Aquatrols Conservation Award

Earlier this month our course was awarded the inaugural Aquatrols Conservation Award for the wildlife habitat management programs we have undertaken over the years on the golf course.  We are very grateful to Aquatrols for this award and for the recognition of our environmental stewardship projects.  It is our belief that golf course management and environmental stewardship go hand in hand and in all honesty it just makes the job more fun and interesting.

I would like to thank Mr. Steve Fasano of Aquatrols for being so gracious in his comments and his time in presenting us with the Conservation Award. Each year Aquatrols sponsors the Golf Course Industry magazine Super Social Media Awards at the annual Golf Industry Show.  The Super Social Media awards are presented to golf courses for their use of twitter, blogs, videos, and other forms of media which get the word out of all the great work being done on their course.

Whether it is our Harrison Bay Eagle Cam project or our Mallard Duck Nesting Tubes or our Wild Turkey Feeders or our wood duck boxes or Establishing Native Grass Areas they are all done to enhance the golf course, to provide nesting and brooding  areas and to help promote the fact that golf courses can be, and are, safe and suitable habitats for a multitude of birds and wildlife.

It has been a busy winter with many improvements made to the course and we are ready to get going with the growing season.  It seems quite early but Spring has sprung at Harrison Bay with the trees blooming and the greens coming out of dormancy.  We hope this is the start to a great golfing season for all and we hope all will come out and enjoy the great weather and all the hard work that we will be putting into the course.

It's A SOCIAL World After All

First off let me apologize if you now have that song running through your head, not my intent.  If you didn't already I'm sure you do now, and again, sorry.  We do live in a social world now however, but now it is a "social media" world.  The days of club newsletters being mailed out to members is most likely a thing of the past.  Members/golfers want information now, instantly, which has changed the way superintendents and golf professionals communicate with their members and golfers.

We try to use a lot of different social media outlets because we realize that not everyone uses the same resources and each one has its own unique purpose.  Our Facebook site The Bear Trace @ Harrison Bay gives a detailed view of what is going on at the course.  Our Twitter account @BearTraceHB allows us to give instant information about course conditions and activities.  Our website www.tngolftrail.net provides information on our golf course and the other courses along the Tennessee Golf Trail in a broader, more in depth format.  We are also on Vine at Bear Trace HB, Instagram at beartracehb, and of course this blog, which we love to keep up to date.

We have all these information outlets to try and educate and inform our golfers and we did not expect our efforts to gain national recognition but it has.  Today we received official notification, by the one and only Pat Jones, that we have been selected to receive the Dr. John Kaminski Leadership Award from Golf Course Industry Magazine and Aquatrols at this years Super Social Media Awards in San Diego.  We are very grateful and humbled that our work has been recognized and are really looking forward to the #GCITWEETUP16.

Social media sites are a great way to get YOUR word out about changes or improvements to the course, course closures for weather or cultural practices, or to announce upcoming tournaments or outings.  If you don't already utilize this free way to promote your golf course and yourself I would strongly encourage you to consider it.