Field Trip to Burlington G&CC

Our visit to Burlington G&CC has by far been the best trip yet. We met up with superintendent Dean Baker and assistant Jeff Lockhart who took us on a great tour of the course pointing out several issues they are addressing to provide the members with more of a golf course type feel as David Otis from the USGA pointed out, the course has turned into a really nice park. 
Dean has been in the industry since he was 15 years old, rounding up most of his career at Glen Abby, this was his first year at Burlington. It appears as though Dean and Jeff have a very good relationship and have great communications skills allowing them to win over the membership’s support to make changes to the course. These changes are necessary to maintain healthy turf. With an operating budget of 1.2 million Dean and Jeff have been given the go-ahead to, as Dean says, “have some fun”. Dean stresses the importance of fertility for protection from diseases and insects. If the turf is kept healthy then it should be able to fight off anything, only spray chemicals when necessary. Removing trees will also help the turf to receive full sunlight to promote turf health, especially for bentgrass. Dean has also taken a new step in deciding not to cover greens over the winter because it allows the bad Poa to survive. Why cover greens if you don’t cover fairways and tees. 
Both Dean and Jeff had some great advice for us and appear to do their job so well they make it look easy. Superintendents have always been the backbone of a golf course but have only recently been recognized as that. At the end of the day, members aren’t there for the club facilities or food, they are there to play golf. 

You can follow Dean on his blog:   http://www.burlingtongolfclub.com/index.cfm?ID=184

Testing Poa supina in the Shade

At the back of our house we have three matured serviceberry trees (Amelanchier laevis). Each year the amount of sunlight that reaches the landscape below decreases. As you can see, the shade began to thin out the turf below which mainly consisted of Annual Bluegrass, Kentucky Blue and Ryegrass. The conditions were deteriorating each year.

Working at St. Thomas G&CC we were re-soding a few tee decks and I was given the opportunity to try a newly introduced species known as Poa supina. Supina is a cool season grass known to be shade tolerant and is distinct from many other grasses because of its lighter green colour. I received the Poa supina sod late spring 2011 and installed it in the narrow path area beneath the serviceberries, where minimal sun was reaching the turf.

The path beneath the trees before.

Poa Supina right after installation

After Installation

Fall 2012 - The Poa supina showed great success in the summer of 2011 and summer of 2012. Summer 2012 was a challenge because of the heat, I was watering it every couple days to keep it cool and moist.

     

Late September 2013 - After just over three years, the Poa supina has yet to disappoint. It loves cool weather so it tends to come out of dormancy earlier and go into dormancy later than any other grass on our property. Highly recommended if you can afford it!!                            

Link:  http://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/mitgc/article/1996215.pdf

Observe Other Practices

Observing and understanding practices used by other courses can be beneficial to improving your practices. This is where communication is important, either with other superintendents or turf managers in your area, having good connections with them is key.

A helpful resource I have found is a blog from Pinehurst golf club in Colorado. They keep their blog up to date and post articles I have found to be useful. Ontario golf courses can relate to their practices because it is roughly the same climate, however they may experience winter conditions slightly more extreme than ours. It appears as though they have access to all the newest equipment which allows you to see what works well and what doesn't.

Link:  http://pinehurstcc.blogspot.ca


Photo of the week:
A cutworm found on my green the other day. I haven't had to much of an issue with them so far, but I can tell their numbers are increasing. Having a clay loam based green makes it easy to spot their holes and I am usually able to flood them out.

Importance of morning sun on turf

This is a small scale adjustment to help my backyard green obtain more morning sunlight. The back portion of the green was really struggling because it did not receive sunlight until about 11 am in June and July. As a result, the turf in this area became infected with disease, mostly dollar spot. Without the morning sunlight, the grass plant remains wet for an extended period of time making it more prone to disease.  By mid July, this section of the green was in very poor condition and I came to realize that at least one tree had to come out and the others limbed up. Below is a picture before any work was done.

In the fall I removed the smaller Austrian Pine and limbed up three others that were further back as well as take out the bushes for a better visual from the back end of the yard. The second picture shows the result after the work was done, the back portion now receives morning sunlight. Because it was late in the fall, sunlight to the front is blocked by a shed, but in the summer months this is not an issue. 

Those changes were made in 2012. In 2013 the turf showed major improvement. Below is a picture of the green in late August 2013 at around 10am. It is more open in the surrounds behind the green, allowing not just for morning sunlight, but for better airflow as well. It is also important to note, if turf has too much shade, it provides a better growing environment for Poa Annua. However if shade is reduced or eliminated, its gives a much better chance for bent grass to compete.  

Link:  http://bentgrassdoctor.com/maintaining_greens_in_a_hot_climate