We just returned from the 2026 Golf Course Superintendent’s Association of America annual trade show in Orlando in which they celebrated their 100th year (that’s us in the far left corner behind John Deere). It was a great show, our best ever. We love Orlando anyway because it is only two hours from our factory. The convention center is the easiest move in and out. They have far and away the best selection and quality of food of any convention center I have been too. Most of all, every employee was polite and helpful, and that can’t be an accident.

In case you didn’t notice, we introduced two new models, the 7000C and 7000S and we had our biggest booth ever to celebrate the event. We also had the honor of sponsoring the Equipment Managers’ lounge adjacent to our booth, serving up pastries, juice and coffee in the morning and sliders and beer in the afternoon.

We also had the honor of co-sponsoring the Equipment Manager Event which included the Equipment Manager Achievement Reception sponsored by R & R and the SIP Sponsored CTEM Class of 2025 Recognition which awarded the CTEM certificates to all of the new graduates.

Of course, Mike’s presentation of Cutline is King was sold out a month before the show with 108 people plus standing room only in the back.

Mike also released Episode 5 of The Daily Grind featuring Jerry Kara, CTEM, Equipment Manager at The Dye Course at White Oak. If you get a chance, you should watch all five episodes. I also tried my hand at videography with SIP, A Short History which you can see here.

We designed the booth to be fun and it featured Grindzilla’s replacement, Optimus Grind, a 1920s Ideal Grinder and our 1950 Ford F1 with the original Fate-Root-Heath logo. In case you don’t know, they founded what was then the SIP Grinders division (all explained in A Short History).

To keep the fun going, we had our Grinder Gurus there and shut down the factory on Thursday so all of our employees could come to the show.

We were also proud that another one of our own, John Patterson, won the Edwin Budding Award.

It was a little bitter sweet as the show was also a retirement party for Larry who was our western regional manager for 22 years and this last year he developed the position of Phone Tech Support Wizard which I am proud to announce has been taken over by the one and only Hector Velazquez.

We had a truly great show and I want to thank everyone who made it happen.