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.