In a Nutshell

With mother nature hammering Alberta with a blizzard for the next few days, it is safe to say winter is here to stay. We had a few stressful days in November where we were very close to having precipitation fall as rain and potentially form ice on the turf. Substantial ice formation this time of the year on turf will almost always lead to dead turf in the spring if not removed. We were lucky that the course had a few inches of snow cover during these events to prevent this precipitation from reaching the turf.

9 green snow cover - Nov 21

Andrew and myself have just returned from the annual Alberta Golf Superintendent's Association property managers conference in Canmore. The conference is a great place to build our professional networks, increase our knowledge, and bring back new ideas that will help Dinosaur Trail Golf and Country Club. As a professional I believe that the only way you can improve your operation is through education. I will be looking to implement a handful of new ideas in 2014 and work towards continuing to provide consistent playing conditions as well as making sure our operation is efficient as possible.

1st cut on greens April 26th 2013

I have taken the last few days to look over my daily notes and reflect on what I believe was a successful 2013. The season started a little later than normal, but with little to no turf damage from winter we hit the ground running. The turf care team this season was one of the best I have had in my 12 year career. A word I would use to describe this year's team would be automatic. Everyone bought into our team first mentality and that is a huge reason why I believe we were successful. If something needed to be done on the course, it did not matter who you were, it got done without any hesitation. I anticipate a very similar look to next years turf team, but there will always be a few changes.

Flooding on the 18th fwy

As far as the golf course, we had our ups and downs. We were lucky to escape any serious flood damage, but the heavy rains and subsequent run off damaged turf, filled in drainage trenches, and caused substantial erosion on the back nine. We repaired as much of the damage as we could "in house" but with little to no money to make repairs, these areas will be problems in the spring.

Our team members from the Drumheller Institution spent a majority of the season pruning the trees on the front nine. The work they did is evident by the huge pile of brush you can see as you turn into the golf course. Trees and tree roots are the largest issue on the front nine at the present time. Andrew and myself have identified a few problematic trees that will be removed before the 2014 golf season. As well in the spring we will be doing some root pruning along fairways and around greens. As we continue to remove trees from the property a plan is being developed over the winter to start replacing the poplars with new species of trees to ensure the course does not lose its identity.

Overall I was happy with the playing surfaces on the course. Next season we plan to focus on our cultural practices to ensure the course stays competitive with other courses in the Calgary area. As time goes on this will prove to be difficult to stay competitive if the club does not make any capital improvements. Our turf care team will do everything we can to keep the course at the standards we have set for it. The fact is that next year it will take more time and resources to keep the course at the same standards we had this year, if improvements are not made in a few areas.

I am optimistic for the future of  the Dinosaur Trail Golf and Country Club. We have made some positive strides the last two years and our turf care team will continue to put in an honest effort every day. Our team goal each day is to make sure we leave the course better than the day before.

Thanks to everyone for their words of encouragement during the 2013 season. I look forward to seeing everyone out at the course for some of our Christmas events.

Winding Down

Russ, Steve, and Jamie our team members from the Penn

Looking at our blog it appears I let things slide in September. It is hard to believe another season has come and gone. The course opened for play on April 27th and closed for play yesterday October 20th. Taking into consideration rain events that closed the course during the season we were open for play a total of 177 days this year. This is only 5 days less than last season, when opening day was April 4th.

bringing our block valves up to the surface

The last six weeks have been busy for our turf care crew. All tee decks have been core aerated, double verticut and cleaned off. Greens and collars have all been aerated, topdressed, and dragged in. We continue to replace worn out irrigation heads and block valves. Many of the valves on the back nine are over 3 feet deep.So when we do decide to replace a valve we bring it up closer to the surface so that if the valve needs to be serviced we can have easy access at it.

Steve, Jamie, and Russ continue to work their way around the front nine pruning all of the low hanging limbs and deadwood from the aging poplars. They have amassed a large pile that will require us to perform a burn this fall. This practice has definitely reduced the amount of limbs that come down during a wind storm, thus saving us time on cleaning up after these events.   

Brad from Fusion Inc. fusing up the new tee

Installing the new tee in the muck

If you have driven out to the golf course in the past 3 weeks, you may have seen Andrew or myself working in the ditch along the highway by the 16th hole. The reason for this is we had an irrigation mainline tee that had failed and started to leak. Upon exposing the tee which took us many days and the aid of a hydro vac truck we could see that the tee had been leaking in 3 different spots. We removed the PVC tee and replaced it with HDPE. I am happy with the repair and do not think this area will ever been an issue again.

Sacha and Bella working on ball washers

With blowout complete and the course closed for play our staff is busy collecting course accessories, cleaning them, and making sure they are ready for next season. John is busy in the shop servicing our fleet of 72 Yamaha golf carts and getting all our mowing equipment ready for winter storage. By the end of the week we will have applied our final fungicide application on greens and select tees. Depending on the weather topdressing of the greens and tarping of the back nine greens will start late this week or early next week. Our goal is to have the course ready for winter by November 1st.

John working on the fleet of carts

I feel good about the progress we made on the course this season. I wish we could have done more, but with limited resources we did all we could do. A huge thanks goes out to our great Turf Care Team and the solid effort everyone put in on a daily basis. Our goal was simple, to leave the golf course better than it was the day before. Most of the changes may have been minor and cosmetic, but at the end of the day I feel like we accomplished our goal.

The Home Stretch

Setting up the course for the Alberta Golf tournament

Glancing at the calendar it is hard to believe there is only 9 weeks left until we blow out the irrigation system. The month of August at Dinosaur Trail has been a busy one, with many tourists visiting the course along with a few big tournaments.

Last week we hosted the 2013 Alberta Golf Men's Mid Amateur Handicap Championship. Our turf care team did a great job preparing the course for the two day tournament. I was happy with how the course played as we spent the last 3 weeks improving the playability of a handful of holes and working on every bunker to ensure they were consistent. Thanks to Tom Zariski and everyone from Alberta Golf for running a well organized event. They did a great job of making sure the course was setup for all our members and guests following each round of the tournament. Congrats to Scott Ouellette and Jeff Skytt, two local guys who finished first and third respectively. As well thanks to Graydon from Clark's Supply for allowing us to use a few of there mowers to prep for the tournament. Without the use of 322 Eclipse mower, the greens would not have rolled as quick as they did.

The other day I had a member ask me if we could speed up the greens. The answer to that question is yes we can, but with our limited resources and the small crew we run, this is not always a reality. Most days we have 7 to 9 team members working on the course, this includes Andrew and myself. On the weekend we maintain the course with 3 crew members. Most crew members work 12 days on and 2 days off so the reality is that we can only do the basics on weekends which includes course setup, mowing greens, raking bunkers, and housekeeping. Thank you to those members who support our team on a daily basis with their positive comments. I would like to think we are doing as best as we can with the limited resources we have.

 TDR300

In the past few weeks you may have seen Andrew or myself walking around greens probing them with a purple device. This purple device is used to measure the amount of moisture in the soil. Andrew has done a great job of logging all of the data on a daily basis and using this to determine the water needs of our greens. We are starting to see positive results in using the TDR 300 moisture meter as we have reduced the amount of water we apply to greens which helps us conserve water and save on electricity costs for the irrigation system. As well it helps us keep the greens firmer and faster to improve playability. We have focused on hand watering greens as much as we can to ensure we do not over water. It is easy to just turn on the sprinkler heads, but with the inconsistent coverage most of our greens have, hand watering does a much better job dealing with our problem areas, without over watering the majority of the green.

This season has been much less stressful then last year. A big reason for that is the great support I get from our Assistant Superintendent Andrew Smith and our Mechanic Johnny Vandermaas. Just as I continue to grow as a Superintendent, Andrew has done the same as an Assistant Superintendent. I am really happy with the way he has progressed into a manager. I know any time I am away from the course, it won't miss a beat. Usually when he sets the schedule for the day, most times it is exactly the way I would set it up. He makes my job much easier, as his work ethic is second to none. I always tell him I would like to see him stay clean for a day, but I haven't seen it happen yet.

Ensuring the blower is ready to go when the leaves start to fall

Also a huge thank you to Johnny who keeps everything running smoothly. I have worked with a handful of mechanics in my career and none of them take as much pride in their reel grinding as much as John does. He is a guy that stays behind the scenes, but without his troubleshooting and knowledge to deal with our aging fleet of equipment. There would be no way we would be able to accomplish our goals on the course. I encourage our members to stop by the shop and say thanks to Johnny as he a vital cog in the wheel of the Dinosaur Trail Golf and Country Club.

Skimming over the 10th hole

This past Sunday Andrew, Jenn, and myself went up for a plane tour of the Drumheller Valley with one of our members Pete Cardamone, in his 1966 Cherokee 160. It was pretty cool to see the valley and the golf course from that perspective. We went from Horse Thief Canyon all they way out to windmills east of town and back. Thanks Pete for taking us up.

View of the front nine with the back nine in the distance

If anyone has any questions, feel free to stop me on the course or send me an email.

Stop and Smell the Cacti

10th hole today

With the unprecedented flooding in Southern Alberta the past 10 days, I feel very fortunate on a professional and personal level to pretty much come out unaffected by the destruction. Other than having the front nine closed for 3 days due to high water levels overcoming our bridges, the course pretty much came out unscathed from the flooding. Other courses in Southern Alberta did not get so lucky, and many suffered season ending destruction. Our industry is a resilient one, and it was great to see the organization across the province to see these damaged courses get the equipment and resources they need to start their recovery efforts. We are a small course with limited resources, but we have a 2 inch trash pump and a pronovost dump trailer available to any course that can utilize them.

Never would I have thought that my previous course Kananaskis Country Golf Course would have been damaged to the point that it doesn't resemble a golf course anymore, but this is the case. It is sad to see such a great property destroyed, but worst of all it is awful seeing a lot of great friends and colleagues lose their livelihoods. I wish my friends at Kananaskis Country Golf Course all the best as they work towards finding new positions as they deal with this bump in the road.

New A4 sod on putting green

Here at Dinosaur Trail our turf care team continues to work towards improving the golf course. In the past weeks we have re-sodded the area on the putting green we used for fixing the turf on our greens in play and have created a small bentgrass nursery on the old driving range. As well we have started repairing all cart path entrance and exit points on the front nine. Dangerous and dead limbs continue to be removed from trees on the front nine. As a result we are seeing less limbs being knocked down by high winds.

 Overall I am happy with the course right now. We have been getting some complaints about how thick our rough is, but that is due to great growing conditions and a lack of resources. We only have 2 Toro 3500's to maintain the rough on the entire course. These mowers have a cutting width of only 68 inches, and are usually out on the course between 70 and 80 hours a week combined. I apologize to those that find the rough difficult to play out of, but on average we cut the back nine once a week and the front nine two and a half times as the front grows much quicker than the back. Without more equipment or staff we are unable to increase the frequency of cutting the rough. This winter we will look at trading in one of our 3500's for a larger 5 deck rough mower, which will allow us to be more efficient in this task.

Bentonite along 18

With the course finally drying out for the first time this season. We will remove the piles of bentonite along the edge of the 18th hole tomorrow morning. We will also attempt to remove the bentonite that has migrated onto the 18th fairway that has made the normal landing zone from the tee unplayable. We will be attempting to use a brush on the front of a skid steer to hopefully remove the bentonite out. If this is successful the 18th hole will be turned back into a par 5 in the next few days.

Next week we will start adding sand to all our bunkers and address their playability by making sure they have the right firmness and depth of sand in them.


Bentonite in the rough and fairway

 We continue our bi-weekly light topdressing routine on greens and last week we performed a green aeration with venting tines. Tees and collars will be verticut early next week. With the rainy season behind us, and the greens healthy I look forward to seeing them roll better as we will be able to maintain the soil moisture in the optimal range for playability.


One of our resident ducks and her ducklings

 The last few days I have taken the opportunity to focus on areas of the golf course other than the playing surfaces. On the front nine our ponds and riverbanks are full of life as many deer bed down along the 2nd fairway and our ponds are full of waterfowl. A recent addition to the ponds are the new 10 ducklings you will mainly find in the ponds by six.

On the back nine, many of the wild flowers and cacti are in bloom. I am doing my best to take pictures and figure out what all the different species of flora are located on the back nine. It is such a unique environment that everyday I usually see something I have never noticed before .
 


Wood Lily and other flowers in bloom on 13

Thank you to those that have left positive comments about my recent article in our national turfgrass publication The Greensmaster. For those who have not read it and are interested in reading it, it can be found here on pages 18-19. It is article about my first year as a Superintendent at Dinosaur Trail.

In the last two weeks I also found the time to propose the love of my life Jenn Thomas. As usual my timing was off, but in the end she still said yes. We look forward getting married this upcoming January in Mexico.



Jenn and I




Prickly Pear Cacti in bloom

I realize I have been all over the place in this blog, but finally I like to wish all my fellow Superintendents and their turf care teams all the best as they work towards re opening their respective clubs from flood damage. I see pictures on a daily basis of courses that seem overwhelming, but to see the amazing  progress many courses are making on a daily basis is a reflection of the teams each course has and the volunteers that have taken time away from their courses. In order for our profession to progress we must work together and this is a prime example of everyone coming together for the greater good. I have no doubt that every course will come back better that ever in the near future.

K-Country will look like this again

June Update

Sand based greens roots

The golf course has been open for about 5 weeks now and the turf care team is busy on the course. In the past few weeks we have aerated and overseeded all tee decks, as well as continue to sod where tree stumps have been ground down. Our cultural plan is in full swing on the greens as we have completed one verti-cut, with another verti-cut and topdressing planned for next week. I am very happy with the health of our greens as the roots on our front nine soil based greens are not much shorter than the roots on the back nine sand based greens. I attribute this to the deep tine aeration that was performed last fall and our improved fertility plan for the putting surfaces.

Soil based greens roots

The large amount of run off this spring, plus the heavy rains the past few weeks have taken their toll on the back nine cart paths. Much of our manpower has been put towards patching paths with 3/4 crush gravel and replacing eroded material with pit run. It is getting to the point where after a rain event I dread making the tour around the back nine to see what patches need to be made. This morning Andrew did the tour and found a huge hole beside the cart path between 13 and 14 that would almost swallow a golf cart. Andrew spent much of the day filling the dangerous hole with pit run and in total it will take close to 20 loads in the HD workman to make this area safe again.

Andrew working on the repairing the area

Much of the erosion and damage to playing surfaces is the result of the lack of subsurface drainage and limited flow in our drainage ditches. We are at the point where we can no longer continue to try and make these repairs in house and must bring in the equipment we need clean out the drainage so that no more bentonite is deposited on fairways. Our 18th hole is the worst as a lot of bentonite has washed onto the fairway due to the drainage being 80 to 90 % silted up. I am afraid the damage has already been done and unsure of if we will be able to repair these areas without stripping the surface.

Many culverts on the back nine look like this

Bentonite washed on the 18 fairway



Left side drainage ditch on 18 overflowing with bentonite

I am happy with the progress we have been making on most areas of the golf course, but the back nine cart paths have me concerned. Being the person responsible for the safety on the golf course I worry about the unstable nature of the cart paths. We must continue to add subsurface drainage, more road base, and geo textile fabric to our future cart path repairs. Just as we did to the 14th hole last season. Safety for our golfers as well as our staff is paramount and I will do everything in my power to make sure our cart paths are safe. I know if we continue to only be able to patch the paths, and another heavy rain event hits the course, we may have areas that maybe impassable.

Finally thank you to all the individuals that have stopped me on the course to let me know how much they have enjoyed playing the course this season . All the credit goes to our team and the pride they put into their tasks each day. I am fortunate to have a great crew where being "late" for work means not being there at least 15 minutes before our start time. Thank you to our team for making my life easier as we continue to work towards improving Dinosaur Trail Golf and Country Club.

Here Comes Summer

9th Hole Today

Steve and Jibril learning irrigation

It appears this year mother nature decided to go from winter to summer in the matter of a few weeks. Our turf care team has been busy the last few weeks continuing to clean up the golf course, dealing with issues arising from our irrigation system , and starting to get into our cultural plan. I feel pretty confident with the team we have assembled this season. We were able to keep some of the strong team members from last season and add some individuals that have brought a lot to the table. We definitely have the pieces in place to make this a successful season for the Dino Trail Turf Care Team.

This season we have two individuals working with us as apart of the reintegration program from the Drumheller Institution. Steve and Jibril have been vital to the success of our team this season. These guys give an honest effort everyday and have fit in well with our team. It was funny, today I was teaching the guys how to back fill an irrigation repair and explained that I wanted it to look like no one had been here. Steve gave me a smile and said jokingly " that's easy, we are criminals, that's what we are good at", I replied " hmmm really well that doesn't give me much confidence since you are both in jail". In all honesty I  believe everyone deserves a chance and I treat these guys no different than any other member of our turf care team. We will be losing Jibril in the next few weeks as he is due to be released from the penitentiary at the end of May. We wish him all the best back in Toronto.

 

As members have noticed we no longer have a single piece of rope on the golf course. This is the result of our new GPS system on our carts called the DSG Tag system. I am very happy with the results I have seen the past few weeks in regards to cart   

No Ropes

traffic and the reduction in the cost of maintenance to our golf course. In the past the ropes were an eyesore, but they were needed to control cart path traffic, especially in the back nine. Now with our DSG Tag system I am able to setup restricted zones where carts are not allowed and subsequently if a cart enters the area, it will  be disabled for 10 seconds. There has been a bit of a learning curb and adjustments have been made to the restricted zones, but overall it has become a great management tool. As a result of removing the ropes, many of our tasks such as cutting fairways have reduced in time, saving the club money. We have also eliminated the task of string trimming along the ropes which took 1 individual 5 hours to complete every week.

With the recent warm temperatures the past ten days the course has came into its own. The poa that was damaged over the winter is starting to grow again and the trees are starting to leaf out. In the next week we plan to aerate and overseed all tees, collars, and approaches. As well we hope to finish up with our irrigation repairs on the back nine and finish the plugging on the greens. Even with the late start, we are significantly further ahead on the golf course this year compared to last season. Thank you to those members who continue to appreciate the work our team does on a daily basis. Andrew, John, our crew and myself look forward to a great season at Dinosaur Trail Golf and Country Club.

Spring Start Up?

First Cut on Greens by Andrew

This time last year we were firing up the irrigation system as we were reaching temperatures in the mid to high 20's. Things are dramatically different this year, but definitely not out of the norm when you take a look at historical weather records. The course is virtually free of snow, but the ground is very saturated, which makes it almost impossible to navigate the front nine without leaving ruts in the turf and or cart paths.

This past week we rented a man lift to continue pruning the trees on the front nine. Most of the trees on the front nine are Northwest Poplars that have exceeded their life expectancy and have not had any maintenance done to them in the past. I could have spent weeks in the man lift pruning trees for agronomic, playability, and safety issues, but the clean up would have been extensive. This spring I focused on holes 3,6,7,and 8. I am happy with what we accomplished, but I know I have only put a small dent in the work that needs to be done.

Rolling up tarps on the back nine

The course wintered very well, with minimal superficial snow mould damage to fairways and tees. The only areas on the golf course protected with fungicide are the greens and collars. Last season we only made two fungicide applications on our greens, both in the fall, preparing our greens for winter. Our final application this past fall was the fungicide Trilogy. Due to our arid climate I was not anticipating much disease pressure and decided to apply the product at the middle rate. Even with the 150+ days of snow cover I was very happy with how our greens have come out of winter. Our poa looks great and there is no ice or snow mould damage. The only issue I have seen is on our second green where deer urine has damaged a few spots.



Action shot by Andrew of me pruning on #8

 

The large amount of snow we received this past winter and subsequent run off has created a few issues for us. Erosion and migration of bentonite in the back nine is a huge issue for us. Due to the lack of subsurface drainage we had some undermining happen to many areas of cart path on the back nine. During construction of the cart paths many corners were cut. Building asphalt cart paths in the bentonite hills of our back nine requires a good base with geo-textile fabric and subsurface drainage. Both of these issues were not addressed and in many areas the cart paths are destroyed. With a limited budget we will look to repair them as best as we can, but at best it will still only be a temporary fix.

With the large amount of run off brings a lot of unwanted bentonite off the hills and on to the course. Many of the drains and culverts have been plugged due to the lack of maintenance to the drainage system. This season we will look to start dredging out these vital drainage paths and hopefully keep as much bentonite as we can off the course. As well we will look to armour a afew areas with large rock to prevent erosion.

All in all I look forward to the start of the golf season in the next few weeks at Dinosaur Trail. We have some great turf care team members coming back this year and I am excited with the quality of our new team members.



Spring Update

View of the 4th hole

It is funny, I look back at my pictures and records from the 2012 season and see that this week last year we were removing the tarps from greens. This year is a different story as the whole course is still under a significant layer of snow. Today I ventured out to check some snow depths on greens and check for ice formation in collection areas on greens. On average we have between 32-45 cm of snow covering the greens. The top layer of snow has developed a hard crust on it, while the layer underneath is loose crystal like snow. The only ice I found was formed by animals walking across the greens and compacting the snow. This is something I am not too concerned about, as it is pourous ice.

40 cm of snow on #4 green

Turf on #5 Green

John and Andrew hard at work

John, our mechanic has been busy in the shop grinding reels, servicing equipment and doing a few minor repairs. Andrew has been busy getting all our course accessories cleaned and painted up for the season. The last few days he has been applying a product call vinyl guard to our flag sticks. This product makes the flag sticks look like new, at the fraction of the cost of buying new flag sticks. As well it is a very durable product that will last a few seasons before it needs to be replaced. In the past few weeks we completed some tree work removing some trees on the 6th and 8th holes. We have planned to do a lot of pruning this spring ,but the inability to manoeuvre around the course has delayed this process.

Flag stick before and after Vinyl Guard

Today we went up to the Drumheller Institution to pick up our cedar hole signs for the front nine. Gord Mraz and the inmates up at the penitentiary did a great job of repainting the signs. We are really lucky to have such a great relationship with the institution. They grow all of the flowers for the golf course from seed in their greenhouses as well as provide us individuals to help maintain the course during the season. The work they do for us definitely saves our operation time and money each season.

Repainted hole sign

With Easter right around the corner I hope for the snow to have a nice slow consistent melt. Due to the high amount of snow that has fallen in the area, a quick melt will most likely lead to some flooding on the front nine holes. The temperatures look like they are improving over the near future. So hopefully we will be able to get out on the course and start manually removing snow from the greens in the next few weeks.

 

Changes for 2013

When I tour the golf course these days it is hard to believe that last year at this time we had no snow and were only a few weeks away from opening the golf course. Today the entire golf course is covered with a layer of snow that is a minimum of 6-8 inches deep. I am hoping we have a slow consistent melt over the next month, but March is a very unpredictable month so I am not holding my breath.

14th Green with 8 inches of snow

Pace of play during busy periods was an issue at Dinosaur Trail last season, especially in the challenging back nine. If you have never played the back nine before, it is easy to lose a ball and to become confused on where you are suppose to aim for your upcoming shot. The back nine also has a handful of forced carries from tee boxes that can pose an issue for the shorter hitter. To deal with these issues, we are improving the signage on the back nine, especially for the 14th hole which is the main culprit for slowing down the pace of play. As well we are introducing a new way to play the golf course, by using both white and blue tee options in a combo tee. We are also introducing a new set of yellow tees on holes 2,4,6,9,10,11,13,14,15,16,17, and 18. These tees can be used in conjunction with the red tees to help players by-pass difficult tee shots where a forced carry is required.

The club has finalized a deal to purchase new golf carts this season. These golf carts will have electronic fuel injection, which means they will operate more efficiently and burn less fuel, saving us money. I have heard that these carts will burn up to 40% less fuel compared to a conventional 2 stroke golf cart. I am a little skeptical about that figure, but anywhere we can save money is a plus. These new carts will also have the DSG Tag fleet control system installed on them. I am very excited about this as we will now be able to control and monitor all carts on the property by way of GPS and mobile technology. I was surprised on how affordable the system is, as it will be a great benefit for the guys in the golf shop, as well as for the health of the golf course. we no longer need to set up ropes to control traffic, and in a mouse click I will be able to setup carts for paths only after a heavy rain event. This will be great because there will be very few instances where carts will not be allowed on the course , so we do not lose the cart revenue. It will be a great piece of mind for us in the turf care department that there will never be a cart drive up to a green or in a restricted area unless we allow it to.

We have added a text feature on each golf cart to be able to send messages to certain carts from the proshop. As well it displays the yardage to certain landmarks on each hole and to the front, middle, and back of the green relative to the golf cart.

The text feature that mounts on the steering column

Another change we are implementing this season is the switch from a three colour flag system to a single flag system. All scorecards will have diagrams of the greens split into three quadrants to show where the pin position for each hole will located relative to day 1,2, or 3. We are still in the process of designing the logo we want to use, but have decided to go with a black and yellow checkered flag. I can foresee us losing a few flags this summer, as who wouldn't want a flag with a T-Rex on it, so theft is definitely something we are taking into consideration for the flag design.  

John our mechanic showing off his new shiny white teeth

Our turf care team is looking forward to a busy season on the golf course. John is busy finishing grinding all the reels and working at getting the best prices for everything he uses on a daily basis. As a turf care department at a small golf course we must be accountable for every dollar we spend. I have challenged John this season to look around and for the best deal possible and not just deal with the same distributors as we have in the past. So far the savings he has found has been impressive, and hopefully by the end of the season we will have enough money left in the budget to afford to be able to put in a two post lift. This addition will no doubt aid in the ability to maintain our fleet of 72 golf carts and turf care equipment in an efficient manner. Many people have told me it will pay for itself within the first year, and I look forward to being able to agree with them in the near future. We have also applied for a few grants regarding capital improvements on the golf course, so hopefully we will be successful in securing them, so that we can continue to improve the golf course.

Andrew working on the tee markers

Andrew is currently in the process of sprucing up our course accessories. He is currently in the process of repainting all the tee markers, and will move on to installing yellow vinyl guard on all our flag sticks. In the past week he has updated all our task procedures and has created some great task tracking databases for the upcoming season. Over the next few weeks we plan to get on the golf course and start removing trees we have deemed a risk to anyone on the course as well as those that negatively affect playability.

Dealing with one of our aging poplars in the fall last year

Now that I have been at the course for a full year, I look forward to hitting the ground running, knowing exactly what issues we must deal with right off the bat this season and continue to improve the playing conditions as best as we can for our members and guests.

Taking Shape

Turf on 9 green under snow cover

It is hard to believe that February is here and the season is right around the corner. The course is wintering well with a minimum of 6 to 8 inches of snow blanketing all turf. All greens are still clear of ice as Drumheller has not received the high winds and warm temps caused by Chinooks this winter. Being in the valley keeps our average temperature lower than the surrounding area and the chance of snow melting then turning to ice, very minimal this time of year.

This is going to be another exciting year for the Dinosaur Trail turfcare team. Our core group of staff members will be back to start the season and hopefully hit the ground running. We have added Colton Luke , a turfgrass management student from Olds College to our team as our irrigation tech/intern. Colton has a handful of years under his belt working at the Creston Golf Club and will no doubt be a great addition to our team.

This past month I had the opportunity to travel to Olds College to do a presentation for the turfgrass management students. I always enjoy my time interacting the students as I believe it is important for Dinosaur Trail to continue its relationship with Olds College for the future.


Doing a presentation at Olds College

I have been busy planning for the upcoming season, with tree work and playing surfaces being at the top of the list due to budget constraints. In all reality we should continue to make capital improvements in the course such as cart paths repairs, installing drainage, irrigation upgrades, and bunker renovations. These capital improvements have been neglected in the past, and any work we complete this season will only be a temporary fix. I believe they call it putting lipstick on a pig. Considering all aspects of the golf course except the back nine greens have surpassed their life expectancy, it is going to be an impossible task to keep Dinosaur Trail competitive with other courses if capital improvements are not on the horizon. Hopefully we will have the support of our lifetime, corporate, and regular members this season to ensure that the golf course continues to evolve.

Finally I would like to congratulate Andrew Smith our Assistant Superintendent in completing his Bachelor Degree in Applied Science with a major in Golf Course Management. He has spent this past year completing his directed field study , which was the final requirement in the 4 year program. This degree will no doubt aid Andrew in his career as he makes his way up the industry ladder. It is definitely a common goal for both of us to remove the stigma from our profession as simply "grass cutters" by educating golfers a variety ways, such as this blog.

Please feel free contact me by email or phone is you ever have any questions.

Mitch