HIGHLAND CC GROUNDS

Mild weather has returned this week (at least for a few days) and we are taking advantage of it. Today we put a little bit more fertilizer out in some of the rough areas that tend to be in "rough" shape come spring time (heavy shade, tree competition, poorly drained). We are also out topdressing approaches and the practice range tee. This application of sand will help protect the approaches from the drying winds of early winter. As many people have noticed from our twitter feed, last Wednesday we put down the permeable covers on our greens. It was a perfect day with sunshine and virtually no wind to speak of (wind can reak havoc on cover installation). With fall and early winter comes opportunities for professional developement. This week I will be attending a full day seminar in the Kitchener area. There will be talks concerning IPM, Turf disease diagnostics, renovation work performed at Toronto GC and an interesting lecture from Ed Farnsworth, the Golf Course Superintendent...

Since the golf course closed (8 days ago) we have had more rain than we did in all of October. We were able to complete all of the fertilizing and spraying that was scheduled before the wet weather set in. The weather has made getting around the golf course rather difficult. We have removed a number of smaller coniferous trees that were encroaching on larger, healthier trees throughout the golf course. This will allow the larger native trees to flourish and grow to their natural shape and stature. As the rainy weather has kept us inside for a few days, we have made progress in the sanding and painting of course hardware (stakes, martin houses, yardage markers, etc). Our equipment manager Al, has been servicing the club's fleet of golf cars for next season as well. Today we are going to continue the bunker work on #17. Our intention is to have the liner, sand bags, topsoil and sod installed by the week's end. We will be breaking from the bunkers on Wednesday to put down the cove...

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)...