The nation’s largest regional event for golf course superintendents just grew a little larger. This year’s Carolinas GCSA Conference and Trade Show in Myrtle Beach, SC set new highs in all major categories but one.
More people attended seminars, saw more exhibit booths and competed in the annual golf championship than ever before. Not surprisingly that pushed gross revenues to a new high as well. The sole exception to the upward trend was in the number of individual companies present, down six from the previous record of 221 set before the recession took hold in 2008.
“We know we have a great product that presents great value at a great time of year for superintendents in the Southeast and it seems like the word continues to spread,” Carolinas GCSA executive director Tim Kreger says. “But still I shake my head at how we continue to grow. It’s a good indicator that the golf industry, in the Carolinas at least, is back on solid footing.”
Underlining Kreger’s point is that the Carolinas show came just three months before the 2020 Golf Industry Show in Orlando, FL. Historically, there has been a drag on Carolinas numbers when GIS rotates to Orlando every three years. But not so this year.
Related: Carolinas Golf Superintendents Make Conference and Show Decision
The annual golf championship presented in partnership with Smith Turf and Irrigation kicked off the week with 369 golfers competing across three courses, up on the previous high of 344 in 2015. The total of 1,379 seminar seats bettered the 2014 benchmark of 1,357. And overall attendance of 2020 was two more than 2008 high.
Terry English from Kiawah Island Resort’s Oak Point course won the golf championship with a one-under-par round of 71 at True Blue Plantation.
In other highlights from the three-day event:
Next year’s Carolinas GCSA Conference and Show is in Myrtle Beach from November 15 to 17.
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