Dear ESAGCS Members,
The ESAGCS Board and I would like to thank you for your continued membership and sponsorship of the ESAGCS. It is truly our pleasure to serve you, our members!
We have an exciting 2026 Events Calendar for this coming year. I encourage you to add these dates to your calendar. We would also like to thank the hosting clubs and Superintendents that are opening their doors to us this season.
2026 Events Calendar
March 24 – Eagle Sponsor Social – Southern Delaware Golf Club
April 21 – The Masters – Bear Trap Dunes – Mike Moyer
May 26 – Chesapeake Challenge – Queenstown Harbor – John Anderes, Nick Brandt, Jason Neal
June 30 – June Jam – Wild Quail Golf & Country Club – Jon Bryson
August 18 – Crab Feast and Silent Auction – Hog Neck Golf Course – Owen Sutherland
TBD – Member/Guest – Talbot CC – Derek Haley
ESAGCS Conference and Golf – Ocean City, Hilton Garden Inn Oceanfront – Glen Riddle – Butch Howard
The ESAGCS Board will be focusing on several exciting initiatives this year that will improve our membership value, increase membership and provide additional value to all our industry sponsors. These initiatives include:
- Update and improve our social media presence so that we can properly market our associations impact in our business and community, highlight our members, share our incredible charitable contributions, announce our scholarship winners, share event information/pictures, and promote our membership’s environmental stewardship.
- Provide new pathways for continued education, camaraderie, and inclusion of our Equipment Managers and Assistant Superintendents.
- Adding new events for our members and their families to come together, including potentially a Delmarva Shorebirds baseball game this summer.
Social Media and Website Improvements
I would like to thank Jordan Kalasky and Mike Johnston for heading up our social media efforts. They will be focusing on updating and enhancing our website, X (Twitter), and Facebook pages so that the accomplishments and contributions of our membership and association reach our community. Please share with them your pictures from events as well as any information that you believe promotes your contributions to our industry and honors the core values of our association.
Financials
As discussed at our annual meeting during the ESAGCS Educational Conference, our association is in very good financial shape. However, our expenses continue to rise on an annual basis. This year, we will be adding a 3.5% surcharge to all credit card transactions to cover the associated expenses we incur with those transactions. We continue to encourage everyone to use credit cards when possible.
Sponsorship fees will increase by 5% across all options for the 2026 season. This increase will help to navigate rising costs and expenses. As we continue to expand our association and its events, we hope that you will see a return on this increase.
Seeking Equipment Manager and Assistant Superintendent Liaisons to the Board
We are very excited to announce that we will be adding an Equipment Manager liaison as well as an Assistant Superintendent liaison to our board this year! These liaisons will assist our board in enhancing the membership value for our EM and ASGS members. The long-range goal for these liaisons will be to help develop in-season educational and social/golf events specific to their category as well as increase membership. We are now accepting nominations and volunteers for the liaison positions, and we encourage you to communicate this exciting opportunity with your team members. We will send out separate emails in early March with the voting ballots so that we can announce our new liaisons at the April golf tournament and begin working on these initiatives.
Thank You to Joe Perry
During our winter meetings, Joe Perry announced that he will be stepping down from his leadership role on the conference committee. Joe has been a member of our association for the past 36 years and has been a main contributor to the yearly organization and success of our conference for the past 19 years. The conference requires a tremendous amount of planning including securing hotels, golf courses, speakers, entertainment, and securing valuable credits toward state pesticide and nutrient management requirements as well as GCSAA credits. Please, join me in thanking Joe for all he has done for our association in his role on the conference committee. Thank you to Tom Tipton – CGCS and Chris Fronczek for volunteering to help the Board plan this year’s Conference.
I would also like to thank John Bartlett for his continued commitment to excellence as he serves our association and membership. We constantly receive great feedback about John, and he is vital to our association’s success. We are in great hands, and we appreciate his many contributions.
Additional thanks to all the Board members that donate their valuable time and energy to serving our association. Without volunteers our association would fail to exist.
Lastly, our Board of Directors and I look forward to seeing you at our events this year. I wish all of you and your staff a very happy, healthy and successful 2026 season!
Sincerely,
Ryan Howard
ESAGCS President
