Record keeping, IPM

Golf Course Superintendents have always been very diligent about record keeping. We keep records on pesticide applications, fertilizer applications, cultural practices as well as budgetary items, health and safety issues and HR related issues.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) has been a component of turf grass management for as long as I have been in this business. In recent times pesticides have come under rigorous scrutiny both on the municipal and provincial government levels. Currently golf courses are exempt from the pesticide ban.

All golf courses are now required to obtain full accreditation through the IPM Council of Ontario. This is a rather lengthy process that we here at HCC have been working on for the past two seasons. Before you can start the process I was required to write an exam to become the agent for the club. Secondly, we apply for the first annual desk review, this accreditation step requires submission of fertilizer and pesticide application records as well as application equipment calibration forms and course condition monitoring sheets, that are filled our daily throughout the golf season. Finally, we are also required to have an on site audit (scheduled for 2010). As I eluded to earlier in this post, this is really just a formalization of what most of us have been doing for years. In early 2009 we completed the second step and are now awaiting the on site audit. Although, it doesn't end there, we are required to submit all of our application records annually.

This week we are getting our "ducks in a row" and preparing our annual desk review package for submission.

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Bunker construction on # 17

The past few days we have been able to make great strides on the bunker project on #17. All three of the new bunkers have been shaped and drained. Tuesday morning Ian Andrew our consulting golf course architect, will be painting the final contours in the bunkers. We will then install the bunker boards and back fill with topsoil to the new edges. Once the edges are established we will add the new sand and await sod. The rain and snow that we recieved over the last couple of days has had little effect on the rough shaping process. We are hoping for some drier days to complete the fine tuning and sod prepping.

Golf Course Update

As our season slowly comes to a end our department has been working away at year end projects. We installed drainage in a few areas of the practice range and short game area. These areas were perpetually wet and caused turf and aesthetic issues. We have also been chipping away at the bunkers on #17, smoothing out the faces and recreating the grass edges. These bunkers suffered some severe frost heaving in the faces during the winter after they were built. Our team has removed a number of trees and brush from around our maintenance facility to allow some expansion of our operation. We are working away at clearing space to install aggregate bins and sufficient staff parking. This will also allow delivery trucks and semi's to access our facility without any issues. We are also removing the fallen trees and brush from the woodlot on the right side of #16 fairway. This is a challenging area to work as it is a peat bog and remains wet even in the hottest and driest of summers (like 2010)...

Finish Grading on #2 & #12 Tees

With the great weather that we have had the last two days, we were able to get the tees shaped and all of the tee mix out to the tees. In this picture here, Derek Vergeer (our contractor) is finish grading #2 Tee to be ready for sod. Unfortunately the forecast is for rain the next couple of days and could hold us up for a bit. We are doing out best to complete these projects in a timely manner, of course with this blog we will keep you updated.

HIGHLAND CC GROUNDS

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