated by various parties held by the individual vendors,” Barker says. “This will be a great way to kick off the 100-year celebration of GCSAA; with our partners and our members and our families all together in one location.”

A 100-year journey

GCSAA was founded on Sept. 13, 1926, at Sylvania Country Club in Toledo, Ohio. At that first meeting, a group of 60 superintendents was brought together by Col. John Morley, who was the greenskeeper at Youngstown (Ohio) Country Club. Since that meeting 100 years ago, the association has grown to more than 20,000 members from around the world.

“It comes along once in a lifetime. It’s a great opportunity to recognize our roots,” Evans says. “From day one with Col. John Morley, we’ve grown and become a much stronger organization with a lot more members.”

GCSAA has been planning this anniversary for a long time now. A committee of past GCSAA presidents, along with younger members, was formed and has been plotting how the celebration will unfold over the course of the year. It starts at ICON Park and culminates at GCSAA headquarters in Lawrence, Kan., in September, when a new statue will be unveiled next to Old Tom Morris — a statue of Col. John Morley.

And then, it’s on to the next 100 years.

“When I got elected to the board, I didn’t think about it that in eight years, I can hand off the gavel and pass it off for the next 100 years,” Barker says. “It’s really an honor.”

More to look for

While the Centennial Celebration certainly has our attention (Golfdom elected not to host its own party this year to respect the event), many more classes and events have caught our eye. Here are just a few:

• The Making Artificial Intelligence (AI) Work Intelligently for You! class is sure to be a hit. Presented by Brent Downs, CGCS, MG, from Otter Creek Golf Course in Indiana, this session will discuss how turf professionals can use ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and GreenKeeper to streamline their workload daily.
• The GCSAA Golf Scramble takes place on the Palmer Course at Reunion Resort. This is the same course where the magazine regularly hosts its Golfdom Summit scramble and has become a staff favorite. Superintendent Andy Maguire and his team keep the course in pristine condition (it’s the same course featured on this month’s cover). As of press time, there was still room in the scramble.
• Friends of Golfdom Jared Viarengo, CGCS, and James Brecker will present Modern Golf Course Maintenance Facility: Applebrook Turf Care Case Study and share how they developed an effective program to make the process of building a new maintenance facility as seamless as possible. Hailing from Malvern, Pa., the duo will share the impressive results with their new turf care center and what they did to get stakeholder buy-in and manage construction logistics. 
• Finally, we’re excited to share the following special section — useful for both GCSAA Conference & Trade Show attendees and those who must miss — of more than a dozen products that will be showcased at the conference. In this year’s Hot List, we share Q&As with some of the most innovative problem solvers in the industry to learn how their products can make superintendents successful.

The staff at Golfdom magazine hopes to see everyone at ICON Park to help celebrate 100 years of GCSAA. And then, get ready for another milestone in 2027 when the GCSAA Conference & Trade Show makes its return to New Orleans, where we’ll be celebrating a 100-year anniversary of our own. 

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