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