AGSA Property Manager's Conference

From Monday, Nov 28 to Tuesday, Nov 29 I had the pleasure of attending the Alberta Golf Superintendents Association (AGSA) Property Manager's Conference. This conference provides educational seminars to industry professionals in the areas of turfgrass management, horticultural management, mechanics, and irrigation. My fellow classmates and I got to sit in on some quality education and I hope to apply what I've learnt. It's also a great chance to meet others in the industry, and I got to meet some superintendents from all over Alberta.

I was honored to receive the AGSA Student Scholarship during the conference. This award consists of a monetary gift and certificate of recognition. I am humbled and thankful for being honored with this award. The money will go directly to furthering my education by allowing me to attend the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association Conference and Trade show in Calgary this year. Thanks again to the AGSA for your support.

It's Been Awhile

Well, it's time to get this blog going again.

I have finished my season at Capilano Golf and Country Club and am back in school at Olds College. My time at Capilano was amazing. I am extremely thankful for the chance I had to be a part of the team there and the chance to lead from some astounding individuals in the industry. I will be putting up soon an article I wrote for the Capilano newsletter summing up my time spent there this summer.

I am now taking the Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in Golf Course Management. The first semester is quickly coming to a close as projects are due and exams are written. Here is a quick summary of the classes we have taken.

TRF 4100 - Environmental Management for Golf Courses
Our only turf specific course this semester. We explore golf and its relation to the environment and where there has been success and failure in the past. We talk about Audubon International's Cooperative Sanctuary Program and its potential benefits and we use those principles to create environmental management plans for our golf courses.

BHO 3300 - Project Management Principles
What is a project? What steps are involved? How do you successfully complete one on time and what tools are available? This class teaches how to plan and perform large scale projects using the current industry tools available to us.

BHO 4710 - Ethics and Pest Management
Sure, you control your pest, but are you doing it ethically? Are your practices harming others or even yourself? In this class we are challenged in the way we view management decisions and how our choices can have a lasting effect.

BHO 3100 - Research Methods
Research, not my favorite thing, but it is important. We are taught how to understand scientific research and how to undertake our own successfully.

BAS 3999 - Self-Directed Learning
This class is all about lifelong learning, developing our competencies, and presenting our abilities in the job market. This class goes for both semesters and leads into our directed field study in the fourth year.

Well, that’s all for now. I hope to start updating this a little more regularly from now on.
Cheers.

Internship - April

Wow, it's been almost a month since I started at Capilano. Time seems to be flying by since we've gotten into full swing. This spring has been a busy time at the course with aeration, projects and battling the weather. Thankfully I have three great mentors, Jamie Robb, Michael Newton, and our new second assistant Eric Gratopp, and excellent coworkers who have all been teaching me and instructing me.

This April has been one of the coldest and wettest in the history of Vancouver. That hasn't slowed us down at all though. Contractors have been a common site with our new maintenance building coming to completion. The course aeration took a week of hard work from a large staff. There are a lot of projects being completed every day, and its hard to keep up with at times. My responsibilities during this time have been varied but I have had many opportunities to learn and try new things. Some of these include:
- Fertilizer calibration
- Tank mixing
- Fairway Primo applications
- Stimping and monitoring soil temperatures
- Adjusting height of cut and bedknife to reel contact
- Walking mower operation

I've been taking lots of pictures as well. The course is beautiful, and I feel truly blessed to be working at such an amazing course.

The Capilano Clubhouse

A practice green/tee box seeded by the clubhouse

Trials of Fiesta I am trying, I will post an update about this when it is concluded

Hole number 1, Hathstauwk

The old lunchroom

The new lunchroom

Enjoying a round of golf at Cap

Hole 17, Sleeping Beauty

My morning duty includes setting up the mowers so they can get out as quick as possible

Adventures in Irrigation

One thing I've noticed about golf courses is that every course's irrigation system is different. In many ways they are the same, but everyone runs into different problems as old technology is replaced by new technology. This often creates interesting combinations of equipment and very unique situations.

Capilano G&CC has by far the most unique irrigation system I have come across yet. There is no pumphouse. Instead, all the water comes from two lakes found on the mountain above the course. These lakes are fed by a stream that comes down from the mountain. There is enough pressure from gravity to provide enough pressure to run the irrigation system. Six pressure reducing valves on the course reduce the massive pressure that builds as the water is in the pipe. It is truly unique and the story of it's initial construction is as interesting as the rest of the history of the golf course.

This video was filmed as the irrigation technician and I went to open the line that allows water to flow from the mountain stream to the lakes below. After driving a fair way up the mountain and taking a hike through the forest, we finally arrived at our destination.

Course Aeration

Aerating is common practice for the majority of golf courses. Most of us do it once or twice every year. It is an essential cultural practice needed for the health of our turf. From Sunday, April 17th till Thursday, April 21st, I was involved in Capilano G&CC's course aeration. My previous experience with aeration has only been with tees, greens, and compacted areas. At Capilano, they do a whole course aeration, including greens, tees, rough, fairways, and surrounds, twice a year.

Aerating the rough on hole 1, Hathstauwk, at Capilano.

There are several reasons they do this course wide. One reason is to relieve compaction which is a major issue on the course. Regular play and vehicles cause compaction in the soil. Compaction can come from other sources as well, such as rain, which is very common in Vancouver. Another reason is to aid in drainage. As mentioned before, rain is very common on the course. The sand put down into the soil profile through topdressing aids in drainage. The majority of the turf on the course is Annual Bluegrass (Poa annua). Poa is known to be very sensitive to stress. By relieving compaction, improving drainage, and improving plant growing conditions, we are aiding the plant by reducing those possible stresses.

Aerating the fairway after topdressing has been applied.

The process of aeration was quite involved. For greens, approaches, and tees, plugs where pulled and collected via snow shovels. Cores from the approaches were picked up separately from greens plugs due to differences in turf variety. Greens were then blown off with backpack blowers to get rid of any remaining debris. A substance to flush sodium from the soil was then applied (this is what I was involved with). Topdressing was then applied, dragged in with a drag behind mat, and finally brushed. On fairways and rough, topdressing was applied before aeration. After they were punched, the fairways and rough would be dragged in. After greens aeration was finished, a crew was sent to cleanup the fairways and rough, dispersing piles of sand and debris left behind. 

Removal of plugs from the playing surface.

As mentioned before, my involvement for the first few days was the application of granular product to the greens after aeration. Before we applied we had to calibrate our equipment. I was glad to get to practice this skill that we had learned in school. After greens were completed, we applied gypsum to the surrounds on the course. It was a lot of work, but I was glad to be apart of it. Being my first full week, I was still learning the course and the day-to-day operations. This gave me a chance to learn the course and ask questions of my supervisors.

Aeration is always lots of work. It means long hours, early mornings, and late nights. However, I was glad to be apart of it. The operation was of a scale I had never seen before. I was able to learn much about planning for aeration and about the course.

Thanks to Michael Newton, Assistant Superintendent, for providing the photos.

New Job Position

As of this week I will be starting my new position at Capilano Golf and Country Club as the Intern. Capilano is located in West Vancouver and it's a club with a rich history. Designed by Stanley Thompson, the course overlooks downtown Vancouver and is renowned for it's natural beauty. I look forward to being able to post pictures of the course and the projects that I am involved in over the summer, and I am excited to be able to apply my education and learn more skills for my career in the turfgrass industry.

Welcome to the Stimpmeter

Greetings!

We all like to follow the trends. No matter the industry, no matter the country, no matter where, we all like to do it. Is it a bad thing? Sometimes, but more often then not it shows you the direction that society or a group is going. What about the Turfgrass industry? What trends are popping up? Environmental stewardship, pesticide awareness, and greater public awareness to name a few. All of these, in my opinion, are excellent trends to be following, and I am sure if you are apart of this industry you would agree with me.

Another popular trend right now is the blog. Everyone seems to be doing it, even your grandmother (well, atleast its likely). There are blogs on everything from coffee to ventriliquism. Even in the turf industry, people are starting to blog. Turf departments are updating their members on what is happening on the course, researchers are publishing results, it's being done, and it's getting popular.

So what's the point of this blog? Is it just another turf blog in the green sea of electronic turfiness? Probably. But I hope it to be more. Right now, it is a place to publish my career achievements. Those projects I've accomplished, those jobs I've had, and those pictures I've found along the way. Hopefully, it can properly broadcast my abilities as a Turfgrass manager to those who are interested. I also aim to provide helpful links to others in the industry to better serve us as we strive to give the best conditions to those wonderful addicts we call golfers. That's the point of this blog, and I hope you enjoy it.

My name is David Smith. Saskatchewan born, Albertan taught, and hopefully, turf green all the way through.

Enjoy,
David S.