September Update

It is hard to believe the course has been open for 5 months with hopefully another 6 weeks of good weather ahead of us. We have not received any frost since early May, but morning temperatures are usually in the 5 to 10 degree range. Clipping yields for greens have drastically reduced to the point where we have stopped applying growth regulator, and our main goal going into the fall is to keep the greens as healthy as possible. In the upcoming weeks we will start to raise the HOC on our greens gradually while incorporating 2 to 3 roll days a week.A deep tine core aeration will take place in the third week in September, allowing for ample time for the greens to heal before turf becomes dormant.

The last few weeks have kept us busy at Dino Trail. The irrigation system has decided to cause us more problems, as two leaks on the mainline were repaired and more heads were replaced. We have repaired or replaced over 100 heads on the course this season, with still another 15 heads needing to be addressed on the back nine. As well the bearings failed in our river pump resulting in the pump seizing and needing to be replaced. In the next two weeks we plan to install our new wash pad and irrigation test station which will help save alot of time and money.

Finished Cartpath on Hole 14

 As well we completed the prep work for the cartpath on the 14th hole, so that Enviropaving out of Red Deer could come in last week and install the rubberized asphalt. Not having any experience with the product I did not know what to expect, but I am very happy with the end result. The company installing the surface has never done such a big job, as they are used to doing walkways and driveways. This resulted in them using three times as much rubber and binding agent compared to what they had budgeted for. The process of laying the rubberized asphalt is very labour intensive, as everything is done manually other than the mixing of the rubber with the binding agent. The key to the products strength when being laid on gravel is the use of Eco-Grid under the product. It helps displace the weight traveling over the surface evenly and provides a solid base.

Overall this product is going to provide a great non skid surface on a serverely sloped cart path. The total area of the path done was just under 3000 square feet, with the minimum thickness of the rubber surface being 1 1/2 inches. The product is an expensive alternative to regular asphalt, but with a 5 year warranty and with grants available to cover the costs, it turned out to be the best option for us. In the future I may attempt to lay some of the product in house, or use the Eco-Grid in high traffic areas under turf to prevent compaction. By far the biggest cost in the installation of this product is labour. as a 2000 lb bag of rubber crumb is around $350 dollars and a drum of the binding agent is around $1000. A close estimate for this project would be around $10 a square foot. This includes the Eco-Grid, gravel, rubberized asphalt, and does not include in house labour.

The gravel base rolled and compacted followed by
the installation of the Eco-Grid

Filling the Eco-Grid with 3/4 crush

Enviropaving trailer with mixer and rubber storage bin

Drums of binding agent. One drum does a 2000 lb bag of rubber crumb

Using a workman to haul the product to the cartpath

Ryan and his crew laying the product

August Update

9th Hole

It is hard to believe we are already a week into August, but so is the case. Since my last post we have been focusing the majority of our time on improving our putting surfaces and getting all the kinks out of our irrigation system. It is not too uncommon for us to have a handful of leaks a week, with most of them being attributed to failing glue joints or poor repairs in the past. Andrew and Colin have done a great job of keeping the system operating, especially with the mid 30 degree temps we have seen the past few days.

In the last two weeks we have aerated greens along with laying 1600 sq ft of sod on greens 2,3,4,7, and 9 to repair areas that were too large to repair with plugs. All the problem areas were located on the clean up pass of the greens, so the new sod will have very little impact on playability. We are cutting the new sod at a higher height than our normal greens height, so hopefully by the end of the month we will have the new sod at the same height as normal greens height.

Boys stripping the sod off of 3 green

What the new sod on 9 looks like

The other night while out handwatering the new sod I had a good conversation with one of our members getting in a quick nine before dark. He quizzed me with afew questions I have heard before, even at my own family gatherings. The first one being "What I plan to do for the winter?" and the second " It took you two years of college to learn how to grow grass?". In the past I was annoyed by these questions, but I have learned to realize that our job as turfgrass managers is to educate others about our profession. I truly believe that these questions are not ignorant, but uneducated. I try my best to stop and talk to as many people as I can and explain things like why the Poa makes the putting surfaces bumpy later in the day. Or how having our sprayer down and missing our scheduled Primo application leads to slower greens in the afternoon.

Along with all the other hats we where on a daily basis, I believe educating our staff and golfers could be the most important aspects of our profession to help ease the pressure we are under to provide a great working environment , and consistant playing conditions. I know the pressure we put on ourselves is more than anyone can put on us, but by using education we can make those times when things are going as well as we would like, alot less stressful.

So if you have a question feel free to stop me on the course and ask, that is what I am there for, along with afew other things.

On a final note I would like to say congrats to Bruce Lemessurier on his first hole in one. Bruce is daily morning golfer and helps with our junior program from time to time. I also happened to be in the clubhouse eating lunch when he bought everyone a round of drinks. It was pretty neat to hear him and Ian Jones, his witness, explain how it all went down.



Bruce and his hole in one on 12



Time Flies

It has been awhile since I have even looked at my blog until today. It is hard to believe a month has gone by so fast, but the last 3 and half months have been a blur since opening day so I guess it is par for the course. I just took a glance at the goals I set for our team in February for this upcoming season, it is fair to say I underestimated the task we were presented with. We continue to slowly chip away at the tasks and projects we have planned to complete, but our irrigation system continues to take valuable man hours away from course improvement work. Without the long hours and dedication of Andrew and Colin our system probably would not be anymore than 70% functional. At present time we are around 96% functional and may even be able to start looking system efficiency in the near future.

Working 70 to 80 hour weeks since May has definitely started to effect Andrew and myself so both of us needed to get away and recharge our batteries. I have never taken 6 days off in a row during the golf season, in my ten years in the industry, but it was just what I needed. I came back motivated and recharged this week, ready to continue to make strides in the last half of the season. Our goals for the rest of the season are to improve plant health and playability.

We continue to use herbicides to control clover and dandelions, but with thin turf on the back nine fairways, foxtail has become an issue. I plan to overseed all fairways on the back nine in the fall to create a better stand of turf for the future to help fight weed infestations.  and use a pre emergent herbicide.

Some upcoming practices and projects we will be completing in the next week or two are: solid tine aeration of greens, sodding of weak areas on front nine greens, completion of our bentgrass nursery, prep and seed septic field area, and finish 14 cart path with enviro-paving.

Thanks to everyone from Dinosaur Trail for their positive comments on the golf course this year. In my mind we are not anywhere near the conditions I would like us to be in, but we continue to make strides and it is nice for the crew and myself to hear kind words about the course. I really enjoy going to work everyday, taking the time to stop and talk to as many people as I can, and getting all the feedback that I can.

I leave you with a little slideshow I have created of pictures I have taken over the past few weeks around the golf course, hope you enjoy!