GCSAA Names New President


Certified Golf Course Superintendent Keith A. Ihms, director of grounds maintenance at the Country Club of Little Rock (Ark.), was elected president of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) at the association's annual meeting February 6 in Orlando, Fla.

Ihms has been with the Country Club of Little Rock since 2005. Previously, he was superintendent at Bent Tree Country Club in Dallas; Pine Forest Country Club in Houston; Walden on Lake Houston Golf and Country Club in Humble, Texas; and Golf Crest Country Club in Pearland, Texas.

A 33-year GCSAA member, Ihms is a member of the Arkansas GCSA and a past president of the Lone Star GCSA, the North Texas GCSA and the South Texas GCSA. He is also a member and past president of the Texas Turfgrass Association and a member of the USGA Green Section Committee. A native of Llano, Texas, Ihms graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in Agronomy.

John J. O'Keefe, CGCS, the director of golf course management at Preakness Hills Country Club in Wayne, N.J., was elected vice president, and Peter J. Grass, CGCS, the superintendent at Hilands Golf Club in Billings, Mont., was elected secretary/treasurer.

Bill H. Maynard, CGCS at St. Albans Country Club in St. Louis, and Rafael Barajas, CGCS at Hacienda Golf Club in La Habra Heights, Calif., were elected to two-year terms on the board of directors. Mark F. Jordan, CGCS, natural resource leader at Westfield Group Country Club in Westfield Center, Ohio, was appointed by the board to fill the remaining year of Grass' two-year term as a director.

Darren J. Davis, the superintendent at Olde Florida Golf Club in Naples, Fla., and John R. Fulling Jr., CGCS at Kalamazoo (Mich.) Country Club, remain on the board with one year remaining in their two-year director terms.

Patrick R. Finlen, CGCS, general manager at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif., will serve on the board for one year as immediate past president. Sandy G. Queen, CGCS, manager of golf course operations for the city of Overland Park (Kan.), retires from the board after serving the last year as immediate past president.

The above report is courtesy of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. For more information, visit www.gcsaa.org.