The Hard Lessons Learned The horrible winter of 2014 – and the resulting carnage – has led Ontario superintendents to consider how they operate. by Robert Thompson
in an attempt to make them more resilient to any problems this winter. However, raising green heights comes with some potential issues, ade Beaudoin recognizes the duality of the situation. namely the notion that golfers still relate mowing height in direct Superintendents – along with practically everyone else in proportion to speed. That means many are reluctant to embrace raising the Ontario golf industry – are tired of talking about the disastrous mowing heights, even if they will have better greens the following year. spring of 2014. They are worn out by the discussion of dead grass, “We’ve faced a bit of an arms race in the golf business,” says Beaudoin. of ice and snow, of temperatures that dipped into the double digits “Golfers have come to expect great greens really late into the year.” below zero in March. But Beaudoin says most of his members didn’t notice the But Beaudoin, the longtime superintendent at St. Thomas Golf change, which saw him raise the mowing height by 30 per cent and Country Club, a course that saw the same kind of carnage that late in the year and promote more nitrogen in the fall. hit many Ontario courses last year, also understands that you can’t Al Schwemler, the property manager at Toronto Golf Club, a simply ignore what happened, historic Harry Colt design, says put your head in a snow bank and he also raised his mowing height hope it doesn’t recur. in the fall in the hope of creating “The truth is what happened But one thing that seems to be almost universal heartier turf heading into the last year has everyone concerned,” winter freeze. among turf managers with Poa greens is they admits Beaudoin, who had “We have done everything we temporary greens on much of his all have raised mowing heights in an attempt to can do to promote healthy grass course until the end of May last and a better growing environment,” create heartier, healthier greens. year. “I’m not jumping to any he says. conclusions. This year could be FIND AN AMBASSADOR fine or we could have the wrong TO YOUR GOLFERS snow melt and lose it in 48 hours. You just can’t tell for sure.” Greig Barker, Superintendent at Highland Country Club, isn’t sure Because of that uncertainty, Beaudoin made subtle changes in what when the greens on his Stanley Thompson golf course in the heart of he did with the course. His goal was to be forward-thinking and try London, Ontario started to die last year, and in the end it didn’t matter to prepare for whatever surprises the winter could throw at him. He all that much. He had a problem and needed to explain to members explained what he was trying to accomplish to his members, and tried not only what the issue was, but how he was dealing with it moving to educate them on the situation at the 90-year old course, which has forward. Being proactive with communications, setting objectives Poa Annua or annual bluegrass greens. that are achievable and are communicated to members, and avoiding Beaudoin is like many of his peers – trying to take whatever lessons rumors among golfers, are key takeaways from the disastrous spring, he learned from the mess that was the spring of 2014 and put them Barker explains. And part of that communication is connecting into play into improving his course moving forward. And despite personally with the members, which was the case for superintendents what occurred last year, he’s optimistic. at both pubic and private courses. “I’m actually really looking forward to the golf season starting,” he “You have to be available to talk to members – that’s part of our job,” says. “I’m really excited for it.” he says. “These days members need to be updated, and if they want to With that, Green is Beautiful looks at some of what superintendents know something, you need to be able to explain it to them. It is just the in Ontario took away from the turf death of last year, and how they are way our current world works with social media. Our members wanted moving forward with that knowledge. to be assured we were doing everything we could do.” USE THE FALL TO PREPARE In Barker’s case, he turned to Mike Silver, the club’s longtime head There have been plenty of ideas for how to deal with the potential pro, to help explain what was going on with the course. Silver regularly challenge of an extremely cold winter. Tarps had mixed success for held court around the first tee on weekends, offering insights into the courses, while other superintendents talk about stripping off some turf recovery process. in an attempt to keep water from pooling and freezing on their greens, “He became my ambassador to the members, and that was really as well as the removal of any collar dams. None of these ideas come important,” Barker says. “It was finding the right guy who understands with any guarantees, it seems. the club, has a connection to the members. That was really significant.” But one thing that seems to be almost universal among turf That works with private clubs, but public courses face a different managers with Poa greens is they all have raised mowing heights in circumstance. While they can still communicate directly to their an attempt to create heartier, healthier greens. Every superintendent customers through social media and email lists, word can quickly contacted for this story said they raised green heights slightly in the fall spread through the Internet if a course has struggles with its greens
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