What to Do Next? There's Always Something...

There are alot of projects on the go at Capilano. I will try to start making some posts of these projects and their progression. The first is some work that was done behind the 8th green. This area used to be treed and would create excess shade on the green leading to disease problems. The trees were removed last winter and have been replaced with an attractive mounded area. Trees and small shrubs have now been planted and the area may be used as a nursery for trees. There is still more work to be done in the future, but right now it looks amazing.

Installing irrigation to water the sod that would be planted

 

 

 A progression of the mounds being formed

The final product

Watching the Pros

I'm a big fan of the game. Despite the heartbreak and pain it dolls out on a regular basis, I keep coming back to the first tee in hopes of improving. I also love watching the PGA Tour. Watching guys like Bubba Watson and Luke Donald make me believe that the game truly is easy (I am always quickly corrected of this mistake during my next round). Until this year, however, I have never had the oppurtunity to see the pros play in person. That changed this past July.

Two opportunities came my way. The first was the RBC Canadian Open being played at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in Vancouver. Knowing the tournament was approaching, I got in contact with the superintendent at Shaughnessy, Rob Barr and offered my assistance for the tournament. He brought me onto his team for the week of the Open, and I had the chance to see up close what it was like. It can be best summed up as organized chaos. There is always so much happening at any given time. I was blown away by just how many people it takes to pull off such an event. I enjoyed being apart of the team there and gaining insight into how things are done at another course. Watching the golf was a great bonus, and to be there when Sean O'Hair won was great.

Main duties for the week? Picking and filling divots.

The rough was the story of the week

Meeting up with a fellow classmate on the final day

The second opportunity was the RBC Invitational that was held at Capilano Golf and Country Club where I am currently working. This was a great event where twelve pros (including Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Mike Weir, Matt Kuchar, and Charl Scwartzel to name a few) came to play a charity event for the Mike Weir Foundation. It was exciting to host the pros on our own course and it was an opportunity to see them up close just having some fun. The compliments we received from them made it well worth the hard work and early morning to get it ready for an 8 AM shotgun. I hope in my future I will have the opportunity to be involved again with more PGA events.

 

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.