Melbourne, Australia: Sustainability will be the theme of Chris Gray’s presentations at next week’s GMA & ASTMA Conference and Trade Exhibition.
Head of Sustainable Golf and Agronomy – Asia-Pacific at The R&A and President of the Asian Golf Industry Federation, Gray will address attendees at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Tuesday on the subject of The R&A’s Golf Course 2030.
He’ll return to the podium twice on Wednesday, first to present on Sustainable Agronomy and subsequently as part of a panel session.
Titled Finding Common Ground, the discussion will centre on key issues affecting general managers and course superintendents. The session will be facilitated by Mark Unwin, CEO of the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association (ASTMA), and Paul Vardy, Chief Executive of Golf Management Australia (GMA).
Golf Course 2030 was established by The R&A in 2018 to address the challenges posed by climate change, resource constraints and regulation on golf course conditioning and playability and to provide best practice in sustainability to those working in golf course management.
Seven organisations received grant awards over a four-year period to run sustainability projects and develop solutions that can be shared with golf course managers, greenkeepers and organisations involved in the maintenance and conditioning of golf facilities around the world.
Supported by principal partners Schweppes and Toro Australia the 2022 GMA & ASTMA Conference and Trade Exhibition is being billed as Australia’s largest ever golf industry conference and trade exhibit with more than 1,000 delegates from clubs and facilities throughout Australia expected to attend.
“This is a natural collaboration. By combining the highly successful GMA and ASTMA conferences into one big event, we can offer an even greater array of topics and speakers as well as an amazing chance to broaden the networking and knowledge sharing with our industry,” said Vardy.
Unwin added: “The approach to partnering with GMA will ensure that the relationship between sports turf managers and general managers continues to strengthen.
“To meet the service and turf expectations placed on golf clubs and facilities takes a team effort. We’re excited to have golf industry team leaders at this combined event, learning and networking together.”
The conference will focus on the knowledge needed to meet the future needs of golf management with sessions on leadership, sustainability, new practices and innovation.
Conference topics will run concurrently with streams in leadership and management, golf course and sports fields as well as combined workshops, panel sessions and networking events.
Showcasing the latest in golf related products, equipment and services, the trade exhibit will cover more than 5,000 square metres, a scale never before seen in Australia.