Page 20 - english winter 2017

Little Known Fact
In 1997 when the decision was made to move from an 8 page newsletter to the full colour 68 page magazine, a well-respect managing editor in Ottawa cautioned to Jeff, 3are you sure that you will have enough valuable content to fill that many pages for each edition?2 Well, 20 years and 84 editions later, the answer is ABSOLUTELY!
$1,ooo,o
IN SavINgS & CouNtINg
The Golfmax Purchasing Program celebrates 25 years of supplier partnerships that save NGCOA Canada members millions each year.
Members usually recover their entire membership dues through the savings of just one supplier. There is no fee to access Golfmax! As a member of NGCOA Canada, your course is automatically entitled to the benefits and savings through Golfmax.
LOOKING BACK
When the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada was still just an idea, group purchasing power was at the heart of the concept. How could independently owned golf facilities group their purchasing power together, to negotiate better pricing on products
and services needed to successfully operate their businesses? This question was the driving force behind the creation of Golfmax.
Beginning with just a handful of programs, founding President Mark Seabrook, of the Canadian Golf & Country Club, alongside Jeff Calderwood, crisscrossed the country promoting the concept of group purchasing for the Canadian golf industry.
The NGCOA Canada developed its first supplier partner agreement with ECG Propane in 1992. Starting out with a simple bulk fuel program, the NGCOA Canada quickly saw a demand for additional programs that could help members cut operating costs within every department of their operations. The savings through just one of these early programs
made the decision to join the NGCOA Canada an economically sound decision for Canadian operators.
Golfmax accelerated the NGCOA Canada’s membership growth several 100% a year. By the fall of 1997, under the banner of Golfmax Canada Inc., the NGCOA Canada boasted 18 unique supplier programs that included Rain Bird International, the longest serving supplier partner who remains a key partner in our Golfmax Purchasing Program today. Fred Sherman, National Golf Manager of Rain Bird reflects on that partnership:
“Looking back to when Rain Bird first joined the Golfmax Purchasing Program, 24 years ago, there have been significant changes. In 1993, computers, if you had one, were running on DOS,
20Golf Business Canada