HIGHLAND CC GROUNDS

Mother nature brought winter on with a vengeance this week. Between late Sunday and Wednesday we received over 1 metre (3.3 feet) of snow. This year in an effort to increase the value and accountability to the grounds department, we assumed the responsibility of the snow plowing and removal duties here at the club. Over the next couple of years the costs of snow removal equipment will pay for itself with the savings previously paid out to contractors. Some may think that we are already regretting taking on this task but it is actually the contrary. Performing these duties "in house" allows us to focus on our property like no contractor possibly could. We were able to monitor conditions and evaluate as the storm continued, 24 hours a day for the 3 days. Other than plowing and pushing back snow banks we have been working away on some equipment and are in the beginning stages of staff recruitment for the 2011 season.

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)...

This past week proved to be rather productive. We completed our greens topdressing and solid tining on schedule. We also managed to install the burlap bags in the fairway bunker on #17, again to create a bullnosed edge that will hold up to the test of time. The wet weather has made mowing difficult, we are trying to get a couple last mowings on our fairways and tees before we apply our snow mould protection and late fall fertilizer. This week looks promising to complete the last mowings of all the short stuff. Greens will be mowed today (Saturday) and again on Monday. Following the mowing on Monday, we will be applying another healthy application of topdressing sand on greens and approaches. Once the sand settles into the turf canopy we will be applying our snow mould protection to greens as well as some late season magnesium and manganese fertilizers. Once we close the golf course, we will be applying our dormant fertilizer to greens. On Tuesday and Wednesday we will be winterizing th...

Just a reminder...we will be closing both the Practice Range and the Short Game Area for the season as of November 1st. Therefore the last day to use either of these areas is Sunday, October 31st. Following closing we will be solid tining, topdressing and fertilizing the practice tee and short game area. We will also be installing some drainage in both areas as well.

We have been working on some of our bunker surrounds. Between mowing grass and blowing leaves, this time of year has left little time for project work. We focused our energy on the greenside bunker on #5. The grass was thin and weak due to drought stress and sand accumulation from bunker play. As you will see from the pictures, we stripped the sod and began to rebuild the edges. This bunker had lost its original shape from edging, trimming and wear and tear of mowers, etc. To restablish the size and shape we dug back as far as the sand was into the surrounds, where the grass had grown through the sand into the bunker. Once we found the soil edge, we used soil filled burlap bags to establish a rolled over lip, to create the old style look that our golf course deserves. This method will eliminate the soil lip that creates issues with contamination and an unnatural look. In some cases we will not need to use the bags, for example on the back sides we can usually just dig out the soil and...