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.

Sandy Point Golf Course Design

As a part of our construciton and design course, our class had the opportunity to design and layout a 18-hole golf course. We were excited when we learned our designs would be done on an actual location where a golf course will be developed. The location is at Gull Lake in Alberta. There is currently a proposal to build a resort area, and the golf course is a major part of the project. The idea is to create a family friendly location for people to live or visit on vacation.

Location for the Sandy Point Resort located on the west side of Gull Lake

This project was not only fun, but also challenging. It took creativity and patience to design the course. Along the way our instructor, Jason Pick, taught us about design strategies and practices, both historical and modern. We took these ideas from lecture and put them into practice with our designs. The program we used for this was AutoCAD 2011. This allowed us to give a visual representation of our designs with relative ease and speed.

My completed 18-hole design

There were a couple design features I focused on in my design. I wanted to make sure that it was designed with a front and back nine. Since this is a resort course for the whole family, I wanted the course to have that flexibility in the ways it can be played. Another major design feature was the course routing. I wanted to ensure safety for the areas around the golf course. The last thing I would want is for golf balls to be flying into RV sites and the road. Since the majority of golf players hit to the right, the outside holes all go clockwise. This will reduce the amount of shots that may fly out of bounds.

The last part of the project was to create a presentation and deliver it to the our whole class as well as the developer of the development. Each student had the opportunity to walk through their design and receive input from our guest. I was pleased with my presentation and overall design, and it was well received. Click here to download the presentation.

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.