Pre-Season Update

Entering into the spring season off one of the strangest winters of weather is like entering into the unknown.  Believe it or not, to date, we have had one extra day of snow cover (118 days) then last year. Unfortunately, one of the issues that may pose problems for us has been the very little accumulation of it. Last year at this time the 2' snow fence that surrounds the 4th green could not be seen, more then 50% of it is exposed this year. Conditions of fine turf areas (mainly greens) have been monitored throughout the winter and typically at this time of year samples are removed and brought inside.  The purpose of this is to evaluate its condition and monitor it's response to green up and growth rate under ideal, warm, spring like conditions.  An area that we will be paying close attention to is definitely the 6th green. As can be seen in the photo, an ice layer beneath the tarp definitely exists. In the 9th green photo, where there is no tarp, the layer of ice does not exist and all looks very good. As each green and green site is subject to different conditions, over the years we have begun treating them on an individual basis rather then blanketing them all with the same practices.  Examples of this include, size of snow fence, position of snow fence, amount of topdressing applied for wintering, installation of bunker boards, tarp, no tarp, etc. Below are some photo taken of conditions as of the beginning of March.

9th Green

Looking under tarp on 6th green

6 Green sample

Winter Maintenance

Anyone near the golf course maintenance facility this time of year, will most likely hear the sound of grinding wheels, air ratchets, and other assorted power tools. Winter maintenance of golf course equipment is essential to keeping them sharp and operational. Throughout the season, reels are adjusted and touched-up (backlapped) once or twice a week, but winter is when we re-grind and re-set all the cutting angles and surfaces. A very precise gauge is used to ensure that the reels and bedknife are ground true. Below you can see the indicator being used on the reel grinder making sure all is true and level before grinding starts.  In addition to sharpening and grinding reels and blades, bearing are changed, grease joints are checked and lubricated, bushings are replaced, hydraulics are serviced and so on, making sure all is ready for the busy summer months ahead.

Setting up reel to grind

Adrien grinding fairway mower reel

Adrien grinding bedknife of fairway mower

Exploring an alternative source

In November, Pinter and Associates Ltd. (geotechnical engineers) were asked conduct a geological study as to whether there was evidence of a possible alternative water source available for irrigating the golf course. The intention is to reduce or, if possible, eliminate the amount of potable water (15,000,000 gallons per year) used to irrigate. The process to date has consisted of drilling three two inch boreholes known as test wells. The wells were bored down to a depth of approximately 40 feet and samples were taken every five feet to be brought back to the lab for analysis.  On Monday December 5th, Pinter and Associates Ltd. returned to further analyse and sample the monitoring wells.  Over the next few weeks they will be generating a report of their findings along with a recommendation as to whether or not it is viable to proceed with the next steps in attempting to extract ground water for the purpose of irrigating the golf course.

Boring test well

Removing soil sample for analysis

Installing test well

Blowing Snow

Typically, seeing a headline as this would mean greens are being cleared and golf is shortly around the corner. However, this winter has not brought average weather and therefore this is not your typical snow blowing.  Having roughly only an inch of snow in some areas on the greens and others that are bare right down to the tarp, we figured we would try an experiment to produce our own snow in order to increase the insulation value. Typically blown snow becomes quite hard packed and in some cases actually forms a bond to the turf or the tarp which is undesireable, however, with the temperature soaring to plus six last Tuesday the result by Thursday was a very hard "crust" layer on top of the snow.  By having the crust on top, we decided this may be a good time to test this theory as the snow blown onto the green would just stay on top of the crust and not form any sort of bond.  On Thursday we hauled five loads of snow from the local hockey rink which was spread out around the green surround and a snow blower was used to blow the snow onto the desired areas.  We will be monitoring conditions such as snow compaction, bonds created with existing snow, bonds created with the tarps, and the insulation value that was created. Determining the insulation value will be done by monitoring crown temperatures under the area where the snow was blown versus and area where it was not.