Olympic Club’s Patrick R. Finlen, CGCS, elected president of national golf association

Certified Golf Course Superintendent Patrick R. Finlen, director of golf maintenance operations at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif., since 2002, was elected president of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) at the association’s annual meeting Feb. 7 in San Diego, Calif.

The annual meeting was held in conjunction with the GCSAA Education Conference (Feb. 4-8) and Golf Industry Show (Feb. 6-7).

Finlen’s election continues a busy schedule for him as this past summer he hosted the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club’s Lake Course and completed a renovation of its Ocean Course. A graduate of Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo., Finlen cut his teeth in the business in Kansas City at Lake Quivira Golf and Country Club, and has stops in Virginia and at the Bayonet and Black Horse Courses (1998-2001) in Seaside, Calif. He is a past recipient of the Superintendent of the Year award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Northern California, a GCSAA affiliated chapter. A GCSAA member for 27 years, Finlen is a member and past president of both the California GCSA and the GCSA of Northern California. He is also a past president of the Heart of America GCSA.

Keith A. Ihms, CGCS at Country Club of Little Rock (Ark.) was elected vice president, and John J. O’Keefe, CGCS, director of golf course management at Preakness Hills Country Club in Wayne, N.J., was elected secretary/treasurer.

Peter J. Grass, CGCS at Hilands Golf Club in Billings, Mont., was re-elected to a two-year term, and Darren J. Davis GCSAA Class A member at Olde Florida Golf Club in Naples, Fla., was elected to a two-year term after serving a one year appointment last year. Newly elected to the board was John R. Fulling Jr., CGCS at Kalamazoo (Mich.) Country Club.

Bill H. Maynard, CGCS, St. Alban’s Country Club in St. Louis, Mo., and Rafael Barajas, CGCS, at Hacienda Golf Club in La Habra Heights, Calif., remain on the board with one year remaining in their two-year director terms. Sandy G. Queen, CGCS, manager of golf operations for the city of Overland Park, Kan., will serve on the board for one year as immediate past president. Robert M. Randquist, CGCS, from Boca Rio Golf Club in Boca Raton, Fla., retires from the board after serving the last year as immediate past president.