Tuesday 14 May 2013

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.