Page 8 - Green Master summer 2022

uCOVER STORYuBARB MANIFOLD, COMMUNICATIONS AND ADMINISTRATION MANAGER, CGSA
CGSA Welcomes Pierre
Recently elected CGSA President,
Pierre Vezeau, AGS shares his thoughts on the association, how he got started in the business, and his direction for the association.
Like many, Pierre’s introduction into the golf management profession was not really planned. He enjoyed playing golf and was an avid junior golfer. One day, in the summer of 1993, he was hanging out with his brother around the putting green at Cooke Municipal Golf Course, SK, and they were asked if they wanted to help out with “carts and clubs” as the employee working back shop had not shown up for his shift. The next season an opportunity came up to work on the maintenance crew and he made the move.
Pierre says, “It was after a couple of seasons that I started to see myself making this a career. Full disclosure, in the early years I did have my fair share of trouble getting out of bed in the mornings and I’m thankful Bob ‘Bugs’ Gill, the superintendent at the time, was “understanding” to say the least. I had the full support of my parents and they steered me in the direction to obtain some formal education with regards to the industry.”
He continued, “I started attending the week-long Turf Management courses that were offered at Olds College in the mid 90s and upon completing those I enrolled with the University of Guelph and received my Diploma of Horticulture in 1997. In 2004, Bugs took a position within
the organization as the parks manager and it was at that time I was appointed the acting superintendent and in 2007 assumed the position permanently. In 2012, I successfully completed the Accredited Golf Superintendents designation with the CGSA.”
When asked about his mentors and the advice he received from them Pierre replied, “In 2002, there was a group of superintendents from the area attending CGSA’s Fall Field Day at Nicklaus North in Whistler, BC. At the time, I was the assistant at the club and the superintendent was unable to attend so he asked if I was interested in going in his place. It was on that trip where I met Ken Lintott, a superintendent from a course an hour and half down the road from
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