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.