Stanwich’s Scott Niven Receives Sherwood A. Moore Award

ELMSFORD, N.Y. (January 20, 2010) – Dave Oatis, the Director of the Northeast Region of the USGA Green Section, received the Metropolitan Golf Course Superintendents Association’s 20th John Reid Lifetime Acheivement Award at the Association’s Winter Seminar on January 20 at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. Also honored was Stanwich Club superintendent Scott Niven, who was given the Sherwood A. Moore Award, the Met GCSA’s highest honor.

Oatis has been the Director of the Northeastern Region since February 1990. He joined the staff early in 1988 as an agronomist in the Green Section's Mid-Atlantic Region. A native of Indianapolis, Oatis attended California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, Calif., where he received a B.S. degree in Ornamental Horticulture with special emphasis in turfgrass management. Prior to working at the USGA Green Section, Oatis was the superintendent for three years at Rio Hondo Country Club in Downey, Calif., and the assistant golf course superintendent at Mesa Verde Country Club in Costa Mesa, Calif., for five years. In addition to conducting more than 100 club visits visits annually and coordinating the activities of three regional agronomists, he has authored numerous articles on turfgrass management and has lectured extensively in the United States. He has been an active participant and featured speaker at a number of MGA Foundation Green Chairmen Seminars and Presidents Councils.

 

Scott Niven, the superintendent at the Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Conn., was presented with the Sherwood A. Moore Award, which honors those who have “advanced the image, status and reputation of the golf course superintendent.” Niven fits that description to a tee. He has served as Stanwich’s superintendent since 1983 after stints at Saint Andrew’s Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., and Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, N.Y. He has been an active participant with the Met GCSA, serving on the Association’s board of directors for 11 years and as president in 1988-89. He is also the immediate past president of the Tri-State Turfgrass Research Foundation and a member of their board of directors. In addition, Niven has served on the USGA Reasearch Committee and has been published in a number of industry magazines. As a member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America for 31 years, he has served on its Research Committee and has spoken at five of the GCSAA’s national conferences.

 

For more information please contact Bob Nielsen (bnielsen@mgagolf.org) or Greg Midland (gmidland@mgagolf.org) at the MGA office, 914-347-4653.