Green Night benefits The Institute, honors superintendents and welcomes all GCSAA members. "Green Night at Camelback," Sept. 29 at the Golf Inc. Fall Conference at Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, Ariz., will feature a silent and live auction with all proceeds benefiting The Environmental Institute for Golf. Golf Inc. will also honor the winners of its first annual Green Awards and its 20 Most Admired Operators for 2008, which includes GCSAA members José Quesada; Ray Davies, CGCS; and Bob Farren, CGCS. All GCSAA members are invited to attend “Green Night” for free, as well as the Remodeling University presented by the American Society of Golf Course Architects, 11 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Sept. 29. In addition, members may attend the entire conference for half price (online registration code GCSAA50, or contact Donna Canale at 858-300-3204). This three-day event, Sept. 29-Oct. 1, allows golf course managers, developers and owners to network, innovate and share ideas. GCSAA CEO Mark Woodward, CGCS, will give a keynote presentation on the lessons he learned from hosting the 2008 U.S. Open, his new role at GCSAA and the future of golf worldwide. Read more about GCSAA's participation.

Beware of nonofficial Golf Industry Show housing providers. It has recently come to our attention that unofficial travel companies are misrepresenting themselves as official housing agencies of the GCSAA Education Conference and the Golf Industry Show. The official travel agency is Golf Industry Travel. We do not know how these companies harvest attendee telephone numbers and e-mail addresses because GCSAA does not publish this information. Please be aware of these nonofficial companies and bring any questionable solicitations to our attention

Members featured on LPGA.com. As part of the Tour agronomist agreement with the LPGA, GCSAA has the opportunity to provide content to the LPGA Web site. The second of these articles, "Greening the greens," is now on LPGA.com and features the environmental efforts of event host superintendents and GCSAA members Dan Miller, from Half Moon Bay (Calif.) Golf Links, and Robert Wilson, from RiverTowne CC in Mount Pleasant, S.C.

Renovated course ready for Tour Championship. Ralph Kepple, CGCS, reopens East Lake GC in Atlanta for The PGA Tour Championship presented by Coca-Cola, Sept. 25-28. The year-long renovation included replacing the bentgrass greens with MiniVerde, an ultradwarf bermudagrass better suited for Georgia's hot summers. In 2007, when the championship moved up almost two months in the schedule, there was not enough time for the bentgrass greens to adequately recover from Atlanta's hottest summer on record and a drought as well. The drought continues today as the state has restricted East Lake's water use 35 percent. The Georgia GCSA has been working with state government to ease water restrictions for the golf industry and assist facilities with best management practices for water use. For more on the renovations at East Lake, read GCM’s Q&A with Kepple, "Man on a mission."