Gordon Witteveen was born in the Netherlands and attended the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, Ontario. During summer vacations he developed a love for golf while working at the Noranda Mines GC in the province of Quebec. Upon graduation from college he became superintendent at the Highland CC near London, Ontario, and after three years moved on to Toronto as Superintendent at the former Northwood Country Club for 12 years. Since 1973 he has been at the 45 hole Board of Trade course in the village of Woodbridge near Toronto.
Gordon Witteveen helped start the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association in 1965 and served as that association's first secretary. He initiated
The Green Masters magazine and served as its editor for five years. In 1970 he was President of the Canadian group. He has also served on the Board of Directors of GCSAA and is still active in the OJ Noer Turfgrass Research Foundation.
Gordon is well known for his many presentations at turfgrass meetings all over the world. His best known presentation is "25 Years of Mistake." He writes regularly for several magazines and is a past Leo Feser award winner of
Golf Course Management magazine.
Michael Bavier grew up in a small Minnesota town called Willmar. He developed his love for golf as a caddie at the Willmar Golf Club and later worked on the grounds crew while attending high school. After graduating from Penn State College he did his internship under warren Bidwell at the Olympia Fields Golf Club in Illinois.
He served with the U.S. Marines in 1964. Later he became Assistant Superintendent at the Oak Ridge CC in Hopkins, Minnesota and soon after served as Superintendent for four years at the Calumet CC in Homewood, Illinois. For the past 28 years he has been Superintendent at the Inverness GC near Chicago.
Michael has always been active professionally, serving as director, secretary, and president of the Mid West Golf Course Superintendents Association. In 1981 he was elected President of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. To this day he is active in the Musser Foundation, and organization that raises money for students in their final year of a doctorate's degree in a turf-related field. Together with his friend and colleague Gordon Witteveen he is a frequent speaker on the Turf Conference Tour both in North America and overseas, often presenting "The Magic of Greenkeeping Seminar" to wide ranging audiences.
