greenmaster
JULY/AUGUST 2014
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF CGSA
◗ L E A D E R S H I P ◗ A D V O C A C Y ◗ E D U C AT I O N
Falling for Muskoka The CGSA’s Annual Fall Field Day Heads to Ontario
PLUS ◗ Prepped and Polished: Achieving tournament-ready greens and rough ◗ The Travel Bug: Reid Solodan’s journey to China ◗ Communicate Proactively: Strategies to get your message out
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THE FOLLOWING COMPANIES GENEROUSLY SUPPORT THE CANADIAN GOLF SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCIATION THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS ON SPECIFIC EVENTS/PROGRAMS: CITCTS 2014 Bayer Environmental Science Civitas John Deere Golf Rain Bird International Syngenta Crop Protection Canada Inc.
Canadian Golf Superintendents Association Board of Directors 2014 – 2015 CHRISTIAN PILON, MS President Master Superintendent Mount Bruno Country Club 665 Chemin des Vingts, QC J3V 4P6 T: 450-653-1265 F: 450-653-8393 cpilon_mbcc@bellnet.ca KYLE KELLGREN
ADDITIONAL EVENTS Bayer Environmental Science – Fall Field Day John Deere Golf – Fall Field Day, Equipment Technician Award Club Car – Environmental Award The Toro Company – Future Superintendent Award, Classic Reception/Fall Field Day, Gordon Witteveen Award
Vice President Superintendent Jackfish Lodge Golf & Conference Centre PO Box 10, Cochin, SK S0M 0L0 T: 306-386-2150 F: 306-386-2840 superintendent@jackfishlodge.com
JAMES BEEBE Secretary Treasurer / Alberta Director Superintendent Priddis Greens Golf & CC 1 Priddis Greens Drive Priddis, AB T0L 1W0 T: 403-931-3391 F: 403-931-3219 jbeebe@priddisgreens.com
JOHN MILLS
485041_club.indd 1
6/30/10 3:13:01 PM
Past President Superintendent Northumberland Links Golf Club PO Box 2, Pugwash, Nova Scotia B0K 1L0 T: 902-243-2119 F: 902-243-3213 jwmills@ns.sympatico.ca
DARREN KALYNIUK
KENDALL COSTAIN
Manitoba Director Superintendent St. Boniface Golf & Country Club 100 Youville Street Winnipeg, MN R2H 2S1 T: 204-233-2497 F: 204-237-9794 darren@stbonifacegolfclub.com
Atlantic Director Golf Operations Manager Westfield Golf & Country Club 8 Golf Club Road Grand Bay-Westfield, NB E5K 3C8 T: 506-757-2907 kendallcostain@hotmail.com
JAMES FLETT, AGS
JOHN SCOTT, AGS
Ontario Director Superintendent Muskoka Lakes Golf & Country Club PO Box 280, 1330 Ferndale Road Port Carling, ON P0B 1J0 T: 705-765-3165 F: 705-765-6990 jflett@mlgcc.com
Quebec Director Superintendent Summerlea Golf and Country Club 1000 Route De Lotbiniere Vaudreuil – Dorion, QC J7V 8P2 T: 450-455-0929 F: 450-455-8898 john.scott@summerlea.com
GREG AUSTIN
PIERRE VEZEAU, AGS
British Columbia Director Superintendent Revelstoke Golf Club PO Box 9153 RP03 Revelstoke, BC V0E 3K0 T: 250-837-5000 F: 250-837-6123 gregaustin.rgc@gmail.com
Saskatchewan Director Superintendent Cooke Municipal Golf Club 900 – 22nd Street East Prince Albert, SK S6V 1P1 T: 306-763-2502 pvezeau@citypa.com
COVER PHOTO: The sixth green at Muskoka Lakes Golf & Country Club,
R AT E S A R E S E T F O R 2 0 1 4
site of the 2014 CGSA Fall Field Day. Credit: Jim Flett
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Advertising Contact: Bill Garrett, CEM Direct: 416-626-8873 ext. 224 Mobile: 905-330-6717 Fax: 416-626-1958
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CANADIAN GOLF SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCIATION
JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 3
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E DI TOR ’S N OTE ◗ BILL GARRETT JULY/AUGUST 2014
greenmaster VOL 49, NO. 4
GreenMaster is published six times a year (Jan/Feb, March/April, May/June, July/Aug, Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec) by the Canadian Golf Superintendents’ Association:
BILL GARRETT, CEM MANAGING EDITOR
◗ Communication is a hot topic right now. Jim Flett, CGSA director and superintendent at Muskoka Lakes Golf and Country Club delves into this area thoroughly in his article on page 32. I couldn’t help but notice, as I read through the article, there is little mention of the telephone. I can’t imagine this happening ten years ago, when the telephone (land line especially) was the primary business communication tool. I, personally, like using the phone. It’s big, heavy and looks impressive sitting on my desk. I like to think that all I have to do is dial a number and I can carry on a meaningful conversation with a friend, colleague or customer anytime I want. Very often, I am left with the sad reality of voicemail and go back to my keyboard, smartphone and iPad. Read Jim’s article for some helpful insight and suggestions on the latest ways to engage golfers, members and staff. The magazine you are reading now is an important part of the way we communicate with each other at the CGSA. The members of the Communication, Marketing and Public Relations Committee are deeply committed to connecting superintendents with each other and the broader turfgrass industry. In just a few weeks’ time, the CGSA standing committees will be meeting again. These member groups help to guide the board of directors and to shape the
CGSA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Ken Cousineau, CAE Tel: 416-626-8873 ext. 222 kcousineau@golfsupers.com
look of all present and future association business. The volunteer members serving on these committees give their time and expertise and in return receive recognition and feedback from their peers. When the volunteer forms come out next year, consider signing up according to your interests. If you are on a standing committee currently, I encourage you to participate in the conference calls and follow up on the issues between meetings. You will find the rewards well worth the time and energy. If you haven’t already registered for the 2014 Fall Field Day to be held at Jim Flett’s Muskoka Lakes Golf & Country Club on September 23, space will be going fast. Be sure to take in the full event and include the Seminar and 9–hole tournament at Deni Terenzio’s course, The Rock Golf Course on September 22 in your registration package. Read about both of these superintendents and their courses on page 20. There is a lot more to enjoy in this issue, including our regular features: Mechanic’s Corner, the Back Nine and Talk Back. I hope you enjoy what you see and continue to provide us with your comments and recommendations. GM
We want your feedback! Email us at: bgarrett@golfsupers.com
COMING EVENTS SEPTEMBER 23rd, 2014
FEBRUARY 2nd – 6th, 2015
CGSA Fall Field Day
Canadian International Turfgrass Conference and Trade Show
Muskoka Lakes Golf and Country Club Port Carling, Ontario Host Superintendent: James Flett, AGS
MANAGING EDITOR & ADVERTISING SALES: Bill Garrett, CEM Tel: 416-626-8873 ext. 224 bgarrett@golfsupers.com ASSISTANT EDITOR: Marc Cousineau marccousineau2@gmail.com
CANADIAN GOLF SUPERINTENDENTS’ ASSOCIATION 5399 Eglinton Avenue West, Suite 201 Toronto, ON M9C 5K6 Tel: 416-626-8873 / Toll Free: 800-387-1056 Fax: 416-626-1958 cgsa@golfsupers.com www.golfsupers.com PRINTING PROVIDED BY Blenheim INK 4305 Fairview Street, Suite 232 Burlington, ON L7L 6E8 Tel: 289-337-4305 Fax: 289-337-4187 www.blenheim.ca Contact: Terry Davey | terry@blenheim.ca ART DIRECTION & DESIGN BY Jeanette Thompson Tel: 519-650-2024 jeanettethompson@mac.com ©2014 Canadian Golf Superintendents Association. All rights reserved. The views expressed by the authors of articles or letters published in GreenMaster are not those of the Association and, therefore, the Association shall not be held liable for any of these views. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the Association. GreenMaster® is a registered trademark of the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association. All rights reserved. CANADA POST PUBLICATIONS MAIL PUBLICATIONS AGREEMENT No. 40025905 Return undeliverable copies to: Canadian Golf Superintendents’ Association 5399 Eglinton Avenue West, Suite 201 Toronto, ON M9C 5K6
Telus Convention Centre Calgary, Alberta
JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 5
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CON TE N TS ◗ JULY / AUGUST 2014
20
30
IN THIS ISSUE
DEPARTMENTS FROM THE EDITOR
5
14
The Long And Short Of It
Preparing greens and rough for a big tournament
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
8
16
Defense Activators
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
10
20
Muskoka Marvels
NEWS FROM THE GREEN
12
MECHANIC’S CORNER
35
24
Med-Arb is Better!
THE BACK NINE
37
TALK BACK
38
26
An alternative to pesticides for disease control A Fall Field Day 2014 preview Mediation-arbitration explained
Adventure to China
Reid Solodan’s experience growing turf half a world away
30
Canada’s Oldest Super
32
Proactive Communication Strategies to Get Your Message Out
Doug Walker still keeping the greens at 80
37 JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 7
V IE WP OI N T ◗ CHRISTIAN PILON
“It’s amazing what can be accomplished when no one needs to take the credit.” Ralph Waldo Emerson CHRISTIAN PILON, PRESIDENT
Together Everyone Achieves More Ensemble Tous Accomplissent Plus
• TS
LF S GO
UP ERINTEN DE N
◗ Lors de ma réflexion menant à ce message, j’ai demandé à ma famille s’ils pouvaient me donner de l’inspiration tournant autour du travail d’équipe. Grace, notre fille de 9 ans me dit” Papa, tu devrais parler de la famille, c’est ce qu’il y a de plus important.” Elle avait entièrement raison; nos familles devraient toujours passer
OCIATION • CA ASS N
A
S SURIN NE DE TEN EN D DI
CGSA Fall Field Day
on sustainability. Teamwork is a theme that has come across indirectly, on many occasions in our discussions. Superintendent associations, local, provincial, national or international all exist for similar reasons and I can see that some teamwork will be beneficial for all levels of associations. The same goes for the greater golf industry. I am proud of the role that CGSA plays and will continue to play at NAGA. Together, we can have an extremely positive effect on the enhancement of the game of golf. I am a strong believer in the value of teamwork and the benefits that come with it. GM
N
rules, not only to our work environment but also to our respective families, our great association and the golf industry as a whole. When most people think of teamwork, they think of sports first; but close collaboration is vital to human achievement at all levels, including business teams and society as a whole. We all know what can come to a team with a strong teamwork culture: Engagement, passion, positive attitude, strong service culture, individual coaching, mentoring, less turnover, accountability, respect, better communication, things are done for the greater good, creative thinking, efficiency, consideration of individual goals and dreams, loyalty and extraordinary success. These outcomes are all extremely desirable and can benefit any team. We are in a challenging time for the golf industry and I am proud to lead our board of directors in strong discussions
E GOLF • CANAD TD IA AN
◗ In my reflection leading to this message, I asked my family if they had any inspiration revolving around teamwork. Grace, our 9-year-old daughter, said, “Papa, you should talk about family, it’s the most important thing”. She was absolutely right; our families should always come first in our extremely busy lives. One good way to allow us to keep our priorities straight, while achieving success, is to foster a culture of teamwork and accountability in the work place and everywhere around us. Once established, this culture can allow us to focus on the right thing at the right time and ensure a quality presence for family and loved ones. Author John J. Murphy outlines 10 rules for high performance teamwork in his book titled “Pulling Together” published by Simple Truth. This book has inspired me and I encourage everyone to read it. When reading this book, one can correlate most of these teamwork principles and
Hole #13, Muskoka Lakes Golf & Country Club
Tuesday September 23, 2014
8 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
Muskoka Lakes Golf & Country Club Port Carling, Ontario
Host Superintendent: Jim Flett
en premier dans nos vies extrêmement mouvementées. Une bonne façon de nous permettre de garder nos priorités à la bonne place, tout en atteignant nos objectifs, est de mettre en place une culture de travail d’équipe et de responsabilité au travail et partout autour de nous. Une fois établi, cette culture peut nous permettre de mettre nos efforts à la bonne place au bon moment et d’assurer une présence de qualité pour la famille et nos proches. L’auteur John J. Murphy souligne 10 règles pour le travail d’équipe de haute performance dans son livre « Pulling Together » publié par Simple Truth. Ce livre m’a inspiré et je vous encourage à le lire. En lisant ce livre, nous pouvons faire un lien entre ces règles et principes de travail d’équipe, non seulement dans notre environnement de travail mais également à nos familles respectives, à notre grande association ainsi qu’à l’industrie du golf en entier. Quand la plupart des gens pensent au travail d’équipe, ils penseront aux sports en premier; mais une étroite collaboration est
vitale à l’accomplissement humain à tous les niveaux incluant les équipes de travail et la société en entier. Nous savons tous ce qu’il peut résulter pour une équipe qui démontre une grande culture de travail d’équipe : Engagement, passion, attitude positive, puissante culture de service, coaching individuel mentorat, moins de roulement de personnel, responsabilité, respect, meilleure communication, les choses son fait pour le bien collectif, pensée créative, efficacité, les buts et rêves individuels sont considérés, loyauté et succès extraordinaire. Tous des points extrêmement souhaitables qui peuvent bénéficier chaque équipe. Nous sommes dans un temps rempli de défis pour l’industrie du golf et je suis fier de mener notre conseil d’administration
dans de fortes discussions concernant la durabilité. Le travail d’équipe est un thème qui ressort indirectement de nos discussions. Les associations de surintendants au niveau local, provincial, national et international existent toutes pour des raisons similaires et je peux voir que du travail d’équipe sera bénéfique pour tous les niveaux d’association. La même chose va pour la grande industrie du golf. Je suis extrêmement fier du rôle que nous jouons et que nous continuerons de jouer au sein de NAGA. Ensemble nous pouvons avoir un effet extrêmement positif pour le bien du golf. Je crois fortement à la valeur du travail d’équipe et aux bénéfices qui viennent avec. GM
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JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 9
V IE WP OI N T ◗ KEN COUSINEAU
KEN COUSINEAU, CAE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
“The CGSA survey consistently has more than a 30% response rate, making it a reliable source of benefit and compensation data relative to the golf course management component of the golf business.” Ken Cousineau, CGSA Executive Director
Survey Provides Value to Golf Industry Enquête précieuse d’industrie du golf ◗ The CGSA Benefits and Compensation survey has been conducted since 1992 and annually since 1996. For the past six years, the data has been compiled by an independent, third-party survey company, Corporate Renaissance Group (CRG), from Ottawa. CRG provides the benefits of leading-edge technology, well-designed research techniques, expert staff and complete objectivity, relative to the data being provided, allowing them to deliver an unbiased report based on the data collection process. The CGSA survey consistently has more than a 30% response rate, making it a reliable source of benefit and compensation data relative to the golf course management component of the golf business. The survey focus is on total compensation, including salary and benefits. By also capturing information on course location, facility type, rounds played, staff size, facility size, operating, capital and equipment budgets, age, gender, education level and many other demographic traits, the survey allows for the comparison of compensation trends across a wide range of variables. The infrastructure and expertise available at CRG allows us to provide customized results, on request, for practically any scenario that a superintendent, owner, manager or industry representative could define. For over a decade now, the survey has also addressed basic salary and compensation information with respect to assistant superintendents, equipment technicians, spray technicians, foremen, horticulturalists, irrigation specialists and administrative assistants. In 2008, the survey added a new section to look at some of 10 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
the key factors related to the equipment technician component of course operations. This data provides a valuable resource to superintendents and golf courses by giving them the opportunity to compare their current salary and benefit levels for many “standard” positions on a provincial, regional and national basis.
Salary Information:
Not surprisingly, the information that is usually of greatest interest to superintendents and others within the industry is the data related to salary. The true value of the CGSA survey is that the salary data, like any of the other quantitative information in the survey, can be compared based on a wide variety of parameters which can be combined to further refine the comparison. For example, our survey could provide data on average salary for superintendents in Alberta that work at 18-hole, private clubs. If, based on the parameters selected, the comparison would allow for individual club information to be identified, the survey data would not be released. Some of the key findings from our 2013 survey include: • the average annual salary for superintendents for 2013 was $82,934, a 2.25% increase over the 2012 average and a 11.95% increase over the past five years; • the average annual salary for larger courses (27+ holes) was $93,423, approximately 1.16% over 2012 levels; • other average salary parameters for superintendents include:
• male salaries averaged $82,959, a difference of $15,346 over the average female salary of $67,613; • certified superintendents averaged $93,665, as compared to the non-certified average of $77,869, a difference of $15,796 or just over 20%; • the average salary for clubs with over 50,000 rounds per year was $109,162 and the average for courses with less than 20,000 rounds was $76,832; • The ratio of superintendent salary to operating budget was 16.0%. This is the same as the ratio that was calculated for 2009 Since then, the average for this factor has fluctuated between 15% and 17%; The total compensation package for superintendents averaged approximately $93,979 in 2013, an increase of 0.71% over the comparable 2012 package. From 2009 to 2013, the increase in average total compensation measured approximately 5.99%, or an average of 1.2% per year. Total compensation as a percentage of total golf course operating budget was 14.9% in 2013 and as a percentage of the facility operating budget, it was 8.5%. These are just some of the parameters that are available for comparison purposes. Besides comparing salaries, the data also allows for comparisons of benefit information using the same parameters, as well as being able to compare information for other staff positions, budget expenditures for operating, equipment and capital construction projects. It also accounts for levels of education, certification, bonuses, hours of work, vacation allowances and
several other indicators. The value of the survey is enhanced not only by the ability to customize the information to answer your questions, but by the fact that we now have 18 years of information, the past eight of which are in a data format that allows for easy comparisons. This creates many opportunities for superintendents, owners, managers and the golf sector to have valid information, readily available, to make whatever comparisons are required. GM ◗ L’enquête de l’ACSG sur les avantages sociaux et la rémunération existe depuis 1992. Depuis 1996, elle est réalisée annuellement. Au cours des six dernières années, les données ont été compilées par une tierce partie, Corporate Renaissance Group (CRG), qui est une entreprise de sondage indépendante d’Ottawa. Cette entreprise nous offre de nombreux avantages : une technologie de pointe, des techniques de recherche bien conçues, du personnel spécialisé et une objectivité absolue en ce qui a trait aux données fournies. Nous obtenons donc un rapport impartial, en conformité avec le processus de collecte des données. Le taux de réponse à cette enquête dépasse toujours les 30%, ce qui en fait une source fiable de données sur les avantages sociaux et la rémunération des gestionnaires de terrains de golf. L’enquête insiste tout particulièrement sur la rémunération totale, y compris le salaire et les avantages sociaux. En recueillant également des informations sur l’emplacement du terrain de golf, le type de parcours, les rondes jouées, le nombre d’employés, la dimension du club, son mode de fonctionnement, son budget d’immobilisation, l’âge, le sexe, le niveau de scolarité des employés et plusieurs autres caractéristiques démographiques, l’enquête permet d’établir la comparaison des tendances de la rémunération entre un grand nombre de variables. Grâce à son infrastructure et à son expertise, CRG nous permet de fournir des résultats personnalisés, pour presque toutes sortes de scénarios qu’un surintendant, un propriétaire, un gestionnaire ou un représentant de
l’industrie pourraient envisager. Depuis maintenant plus de dix ans, l’enquête s’intéresse également au salaire de base et à la rémunération des adjoints du surintendant, techniciens de l’équipement, techniciens en pulvérisation, contremaîtres, horticulteurs, spécialistes de l’irrigation et adjoints administratifs. En 2008, nous avons ajouté une nouvelle section à l’enquête pour examiner certains des facteurs clés reliés à la composante touchant aux techniciens de l’équipement sur un terrain de golf. Ces données fournissent une ressource précieuse aux surintendants et à tous les employés des terrains de golf, en leur permettant de comparer les salaires et avantages sociaux de plusieurs emplois « standards » sur une base régionale, provinciale, et nationale.
Information sur les salaires
Comme on pouvait s’y attendre, l’information qui intéresse le plus les superintendants et les autres intervenants de l’industrie a trait aux salaires. L’intérêt réel de l’enquête de l’ACSG c’est que les données sur les salaires, comme toute l’information quantitative que nous y retrouvons, peuvent être comparées à partir d’une large variété de paramètres et recoupées de manière à raffiner la comparaison. Par exemple, notre enquête peut fournir des données sur le salaire moyen des surintendants en Alberta qui travaillent dans des clubs privés de 18 trous. Toutefois, si, selon les paramètres choisis, la comparaison permettait d’identifier le club dont il est question, ces données ne seraient pas rendues publiques. Voici certaines des principales conclusions de notre enquête de 2013 : • le salaire annuel moyen des surintendants pour 2013 était de 82 934$, soit une augmentation de 2,25% à comparer à la moyenne de 2012 et de 11,95% à comparer aux cinq dernières années; • le salaire annuel moyen sur les plus grands parcours (27 trous et +) était de 93 423$, soit environ 1,16% de plus à comparer au niveau de 2012; • voici d’autres paramètres de salaires moyens pour les surintendants :
“Le taux de réponse à cette enquête dépasse toujours les 30%, ce qui en fait une source fiable de données sur les avantages sociaux et la rémunération des gestionnaires de terrains de golf.” Ken Cousineau, directeur général de l’ACSG
• le salaire moyen des hommes était de 82 959$, une différence de 15 346$ sur le salaire moyen des femmes qui était de 67 613$; • les surintendants agréés faisaient en moyenne un salaire de 93 665$, à comparer à la moyenne des salaires des surintendants non agréés qui était de 77 869$, une différence de 15 796$ ou un peu plus de 20%; • le salaire moyen des clubs où se jouent plus de 50 000 rondes par année était de 109 162$ et le salaire moyen dans les clubs où se jouent moins de 20 000 rondes était de 76 832$; • Le ratio du salaire des superintendants par rapport au budget de fonctionnement était de 16,0%. Le même ratio avait été calculé pour 2009. Depuis, la moyenne de ce facteur a fluctué entre 15% et 17%; • La rémunération globale des surintendants était de 93 979$ en moyenne en 2013, une augmentation de 0,71% par rapport à 2012. De 2009 à 2013, l’augmentation de la rémunération globale a été approximativement de 5,99%, ou une moyenne de 1,2% par année. La rémunération globale en tant que pourcentage du budget de fonctionnement du parcours de golf était de 14,9% en 2013 et de 8,5% par rapport au budget de fonctionnement de tout le club. Plusieurs autres paramètres peuvent être utilisés aux fins de comparaison. Les données permettent non seulement de comparer les salaires, mais également les avantages sociaux à l’aide des mêmes paramètres, les données concernant les autres employés, ainsi que les dépenses budgétaires de fonctionnement, d’équipement et des plans d’aménagement. On y retrouve également de l’information sur les niveaux de scolarité, l’homologation, les primes, les heures de travail, les indemnités de congés et plusieurs autres indicateurs. La pertinence de l’enquête est non seulement renforcée par la possibilité de personnaliser l’information pour répondre à vos questions, mais également par le fait que nous possédons maintenant de l’information sur une période de 18 ans, dont les huit dernières sont en format de données qui permettent facilement d’établir des comparaisons. Les surintendants, les propriétaires, les directeurs et tout le secteur du golf disposent d’une information valide, facilement accessible, permettant toutes sortes de recoupements. GM JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 11
NE WS F ROM TH E G R EEN ◗ MARC COUSINEAU
Remembering CGSA Member Peter Bysouth ◗ Peter Bysouth, a long-time member of the CGSA and an active member of both the local and golf community, passed away in June. Bysouth was a member of the CGSA for 10 PETER BYSOUTH, AGS years and was very active in association activities. He was a member of the Communications Committee for several years. Bysouth was one of the very first superintendents to write the Accredited Golf Superintendent’s (AGS) Exam, pass it and receive the designation after the CGSA implemented the program in 2006. Bysouth’s kindness, passion and resolve can be characterized by his successful 2013 quest to play 24 straight hours of golf to raise money for victims of last summer’s floods in southern Alberta. Bysouth and golfing partner/colleague David Holoiday raised over $4,000 for courses reeling from the natural disaster. “There is a very large empty hole in the Maintenance Department,” said a press release from Mabel Lake Resort and Golf Course, where Bysouth had worked since 2006. “Peter was a leader that drew a tremendous amount of loyalty out of his staff.”
Next Generation of Turfgrass Professionals Gather in Charlotte, NC ◗ Dozens of students from top turfgrass programs around the world traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina in May for Jacobsen’s annual Future Turf Managers event. The three-day event gave students an FUTURE TURF MANAGERS 2014
opportunity to network and learn from several turfgrass industry professionals. The program included a chance to meet with top golf superintendents and sports field managers, hear presentations on wideranging topics and take a sneak peak of Jacobsen’s turf maintenance equipment. The event bred optimism in the attendees, many of them saying the three-day trip made them hopeful for their future careers and success for the future of golf. “Overall the experience has made me more confident of my potential for success in the turf industry,” said Dustin Harris, a recent graduate of Oklahoma State University’s turfgrass program. “Although the turf industry has had its struggles, I feel good about my opportunities.” Attendees must be recommended by professors at turfgrass programs. Students were selected from thirty colleges and universities including Penn State University, Mississippi State University, Iowa State University, North Dakota State University, Rutgers and the University of Florida. The group also included international students from Myerscough College in England and the North Melbourne Institute of Tafe in Australia. “The Future Turf Managers event showed how we can truly achieve our dreams if we go for it,” said Garrett Emerick, recent graduate from the University of Maryland and now Assistant Superintendent at Swan Point Yacht and Country Club near Washington, DC. “The event also showed us we have various different options in this industry, some I have never thought about until I attended.” The program benefits everyone involved, says Jacobsen president, David Withers. “Our annual Future Turf Managers event is really a win-win for attendees and Jacobsen,” says David Withers. “We get to hear the needs of the next generation of turf managers, who in turn get an insider’s look at what their day-to-day jobs will be like. It was great to hear so much optimism from the future leaders of our industry.”
Golf Industry Visits Parliament Hill, Releases Economic Impact Study ◗ Representatives from the National Allied Golf Associations visited Ottawa in June to lobby MPs on tax fairness for the 12 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
golf industry. The trip came on the heels of NAGA’s release of an Economic Impact Study, a report that looked at the state of the golf industry in Canada. NAGA representatives, including Ken Cousineau, executive director of the CGSA, set out to Parliament Hill to promote golf and request the law disallowing deductions for expenses incurred by business people entertaining clients at golf courses be reversed. Golf is one of three activities, along with hunting and boating, where businesses cannot deduct 50 per cent of expenses. “To Canada’s 2,300 golf course operators, who are now facing the most competitive marketplace in our industry’s history, this unfair tax legislation is no longer a tolerable disadvantage,” said Jeff Calderwood, NAGA spokesperson and CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association of Canada. This was NAGA’s second lobby day in the last three years and the group is looking into the future with eyes full of optimism. NAGA’s goal is to have the measure included in the 2015 federal budget when the books are expected to be balanced. The Economic Impact Study was also released in early June and was the culmination of year-long research into golf courses and consumer activity across the country. The results showed that the Canadian golf industry generates $14.3-billion in economic activity and the industry provides 300,100 golf-related jobs. It also showed that $533-million are generated at more than 37,000 charitable events at golf courses and that golf-related travel within Canada generates nearly $2.5-billion in tourism annually. Based on a nation-wide survey of more than 15,000 golfers and more than 300 golf courses in 10 provinces and three territories, the 2014 study provides followup data to the economic impact study released in 2009. “The economic impact study reinforces that the game of golf in Canada continues to have a tremendous financial, charitable, tourism and positive environmental impact in communities across Canada,” said Calderwood. “It is the country’s most popular sport. There are more golfers in Canada than there are hockey players.”
GOODWOOD GOLF CLUB IN UXBRIDGE, ONTARIO. GOODWOOD IS COMMONLY CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE MOST EXCLUSIVE GOLF COURSES IN CANADA
Can’t Touch This: Canada’s Most Exclusive Golf Courses ◗ If you have $20,000 and some luck, you might just be able to hit a shot on some of Canada’s most exclusive golf courses. Freelance golf reporter Robert Thompson recently came out with a list of courses across the country that limit membership to a select few. Most price tags on membership will leave you suffering from a case of sticker shock. Take Memphremagog, in Magog, Quebec, for example. The initiation fee is $200,000 and annual membership fees top $20,000. That number is expected to rise to $30,000 in the next few years. Paying that much money has its benefits; namely pristine conditions and little in the way of course traffic. Memphremagog only has 50 members willing to shell out the coin to play, resulting in only 3,000 rounds played per year, well below the average of 20,000 rounds at courses nation-wide. But money doesn’t always play a role in getting a crack at these exclusive courses. Connections and luck also factor into the equation. Goodwood in Uxbridge, Ontario, has only a couple handfuls of members and has continued the vision of its founder, the late Calgary oil entrepreneur Gordon Stollery, who wanted an ultra-exclusive club made of players passionate about golf. But don’t think you can buy a spot into Goodwood with money; there’s no huge
initiation and golfers are invited on an annual basis. Thompson lists Domaine Laforest in Chavleviox, Québec and Redtail Golf Club in Port Stanley, Ontario as other highly exclusive courses. But none of these come close to Craig McCaw’s golf club in James Island, B.C. Rumours abound about the course and its very secretive owner, telecommunication billionaire Craig McCaw. But there seems to some truth to the theory that the easiest way to play this course may be to buy the island. McCaw has placed the island on the market. It’s all yours for only $78 million.
Alberta Flood Recovery Continues One Year Later ◗ Some golf courses have returned to business as usual while others continue to recover more than a year after flooding ravaged properties across southern Alberta. The flood swept through dozens of courses in late June, 2013, affecting 30 properties in total and causing staggering financial losses. “Every golf course in the flood’s path was faced with unique challenges,” says Brent Ellenton, the 2013 executive director of the Alberta Golf Association, in a Calgary Herald interview. Some courses endured a tough 2013 and an equally challenging start to 2014 to come out on top this summer.
Mackenzie Meadow, for example, was hit hard by the rushing waters, but has seen the light at the end of the tunnel. At McKenzie Meadows, the river rushed through the heart of the course through a low-lying area along the 13th hole. The current gouged deep channels through some fairways and deposited rock, silt and debris. Garbage barrels, recycling bins, signs, tires and massive trees that were uprooted floated downstream and lay scattered on the property. “Fifteen holes were significantly damaged,” said course superintendent Wade Bishop in the Herald article. The course was closed for the rest of the 2013 season, but is now fully open and in excellent condition. “It’s been a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get back to where we are today,” says Bishop. “I’m proud of this crew and everyone who came out to help. It’s been a true team effort.” Other courses were not so fortunate. Kananaskis Country Club has yet to begin recovery efforts on the 33 of 36 holes that were severely damaged by the flood. They are still awaiting a decision from the provincial government on what will happen next and have started the “Restore the Vision” awareness campaign to get the community involved in rebuilding the course. Although the future may be seen from different lenses for different Alberta courses, one thing remains certain; the golf industry in the province still has a lot of fight in it. “The industry is rebounding but, unquestionably, the effects of the 2013 flood will be felt for years to come,” said Matt Rollins, the new executive director of the Alberta Golf Association. “The golf industry is proving its resiliency, but the work is far from over.” GM
Advertisers’ Index Aquatrols ...................................................... 9 Buffalo Turbine........................................ 36 Green Jacket............................................. 25 John Deere Golf......................................... 6
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Penn State University ............................ 4 Quali-Pro..................................................... 39 The Toro Company............................... 40 Western Turf Farms............................... 25 JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 13
FE ATURE ◗ WADE PECKHAM
THE TURF CARE TEAM MOWS A GREEN AT ROYAL MAYFAIR BEFORE THE LPGA CANADIAN WOMEN’S OPEN IN 2013
PHOTO CREDIT: WADE PECKHAM
The Long and Short of It Preparing your rough and greens for a major tournament ◗ When I was approached to write an article for GreenMaster about greens and rough preparation in advance of a major tournament, I gladly accepted the offer. The 2013 CN Canadian Women’s Open was played last August at The Royal Mayfair Golf Club in Edmonton and memories of it were still fresh in my mind. However, several days later, I began having second thoughts. What information could I possibly present that would be unique and interesting? The social media tidal wave has highlighted a myriad of turf care practices and made technical data available to anyone at any time. I started out by thinking back 22 years ago, as I prepared the Ranch Golf and Country Club to host the first of four Canadian Tour events at the course. I realized just how much I’ve learned and how much has changed since that moment. From colleagues, turf conferences, twitter and blogging and, of course, watching televised events, one tends to eventually pick up a few ideas. Aside from our ongoing turf care practices at The Royal Mayfair Golf Club, I can think of three important factors that assisted me with the tournament preparation. 14 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
Volunteer to Help During a National Event
I volunteered at the 2007 CN Canadian Women’s Open when it was last in Edmonton and Debbie Amirault was the superintendent at the Club. If you can’t commit to the time required to volunteer, perhaps spend a few days helping during advance week. It was during advance week last year that we were fine tuning all our mowing practices and staff scheduling to mirror the actual tournament.
Visit a Course Hosting an Event and Spend Time with the Superintendent
Most golf facilities have at least a year of advance notice before hosting a major event. We were fortunate enough to attend the 2012 CN Open at the Vancouver Golf Club. We spent the Wednesday Pro-Am day talking with various organizers about the complex arrangements involved in hosting the tournament. But the most knowledge was gained from spending several hours with the course superintendent, Dave Kennedy. He graciously allowed us access to
his key staff and talked to us about his turf care program and the LPGA. He also kept us from getting dehydrated.
Listen to Your Assistants
Even though I’ve been blogging for at least six years and following many superintendents on twitter, I can’t keep up with all the information out there. It’s not always easy to know where to look to find an idea or a solution to a problem. That’s when I have leaned heavily on Eric Mitskopoulos and David Smith, my assistants. Eric in particular was very convincing when it came to implementing the many different variations on greens care techniques that are now being used in turf management. The actual groundwork for tournamentquality greens began when I arrived as the superintendent in the fall of 2010. Upon jumping into a 2-year course renovation program, I quickly realized the root zone physical properties needed close attention. My belief is that all other inputs can only work properly when factors such as infiltration rate, both capillary and non-
This article is eligible for the
Gordon Witteveen Award designation for the author.
Areas almost as important as the greens are the approaches in front of the greens. In 2012, we began to treat them as an extension of the putting surfaces. Wade Peckham, Superintendent capillary numbers, and organic content percentages are suitable for intensive, sustained greens care. Of course we didn’t have any idea that a major golf tournament was on the way. We only wanted superior putting surfaces for the membership. That involved a very aggressive program of core aeration, venting, verticutting and topdressing: frequent, light and at times, not-so-light topdressing. The groundwork was in place and we had made significant progress by August of 2013. The LPGA just happened to be a benefactor of our work and to this day we have not changed the program. Think of all the cultural practices that can be applied to a green. From carefully timed fertilizer applications to implementing a long-term growth regulator program to using wetting agents or brushing and frequent rolling, we have embraced them all. During the lead-up to the tournament, our last application of Primo and iron was five days before the first round. Our foliar fertilizer schedule was such that the greens would require an application soon after the tournament was over, so they were a little lean on Sunday, but the color was still fine. The LPGA agronomist didn’t want any verticutting or topdressing on the greens three weeks prior to the event. Don’t tell anyone, but we topdressed lightly during advance week. We knew our greens and were confident it would only help matters. Controlling moisture levels was difficult leading up to the first round as thunderstorms took that out of our hands. Fortunately, the USGA-constructed greens at the Royal Mayfair drain very well and by the evening of the third round, we were syringing based on our VWC readings. My advice is to have two or three moisture meters on hand. It took me a while to embrace it, but that technology has definitely resulted in better greens and reduced irrigation expenditures. Mowing and rolling frequency was based on green speed and firmness in consultation with Bo Reams from the LPGA. They wanted speeds in the 11 to 11.5 range. We kept them close to 12 and crept up a little higher as the tournament went on. The
best women golfers in the world handled it just fine. The most important consideration is to keep them consistent across the golf course and to prevent dramatic changes in speed or firmness, weather notwithstanding. During the summer, we maintain the greens around the 10.5 to 11 mark, so pushing them to the tournament speeds only involved a very minor height adjustment in addition to the mowing and rolling increases. In fact, by the weekend we were modifying these practices based on how each green was performing. Some greens were cut and/or rolled more and some less. Communicate with the on-course tournament personnel so that speed readings are carried out by all parties involved (your staff and officials) in the same locations on all greens. Areas almost as important as the greens are the approaches in front of the greens. In 2012, we began to treat them as an extension of the putting surfaces. They received the same cultural practices as the greens and in 2013 we stopped the use of triplex mowers and started walking the approaches. Again, this was intended for the membership, but was also important when hosting the major tournament. Visiting the Vancouver Golf Club and seeing the turf quality really enforced that message, as walk mowing tees and approaches has not been a common practice on most Edmontonarea courses. The greens at the Royal Mayfair have evolved into a mix of annual bluegrass and Penncross creeping bentgrass. With our increasingly unpredictable winters and complications that can arise, we were fortunate to experience an almost perfect winter before the 2013 golf season. As we all know, starting a new year with healthy surfaces is the best stress reduction for all involved. With today’s chemistries, the occurrence of snow mold is greatly reduced; however we do have to deal with other disease pressures throughout the summer. With that in mind, we did apply a broad spectrum fungicide in early August that kept our greens, tees and approaches diseasefree beyond the tournament and into early September. The rough at any golf course tends to be
a hot topic of discussion. It’s too long, it’s too thick, it’s too penal and so on. It has been no different at the Royal Mayfair, but keeping the rough dense and healthy has aided in weed control and clearly defined the fairways. Finding the right balance in these situations is part of our job. However, when you are required to present a consistent three-inch rough throughout a golf course, problems will arise. We had no trouble growing the rough last summer. We fertilized in early May, mid-June and late July. Timely rains followed and the LPGA had what they wanted. Even though we didn’t bring the mowing height up to three inches until two weeks before the event, it was still a difficult time for the membership. My advice is to use all manners of communication at your disposal, especially the old standby; talking directly to your members. Reassure them that once the tournament is over, the rough will return to normal. But be clear that it will take a few days and it won’t be business as usual 24 hours after the last putt is dropped on Sunday afternoon. Aside from growing healthy rough, identify difficult to maintain areas early in the season and develop a plan to either sod or aerate. We concentrated our work in the vicinity of greens and landing areas. If you are lucky, maybe tour officials will embrace a less-is-more philosophy. This is a trend that is gaining traction, especially after the two U.S. Opens recently held at Pinehurst No. 2. The 2013 CN Canadian Women’s Open was a success due in large part to our goal of presenting the best possible conditions to the membership well in advance of any indication that a major golf tournament would be hosted by the Club. Do what you can within the limitations of your budget so that when the time comes to host a major, you will not require dramatic changes to your agronomic programs. Use the world of information at your fingertips, acknowledge the work of all involved and, most importantly, enjoy the experience. GM
Wade Peckham is Superintendent at Royal Mayfair Golf Club, Edmonton, Alberta JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 15
FE ATURE ◗ TOM HSIANG AND PAUL H. GOODWIN
Defense Activators An alternative to pesticides for controlling diseases ◗ There are strong societal pressures against the use of synthetic pesticides in our modern urban society, and this has lead governments to pass legislation which makes it more difficult to use such chemicals without significant administrative hurdles. Alternatives to conventional chemicals are needed for pest control, such as against turfgrass diseases. This two year study has been funded by the Canadian Turfgrass Research Foundation, along with matching funding by Petro Canada, and the Canadian Government (National Sciences and Engineering Research Council). This research was done at the University of Guelph in Ontario, where Professors Tom Hsiang and Paul Goodwin have been seeking new compounds that can work against turfgrass diseases by stimulating the natural defenses in the plant rather than directly killing the fungal pathogens. They also have been investigating the different cultivated varieties of commonly grown turfgrasses such as creeping bentgrass for their ability to be easily stimulated for resistance against diseases such as dollar spot. These compounds are called “Resistance Activators” and serve to stimulate the plant to internally increase their natural resistance against invading organisms. This research has found that different cultivars and different bentgrass species do not react in exactly the same manner to the same resistance activator. In fact, there is a huge variation in the reaction of different cultivars to these activators, which may account for some of the inconsistent results when such activators are tested or used on golf course turf. The activity of such compounds has been found to generally decrease after one to two weeks, but the use of multiple applications can alleviate this effect and allow for greater induced disease resistance. One of the major objectives of this work was to identify specific cultivar by activator interactions that can lead to greatly reduced disease without the use of conventional fungicides. For example, the bentgrass cultivar ‘Tyee’ has been found to be highly response to resistance activation by a variety
16 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
of activators such as humic acid, phosphite and silicilic acid. Research is continuing by examining the cellular and genetic mechanisms by which specific cultivars such as Tyee can be induced to greater disease resistance. This line of research may result in individualized treatments, where particular activators are prescribed for particularly turfgrass varieties to better manage disease, while protecting the environment from undesired and sometimes unforeseen side effects of conventional disease management practices.
attack. Past research has found that resistance can be induced in susceptible plants by microorganisms and their metabolites or by synthetic analogs of natural products.
General Methods
We compared cultivars of Agrostis species for variation in their ability to respond to defense activators to induce systemic acquired resistance (SAR) and ISR (induced systemic resistance) against the turfgrass pathogen Sclerotinia homoeocarpa causing dollar spot. Responsiveness to defense activators is defined as the ability of the chemical to reduce the severity of disease in plants treated with defense activator and then inoculated compared to inoculated water-treated plants. We used small
Objectives
The purpose of the project is to investigate an organic control strategy for turfgrass diseases by stimulating the inherent ability of plants to resist pathogen
TABLE 1.
Percent Yellowing
Cultivar
Seeding Amount
5 DPI
8 DPI
12 DPI
Penn G-6
0.20 g
3.3%
11.7%
31.7%
Poa annua
0.15 g
4.2%
14.2%
35.0%
Poa annua
0.30 g
8.3%
25.8%
50.9%
SR-1150
0.15 g
6.7%
19.2%
52.5%
Idaho bentgrass 0.15 g
6.7%
21.7%
55.8%
Providence
0.15 g
5.0%
26.7%
55.9%
L93
0.15 g
7.5%
36.7%
63.3%
SR7200
0.15 g
7.5%
30.0%
65.0%
Alpha
0.15 g
7.5%
23.3%
65.0%
Penn A4
0.15 g
6.7%
39.2%
70.0%
V-8
0.15 g
10.0%
34.2%
70.9%
Putter
0.15 g
8.3%
30.8%
74.2%
T-1
0.15 g
4.2%
35.8%
79.2%
Penncross
0.12 g
7.5%
44.2%
80.9%
SRx1WM
0.15 g
10.0%
41.7%
80.9%
Southshore
0.15 g
9.2%
42.5%
84.2%
PERCENT YELLOWING OF GRASS AS A MEASURE OF CULTIVAR RESISTANCE TO DOLLAR SPOT. MOST CULTIVARS WERE AGROSTIS SPECIES UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED. THE SEEDS WERE PLACED IN 250 ML MASON JARS ON 0.5 CM OF TOP-DRESSING SAND, TREATED AFTER ONE WEEK, AND INOCULATED A WEEK LATER. YELLOWING WAS RATED AT 5, 8 AND 12 DAYS AFTER INOCULATION. RESULTS WERE BASED ON TWO REPEATED EXPERIMENTS AND THREE REPLICATES PER EXPERIMENT. DPI= DAYS AFTER INOCULATION WITH GROUND WHEAT SEED INOCULUM OF SCLEROTINIA HOMOEOCARPA ISOLATE SH84. (LOWER VALUES MEAN LESS DISEASE).
15 ml vials because of the large number of treatments involved, and also 250 ml mason jars for different tests. Yellowing caused by dollar spot was assessed daily for up to two weeks after inoculation.
Results
Objective #1: Replacement of synthetic fungicides by plant defense activators where disease control occurs by inducing (that is “turning on”) natural resistance mechanisms in turfgrass. In tests done in the lab, creeping bentgrass cv. ‘Penncross’ was grown for two weeks in 250 ml mason jars containing 0.5 cm of top-dressing sand. These were then treated with defense activators by spraying 10 ml onto the leaves or exposing roots by adding 10 ml to the soil. Seven days later, the grass was inoculated with the dollar spot pathogen. We tested eight different defense activators in 20 different treatments on foliage, and 11 different defense activators in 31 different treatments on roots at a variety of concentrations based on reports in the literature. Some defense activators showed phytotoxicity (damaged the grass), a few reduced disease, but most showed no effectiveness in reducing dollar spot. For
foliar treatment of creeping bentgrass, the most promising defense activators tested (based on reduced disease at 12 day post inoculation) were humic acid (type 1), Regalia, fulvic acid, humic acid (type 2), Keyplex 350DP and humic acid (type 2). For soil treatments, the most promising ones thus far were para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), fulvic acid, humic acid (type 1), hexanoic acid and humic acid (type 2). Optimizing the concentrations of defense activator was critical for control. For example, hexanoic acid applied to the soil resulted in less disease than the control at 4 mM but more disease at 0.6 or 1 mM at 12 days post inoculation. Objective #2: Determination of which turfgrass varieties respond best to plant defense activators to induce relatively high and long lasting resistance. As part of this study, we first tested different bentgrass varieties for their natural resistance to dollar spot disease to facilitate further testing with resistance activators. This was done under laboratory conditions using yellowing as a measure of disease. Grass which was not inoculated with the dollar spot fungus showed less than 5% yellowing by 12 dpi (days after inoculation).
TABLE 2. Cultivar
TURFGRASS CULTIVARS WERE SCREENED INSIDE 15 ML GLASS VIALS WITH GRASS GROWN ON A SAND BASE. AT 8 DAYS AFTER INOCULATION WITH SCLEROTINIA HOMOEOCARPA, THE VIALS SHOWED OBVIOUS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WEAK ACTIVATION (IN SOME CASES, ENHANCED YELLOWING BEYOND FUNGUS ALONE) TO MODERATE ACTIVATION, TO A STRONG ACTIVATION OF RESISTANCE WHERE THE ONLY INDICATION OF FUNGAL ACTIVITY WAS SOME HYPHAL WEBBING ON THE GLASS WALLS OF THE VIALS.
◗ CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
Percent Disease Compared to the Inoculated Water Control Humic Acid-1
Humic Acid-2
Hyaluron
PABA
Phosphite
Silicilic Spray
Silicilic Soil
111
100
87
89
91
53
80
Alpha
76
68
74
103
65
45
67
Cato
55
65
100
82
103
53
44
Focus
86
49
70
80
64
70
21
Kingpin
72
83
91
99
96
49
40
MacKenzie
61
61
61
75
61
62
14
PennA4
100
127
79
109
123
27
20
Penncross
82
92
76
75
83
64
44
Sandhill
84
97
112
99
103
29
62
SR1150
137
125
87
194
106
31
44
T1
84
84
74
97
81
42
55
Tyee
75
90
79
75
79
59
55
Vesper
79
77
95
72
75
50
46
LSD (p=0.05)
35
29
32
50
34
41
40
007
DOLLAR SPOT CONTROL IN CULTIVARS OF CREEPING BENTGRASS (AGROSTIS STOLONIFERA) OR VESPER VELVET BENTGRASS (A. CANINA) TREATED ONE TIME WITH WATER OR A DEFENCE ACTIVATOR AND INOCULATED 7 DAYS LATER WITH SCLEROTINIA HOMOEOCARPA. TREATMENTS WERE 0.75% HUMIC ACID-1 (HUMIC ACID-1=16% HUMIC ACID), 0.75% HUMIC ACID-2 (HUMIC ACID-2=15% POTASSIUM HUMATE, 12.5% HUMIC ACID), 33.3 MG/L SODIUM HYALURONAN, 28 MM PARA-AMINOBENZOIC ACID (PABA), 25 MM POTASSIUM PHOSPHITE, OR 5 MM SILICILIC ACID. MEANS ARE PER CENT CHANGE IN FOLIAR YELLOWING RELATIVE TO THE WATER CONTROL AT 12 DAYS AFTER INOCULATION. MEANS IN RED SHOW SIGNIFICANTLY LESS DISEASE THAN INOCULATED WATER CONTROL (LOWER VALUES ARE BETTER). JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 17
FE ATURE â—— TOM HSIANG AND PAUL H. GOODWIN
Although some activators were promising, such as 67% disease reduction with PABA on Penncross, higher levels of control would be preferable. One possible reason was that more activator should be applied to the plants to get higher levels of resistance, by using a higher concentration and/or more than one application. Based on these results, several promising defense activatorturfgrass cultivar combinations were retested with doubled defense activator concentrations and applications performed twice before pathogen inoculation. Those results are shown in Table 5. The goal of this work was to help address our stated deliverable of examining application timing and plant cultivar for the development of a disease control management regime of defense activators for use on turfgrass. The results in Table 5 demonstrate that doubled concentrations and two times applications can increase the level of resistance induced by almost all of the activators. Some of the most promising are spray applied humic acid-1, spray applied phosphite and soil applied silicilic acid for Tyee with 78, 89 and 78% disease reductions at 5 days after inoculation. In addition, high levels of induced resistance were observed for Alpha
for most cultivars was silicilic acid, applied either foliarly as a spray or to the roots via the soil. The cultivars, 007, Kingpin, PennA4, Penncross, Sandhill, SR1150, T1, Tyee and Vesper only exhibited a response to silicilic acid, while the other cultivars showed some response to the other plant defense activators. From these results, several certain plant defense activator/cultivar combinations looked quite promising, such as hyaluronan in cultivar Kingpin, which had less then half the level of damage compared to the water control. Based on these results, two more experiments were conducted with select cultivars and select activators with testing in mason jars in the lab. These are shown in Tables 3 and 4. The results in Table 3 and 4 demonstrate that the defense activators can have significant effects on disease with some acting early in the infection while others acting later. For example, PABA reduced symptoms on Penncross by 67% at 5 days after inoculation, but this later dropped to 20-25% at 12 days after inoculation, which was not significant. By comparison, spraying silicilic acid on Kingpin reduced symptoms by 20% at 5 days after inoculation, but this later increased and became significant with a 43% reduction at 12 days after inoculation.
â—— CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17
Some of the results are reported Table 1. The results in Table 1 demonstrate that different varieties of bentgrass show differences in their inherent sensitivity to dollar spot disease based on the level of yellowing. This is not something novel, but it established that such an assay can be the basis for testing different plant defense activators to see whether particular varieties/species respond better to activation treatment and under which conditions. Based on the results found above, we then concentrated on the specific chemicals found to show greater potential against dollar spot. These included 0.75% humic acid (type 1), 0.75% humic acid (type 2), 33.3mg/L hyaluronan, 28 mM PABA and 25 mM phosphite. In addition, we obtained another plant defense activator, silicilic acid, and included it in our tests. Results are shown in Table 2. The results in Table 2 demonstrate that different activators have different effects on different cultivars. For some, disease is reduced after activation (shown in red), whereas for others some combinations result in even greater disease. The only compound to show disease suppression
TABLE 3. Reduction in yellowing:
Humic Acid-1
120 120 90
90
60
60
30
30
0
0
Hyaluronan
8 Days After Inoculation
PABA
12 Days After Inoculation
Phosphite
Silicilic Spray
Silicilic Soil
LSD
Tyee
Vesper
Cato
Penncross
LSD
Alpha
Tyee
Vesper
Penncross
Cato
Kingpin
LSD
Alpha
Tyee
Vesper
Cato
Penncross
Alpha
LSD
Tyee
Vesper
Cato
Penncross
LSD
Alpha
Tyee
Vesper
Penn4
Penncross
Cato
Focus
LSD
Alpha
Tyee
Vesper
Cato
Penncross
Alpha
LSD
Tyee
Vesper
Cato
Penncross
-30 (%)
Alpha
-30
Humic Acid-2
5 Days After Inoculation
TABLE 3 & 4: REDUCTION IN YELLOWING IN SELECT CULTIVARS OF CREEPING BENTGRASS (AGROSTIS STOLONIFERA) AND VESPER VELVET BENTGRASS (A. CANINA) WITH SELECT ACTIVATOR COMPOUNDS USED A SINGLE TIME AND INOCULATED 7 DAYS LATER WITH SCLEROTINIA HOMOEOCARPA. MEANS ARE DISEASE REDUCTION (DECREASE IN FOLIAR YELLOWING) RELATIVE TO THE INOCULATED WATER CONTROL AT 5, 8, AND 12 DAYS AFTER INOCULATION. MEANS WITH 18 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
TABLE 5. 120
Reduction in yellowing:
90
90
60
60
30
30
0
0
Humic Acid-1
Humic Acid-2
5 Days After Inoculation
Hyaluronan Phosphite
8 Days After Inoculation
12 Days After Inoculation
Silicilic Spray
Silicilic Soil
Tyree
Penncross
Mackenzie
Kingpin
Focus
Alpha
Sandhill
Alpha
007
Tyree
Alpha
PennA4
Focus
Cato
Tyree
Alpha
-30
-30 (%)
Cato
with 70, 90 and 90% disease reductions at 5 days after inoculation using spray applied phosphite, spray applied silicilic acid, and soil applied silicilic acid. This indicates that Tyee and Alpha may be relatively better at responding to not only one, but several defense activators, compared to some other turfgrass cultivars. One concern is that the induced resistance appears to start to break down by 12 days after inoculation for some defense activators, and thus more work on timing and concentrations will be done to improve upon this. However, the higher levels of resistance observed using the same defense activator-cultivar combinations at higher application amounts indicates that there is considerable room for improvement. A good example of this is Alpha which saw an increase in control using phosphite from 43 to 70% disease reduction when increasing the amounts of the activator. Based on these results, it appears that humic acid-1, phosphite and silicilic acid are particularly promising and warrant further investigation to optimize concentrations and timings for laboratory and field experiments. GM
DOLLAR SPOT CONTROL IN CULTIVARS OF CREEPING BENTGRASS (AGROSTIS STOLONIFERA) OR VESPER VELVET BENTGRASS (A. CANINA) TREATED TWO TIMES (7 AND 1 DAY BEFORE INOCULATION) WITH WATER OR A DOUBLED CONCENTRATION OF THE DEFENCE ACTIVATORS USED FOR TABLES 3 AND 4, AND INOCULATED 7 DAYS LATER WITH SCLEROTINIA HOMOEOCARPA. TREATMENTS WERE 1.50% HUMIC ACID-1 (HUMIC ACID-1=16% HUMIC ACID), 1.50% HUMIC ACID-2 (HUMIC ACID-2=15% POTASSIUM HUMATE, 12.5% HUMIC ACID, ), 66.6 MG/L SODIUM HYALURONAN, 28 MM PARA-AMINOBENZOIC ACID (PABA), 50 MM POTASSIUM PHOSPHITE, OR 10 MM SILICILIC ACID. MEANS ARE PER CENT CHANGE IN FOLIAR YELLOWING RELATIVE TO THE WATER CONTROL AT 5, 8, AND 12 DAYS AFTER INOCULATION. MEANS WITH RED DOTS SHOW STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT REDUCTIONS IN YELLOWING COMPARED TO CONTROL. (HIGHER VALUES FOR DISEASE REDUCTION ARE BETTER; VALUES THAT ARE NEGATIVE SHOW INCREASED DISEASE OVER CONTROL).
TABLE 4. Reduction in yellowing:
120
120 Humic Acid-1
90
90
60
60
30
30
0
0
Humic Acid-2
5 Days After Inoculation
Hyaluronan
8 Days After Inoculation
PABA
12 Days After Inoculation
Phosphite
Silicilic Spray
Silicilic Soil
LSD
Sandhill
Alpha
007
LSD
Tyee
Penncross
Mackenzie
Kingpin
Focus
Alpha
LSD
Tyree
Alpha
LSD
Vesper
Tyee
Penncross
LSD
Penn4
Focus
LSD
Cato
Alpha
LSD
Tyree
(%)
Cato
-30 -30
RED DOTS SHOW STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT REDUCTIONS IN YELLOWING COMPARED TO THE INOCULATED WATER CONTROL (HIGHER VALUES FOR DISEASE REDUCTION ARE BETTER; VALUES THAT ARE NEGATIVE SHOW INCREASED DISEASE OVER CONTROL).
JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 19
FE ATURE ◗ MARC COUSINEAU
Muskoka Marvels Cottage country courses welcome turfgrass professionals for Fall Field Day 2014 ◗ It’s safe to say Deni Terenzio’s time at The Rock Golf Course has been a wild one. He was, after all, welcomed by a bear on his first day as superintendent at the Muskoka-based course in Minett, Ontario. “I left the shop with my two dogs and there was a bear in the parking lot,” says Terenzio, who has been tending the turf at The Rock for two years. “One of my staff members turned me around and told me that I probably didn’t want to go over there.” The big game in Cottage Country have a knack for showing up when least expected. “I had a new mechanic start last year and
Q&A
I was touring him around the course,” says Terenzio. “We were talking about wildlife… and I told him that I had never seen a moose. As soon as the words left my mouth, a big moose came right in front of us on the driving range.” Coming face-to-face with furry friends is all part of what gives The Rock and the surrounding area its charm. “I just love the setting we’re in. Every time I turn a corner it seems like I’m catching a glimpse of something spectacular. Even on my first tour of the course, I was blown away by the beauty of it all.”
with Jim Flett and Deni Terenzio
Marc Cousineau: What’s your favourite thing to do out on the course? Jim Flett: I’d say golf it, that’s probably the best thing. I don’t mind changing the holes, it gives you a sense of what the greens are doing and you see a lot of the property that way as well.
JF: I’ve had several, yes. We have lots of deer on the property. I’ve seen a moose before and lots of beavers, which, in the spring time when the course is trying to drain, can be a little bit of a nuisance.
MC: If you had a day off, what would we find you doing? JF: I’d probably be up at the cabin. I used to boat up to last year, so that would have been my old answer, but I just recently got out of that and bought a property up north, off the grid.
Marc Cousineau: What’s your favourite thing to do during a day at work? Deni Terenzio: That’s a tough one, I don’t know! I kind of like everything we do. I think, on a big picture scale, it’s seeing and noticing the obstacles that we have overcome in such a short amount of time.
MC: If you were in a golf tournament against other superintendents, how would you do? JF: I’d probably end up in the middle of the pack. MC: That’s a humble answer! Have you ever had any encounters with animals on the course?
20 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
Terenzio and The Rock’s cast of fourlegged visitors will help play host to CGSA members from around the country for the annual Fall Field Day event in September. The Rock will act as the venue for the golf tournament being held on Monday, September 22 and will co-host the event with Muskoka Lakes Golf and Country Club, the course of CGSA member Jim Flett. The course is set to be a challenge for the scores of turf managers who will take to it for a day of fun, camaraderie and the chase for ultimate bragging rights, says Terenzio “(The golfers) are going to have to manage the course properly,” says Terenzio,
MC: If you had a day off, what would you be doing? DT: Probably on my dock or in my boat or something like that. MC: If you were in a golf tournament against other superintendents, how would you do?
DT: (Laughs) I’d probably be – well, it’s funny, if it was someone else’s golf course, I’d probably be a lot better than on my own. MC: What is one thing about the Muskoka area that people don’t know about? DT: The beauty of it and how ecologically sensitive it is. We border Lake Rosseau and other small lakes. And the amount of wildlife we see here, it’s incredible. MC: That was actually my next question. What sort of animals have you encountered during your time at The Rock? DT: We see all kinds. We’ve had bears, fox, moose; all sorts of stuff. Various types of birds. It’s a really neat place to see the duck migration, so we get all sorts of interesting birds. We’ve even seen bald eagles here in the spring. GM
TOP: HOLE #10 AT THE ROCK, CO-HOST OF THE 2014 FALL FIELD DAY BOTTOM: HOLE #4 AT THE ROCK, A COURSE THAT WILL CHALLENGE FALL FIELD DAY ATTENDEES WITH ITS FAIRWAYS AND WOW THEM WITH ITS FALL FOLIAGE
giving a word on strategy. “They need to put the right club in their hand, get through the course and manage their game.” The Fall Field Day tournament is a chance for Terenzio to show his colleagues from coast to coast how far The Rock has come in his short tenure. Terenzio and his team have completed major drainage improvements on every hole, cleared woodlots to make them more playable and implemented a nutrient management plan to counter the difficulty of growing healthy turfgrass on the daunting Canadian Shield, all within the last 24 months. “When I first arrived here, I was seeing all these challenging turf conditions,” says Terenzio, “and now I feel like I have all the tools and knowledge to fix them. The way that the soil chemistry has changed and how we’ve built it up is probably the best thing that has happened at The Rock in years.” While Terenzio is just beginning his time at The Rock, the other Fall Field Day host, Muskoka Lakes, is steeped in history. The Stanley Thompson-designed course is 92-years-old and many of its 1,600 members are the third or fourth generation in their family to walk the fairways and greens. Superintendent Jim Flett also has more than a few memories of the course, the place he has called home for over two decades, since he started as superintendent during the spring of 1992. The course has seen a steady, but successful, evolution under the management of Flett. The veteran superintendent has overseen the complete overhaul of the course’s irrigation system, the upgrading of greens, the renovation of bunkers and many other small, but significant projects in the last 20-plus years.
◗ CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 21
A VIEW OF MUSKOKA LAKES AS THE LEAVES BEGIN TO CHANGE. ◗ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21
“I think what I’m most proud of is transforming the course and seeing it get a little better every year,” says Flett. “We didn’t ever close nine holes or blow the place up, but every year we would do a new tee or do another project that would continually upgrade the course.” Flett can add co-hosting the Fall Field Day to his list of accomplishments at Muskoka Lakes, something he says is a big privilege. “It’s certainly a real honour to host colleagues from across the country,” says Flett. “(The Fall Field Day) is a great opportunity to see other parts of the country you might not normally travel to. I hope everyone has a good time when they’re here and takes advantage of all that the Muskoka area has to offer.” Terenzio is just as excited to show off his course. “It’s a tremendous opportunity for The Rock to host superintendents from across the country and it’s going to be really unique for them to come to Muskoka,” says Terenzio. The showcase doesn’t stop on the 18th green for Terenzio. “We’re also affiliated with Cleveland’s House Resort, so I spend a lot of my time managing the grounds at the resort as well,” says the superintendent. “So for them to be able to stay there and head to Muskoka Lakes is going to be a really good experience. I think people are really going to enjoy it, especially those who haven’t visited Muskoka before.” The event will start on September 22 at The Rock with a 9-hole, best ball tournament, which will be followed by a day of learning and networking on Tuesday at Muskoka Lakes. The CGSA is 22 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
“I think what I’m most proud of is transforming the course and seeing it get a little better every year.” Jim Flett, Superintendent partnering with Plant Science Inc. to host a Turf Academy. The Academy will offer turf professionals an interactive and engaging forum to talk about common turfgrass management problems and develop strategies to overcome obstacles, making their courses more successful. The Turf Academy will be led by John Kaminski Ph.D., associate professor of turfgrass science at Penn State. Kaminski will lead attendees on a “walk about” of the golf course where there will be open discussion on potential problem areas and solutions with the host superintendent, Jim Flett, AGS. Plant Science hosts multiple Turf Academies across Ontario every year and is pleased to be hosting this event at a national venue. There will be no shortage of conversation while out on the course, says Kaminski. “My background is golf course management with a focus in pathology,” says Kaminski, “but I’m also involved in various annual bluegrass management studies as well as cultural practices for improved health, so we would have plenty to speak about during the walk.” After the champions are crowned and lessons are learned, there will still be plenty to do in Muskoka if attendees stick around the scenic escape from city life, says Flett. “(Muskoka Lakes) is right on Lake Rosseau and there are some great views of the lake from the property,” says Flett.
“There’s a strong junior program here, as well as sailing, tennis, golf, swimming. Take your pick of activities.” If your pick is golf, be warned, Muskoka Lakes is no pushover. “We have six par-3s and they’re all tough, all challenging,” says Flett. “Some of the greens are really sloped, so they’re going to be tough as well. We’ve definitely had people five-putt on them before.” Back at The Rock, Terenzio says that while Muskoka is an amazing place to work, the passion of his team and the course’s ownership is what makes coming to work every day so great. “I’ve toured around with our owner Mr. Ken Fowler,” says Terenzio, “and he’s just so proud of the property. He’s been such a great source of support for us here.” Terenzio also credits CGSA member Jay Honeyball with being his mentor as he grew in the turfgrass profession and points to his team at The Rock as an example of hard work and dedication, including mechanic Norm Sainsbury who “is one of the best mechanics I’ve ever worked with.” So get ready for Fall Field Day 2014 and what is sure to be a trip to Ontario’s little bit of paradise amongst towering cliffs and serene lakes. “My favourite part about this job is living and working in Muskoka,” says Terenzio. “It’s always been my dream of mine to live here. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world.” GM
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FE ATURE ◗ ROSS DUNSMORE
Med-Arb is Better!
This is the third in a series in GreenMaster magazine addressing the legal questions of golf course managers. Please send any questions about labour relations or other legal issues to Ross Dunsmore: rrd@dunsmorelaw.com. All identities will remain anonymous and will not be shared with other parties, including CGSA staff or members.
24 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
◗ Mediation and arbitration are two procedures that many parties agree to use to resolve disputes quickly. Delay is never good for parties in an ongoing relationship like employment and the costs of normal litigation are often prohibitive. The result of these traditional problems in our litigation system is that problems often go unresolved unless the stakes are really high. Instead, someone is unhappy and the work product or atmosphere suffers. Access to knowledgeable third-party assistance permits both sides to express their issues and try to find a mutually acceptable solution. The golf superintendent most at risk is the very senior employee who does not have a formal contract of employment and is entitled to reasonable notice of termination, at common law, if he is dismissed without cause. For example consider this scenario: It involves a fellow whom the golf club’s Board of Directors decided could be replaced by a more junior employee who had successfully trained for several years at the club. From the Board’s perspective, they were going to save money on a lower salary. The reduction in service quality was something they felt was less important. The Board, in money-saving mode, decided to use the minimum standards found in the Employment Standards Act as the terms of termination. That meant eight weeks of pay in lieu of notice of termination and, because the club employed more than 50 employees, statutory severance pay of an additional one week per year of service to a max of 26 weeks. The terminated employee had been working at the club for 20 years, so he received eight weeks, plus another 20 week, for 28 weeks of pay. Not much for 20 years of loyal service, but the Board did not account for loyalty as much as saving money. Sometimes that happens. The termination occurred in March. As anyone in the industry knows, this is not a good time to search for an important job. All the openings have been filled because the season is upon us. But, the pay in lieu and the severance did mean that there would be no cash crunch until late October. Of course, securing paying work for November through March in the Canadian golf business is very difficult. Lots
of new appointments start as the season begins, not in November or December. So the money ran out and no job in the industry was found. As it happened, nothing showed up that was anywhere comparable in compensation until the second winter. A really attractive opening came up as a result of a retirement in November. The terminated employee was hired in December. By that time, he had been out of work for 22 months. The Board had not paid him in 15 months. In fact, the Board would not consider any additional pay, not even as the months passed and no jobs were found. That forced a lawsuit. The terminated employee had no choice. No other option was available to force the employer to account for more reasonable notice. So, the terminated employee, whose money was running out, paid for the Statement of Claim and Court filing fees and the preparation of an affidavit of documents and preparation for an attendance at both his discovery and that of the Board representative. All this accounted for $8,000 in legal fees. The last discovery took place in late November, 22 months after termination. When the discovery was over and the Board lawyer satisfied that the former employee really had not been able to find comparable work, they offered to settle. The evidence was clear about how long it had taken to find work. A settlement deal was done that gave the terminated employee 86 weeks pay, minus the 28 already paid, plus legal fees in return for a release of the club and the Board members from any other actions. However, it turned out, the result meant that the terminated employee had been without real income for a long time. To avoid such delays and all the pain and suffering that can occur, even in circumstances where there was no cause for termination, an agreement to mediate and arbitrate disputes can help. The best way to make mediation possible is by agreeing to it as part of a dispute resolution system negotiated into the employment contract in advance of any decision to terminate. Since some employers will not want to make access to solutions easier, do not expect too many employers to propose alternate dispute resolution. However, the fact is that the process from start to finish is much
The best way to make mediation possible is by agreeing to it as part of a dispute resolution system negotiated into the employment contract in advance of any decision to terminate. more swift and efficient. Every prudent golf superintendent should be trying to introduce such a provision in his or her next contract. Both parties will be better served. The agreement should say, “Any dispute respecting the interpretation, application or alleged violation of this agreement which the parties are not able to resolve between themselves in the normal course, must be identified to the other party in writing. Thereafter, the responding party shall have thirty calendar days in which to attempt to resolve the dispute. If it is not resolved in a manner that is satisfactory to both parties, then either party may advise the other in writing that the dispute is being referred to mediation arbitration as set out below.” This approach provides for issue identification and imposes on both sides an obligation to try to solve the problem promptly. The process allows the complainant to drive the timeline, since only 30 days need to pass before the discontented party can proceed to mediation. The next step in the agreement should say, “ The parties agree that if a dispute is referred to mediation arbitration, both parties agree that the person appointed as mediator arbitrator shall have full and final authority to determine procedure, conduct the mediation, set out procedural steps, hear the dispute, make interim rulings as necessary and decide finally, the dispute. Any arbitration decision shall be in writing and issued within thirty calendar days of the completion of the procedure involved.” If the parties want, they can provide, in their agreement, even more detail about how the process would be regulated. For example, section 48 (12) of the Labour Relations Act of Ontario details the powers that an arbitrator usually needs to conduct a hearing. The parties can also name the mediator arbitrator, or a series of persons from whom they may pick to help ensure that a fast meeting occurs. It would be ideal to have the Association designate some approved mediator arbitrators for each province to whom disputes could be referred. This would
permit, in due course, a screening and approval process and fee setting. You may be assured that there are a number of lawyers and others qualified to do this type of work who are regular golfers. People familiar with the operation of a golf environment would probably make a strong pool of problem solvers. How much detail is included in a particular employment agreement will depend on the parties. If the Association were encouraged by these suggestions, it is quite possible to prepare, approve and circulate prototype language. To this end, comments and questions are welcome. In upcoming articles, some of these matters related to employment contracts will be discussed. So, start the letters coming. GM
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Ross Dunsmore has been practicing law for over 35 years and specializes in change management, reorganization and amalgamation. He has worked with many employers on procedures to avoid third party intervention. His practice encompasses analysis and resolution of work place disputes from grievances and human rights complaints to wrongful dismissals. His focus is economical strategies to avoid expensive disputes.
JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 25
FE ATURE â—— REID SOLODAN, AGS
Adventure to China Reid Solodan traveled to China to help set up a maintenance department. This is his story.
â—— In the winter of 2012-2013, I had the opportunity to travel to Fuzhou, China to help a group set up the maintenance department for a new golf course under construction. In this article, I will touch on my adventure and the amazing time I had in the great country of China. In 2012, I was approached by a member of the Canmore Golf and Curling Club who asked me to help him understand and gather information about the maintenance of a golf course. It started with some short meetings discussing equipment, staffing, irrigation, the maintenance shop and fertility. I provided him with some general information, thinking that this was all that he wanted. In July, we had another meeting and he asked if I would be interested in travelling to China for three months to assist the group on the ground in Fuzhou. Having a young family, it was a discussion I had to
26 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
This article is eligible for the
Gordon Witteveen Award designation for the author.
have with my wife Terri. She was on board with the decision and very supportive! Preparation for the trip started immediately. I began applying for a visa, working out my flight details and receiving numerous shots. After the Board of Directors at Canmore approved the time off on November 20, and the fear of the unknown had set in, I was off to China. I didn’t arrive in China until 24 hours later when my plane landed in Fuzhou at 12:30am, local time. Fuzhou is the capital of China’s Fujian province and one of the largest cities in the area. Its population is 7 million people. As I walked into the arrivals area in the Fuzhou airport, my translator and driver was waiting for me and I headed to a downtown hotel for a well-deserved sleep. The next morning, I was picked up and shuttled to the golf course, the place I would call home for the next 30 days, until
Christmas. I arrived at the office to meet all the people I would be working with and was able to experience, for the first time, the use of my translator. If you have ever had the experience of working with a translator, you know these 90 days were going to be interesting. The job of my translator was to follow me wherever I would go to talk with contractors and to change documents from Chinese to English and vice versa. I got to tour the golf course and see what type of property it was. The course is spread out over a valley bottom, with five holes crawling up a large hill. There was an existing golf course on the property, which was only in the valley bottom. After it was purchased, it was expanded to include more of the property.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: WORKERS APPLY FERTILIZER ON THE 17TH HOLE, PART OF THE EXTENSIVE DRAINAGE SYSTEM ON THE COURSE, A BEAUTIFUL WATER FEATURE ON THE COURSE.
◗ CONTINUED ON PAGE 29
JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 27
FE ATURE ◗ REID SOLODAN, AGS
28 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
The golf course had an extensive drainage system, as the Fuzhou area is prone to monsoons in the second half of May and liable to typhoons in late summer and early autumn. Reid Solodan, Superintendent
â—— CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27
When the golf course was built, they trucked sand in from the Min River, which is the largest river in the Fujian Province and is a major water transport channel. There was lots of evidence of the sand being trucked in from the numerous shells on the property. The golf course was about 80 per cent done with the majority of the Platinum TE Paspalum sprigged and starting to fill in. I had never had the opportunity to see this type of grass before, but it is a very prolific species that can grow very fast in optimum conditions and is used in all areas of the golf course, including greens. The golf course had an extensive drainage system, as the Fuzhou area is prone to monsoons in the second half of May and liable to typhoons in late summer and early autumn. The entire drainage system was connected with a large pipe that was as big as four feet in diameter. One of the most interesting tasks we had to do was sit in a meeting with the two main distributors in China, Toro and John Deere, to negotiate the purchase of equipment. The hardest part was getting the translator to understand the turf talk, like reel, bed knife, backlapping and reel grinding, to name a few. The two companies put forward a great PowerPoint presentation and taught the management group a lot about their equipment. During my stay, I had the opportunity to travel to Southern China and tour some golf courses, talk with the superintendents and look at their shops and equipment. We flew from Fuzhou to Shenzhen where we were picked up by the sales manager for Toro who would be our tour guide for the next few days. One of the things I noticed during the trip was the endless toll gates in China; during our drive we went through 50 of them!
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: HESHAN GOLF CLUB, LION LAKE DRIVING RANGE, THE CLUBHOUSE AT LION LAKE GOLF CLUB.
The first night was very interesting; we went out for dinner and it was quite the adventure. As we parked in front of the restaurant, I thought we are going to go in, but the group directed me to the back alley, where there was a large market with vendors selling live, fresh seafood. As we approached each vendor, the group started to negotiate price of each piece of food and it was weighed, put into a bag and then into our shopping cart. As we collected our seafood, we went to the back of the restaurant where a waitress was waiting with a large bowl to put our purchased items in. We then proceeded to a private room where they went through our food and we were asked how we wanted each piece cooked. As the food arrived, along with a couple bottles of Chinese wine, we dined on the night’s catch. The experience was very unique and the taste was amazing.
Visiting the Properties
The first stop was the Long Island Golf Club in Lotus Hill, Changan Town, Dongguan, a 36-hole facility with full resort amenities, including 18 holes lit for 24-hour golfing. The course was designed by JMP Golf Design. The course had 75 maintenance staff and 300 caddies. The second stop was the Zhuhai Golden Gulf Golf Club, located in Jinwan Zhuhai, China. The equipment used on the course is 90 per cent Jacobsen and 10 per cent Toro. The course has 54 staff and seven mechanics. The next golf course I visited was the Heshan Golf Course in Dongguan, Guangdong, China, an immaculate property designed by Jack Nicklaus. The course was wall-to-wall Platinum Paspalum TE and used 100 per cent Toro equipment. The golf course was not open yet, but was maintained flawlessly. It made me wish I had brought my clubs. The last stop on our tour was the Lion Lake Golf Club in Qing Yuan Guangdong, home to the young Chinese golfer Guan Tianlang. The course has 36 holes and is operated by Troon Golf. The clubhouse
and range facility were phenomenal and included private upper suites for hitting golf balls and full service of an extensive menu. The course used 100 per cent John Deere equipment with 64 maintenance staff. We also had an opportunity to tour the Toro Distributor in Hangzhou Gardens, China. One of the most unique things I got to experience in China was Chinese New Year. During the Chinese holiday, all the people go back to their home towns and take two weeks off. As I only had two entries on my visa into China, I had to hang out over the two weeks while everyone left the property to go home. It was a lonely time as I was the only one on the property. My task was to tour the course and report any issues when everyone returned to work. I have never heard or seen as many fireworks as I did on February 10; it was constant. In ancient China, bamboo stems were filled with gunpowder that was burnt to create small explosions to drive away evil spirits. Firecrackers are usually strung on a long, fused string so it can be hung down. Once ignited, the firecracker lets out a loud popping noise. As they are usually strung together by the hundreds, the firecrackers are known for their deafening explosions that are thought to scare away evil spirits. The burning of firecrackers also signifies a joyful time of year and has become an important aspect of Chinese New Year celebrations. During my three months in China, I met some amazing people and saw a different culture. It will not be an experience I will forget. The people that I met were genuine and welcoming. If you ever get a chance to travel to China, I would recommend it. GM
Reid Solodan, ags is the superintendent at Canmore Golf & Curling Club JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 29
FE ATURE ◗ DAVID MacPHERSON
DOUG WALKER IS STILL AT WORK AT AN AGE MOST PEOPLE ARE WELL INTO RETIREMENT.
At 80 Doug Walker Still Keeps the Greens in Rural Manitoba ◗ There’s a humble, hard-working greenkeeper in rural Manitoba you’ve probably never heard of before. He’s one of countless unsung heroes in the golf industry that rise early, take pride in their job and manage Mother Nature daily to maintain course conditions at clubs across Canada. What makes Doug Walker’s story unique is he’s still keeping the greens when most people his age are long since retired. This past May, the superintendent at the 9-hole Melita Golf Club turned 80. Walker, I’m sure, can lay claim to being the oldest greenkeeper still working in Canada. I challenge you to find another person in this industry crazy enough to still work 50 hours per week doing manual labor at that age. My first question is why? “It’s still fun and it’s always a challenge,” the soft-spoken superintendent says. As for the hours he works, getting up at 5 a.m. is nothing new. As a kid growing up in Plumas, Manitoba, Walker rose before the sun to help on the family farm. After graduating from high school, he worked for a GM dealer and then owned and operated an auto body shop for 25 years. In all his jobs, sleep was secondary. What makes Walker’s story even more 30 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
special is he switched careers and became a superintendent at a time in his life when most people are busy making retirement plans. Early morning wake-ups were the easiest part of this transition from small business owner to turfgrass manager. One wonders why and how the octogenarian became a superintendent. “I just wanted some fresh air!” he says. The fumes and chemicals that permeate in an auto body shop were also not good for Walker’s health. He has never even swung a golf club, so it wasn’t the game that attracted him to his second career. Rather, the previous superintendent at Melita Golf Club, who was a friend, suggested he give greenkeeping a try. Walker learned how to maintain a golf course by trial and error. “It’s 90 per cent common sense and 10 per cent what you read in books,” he says. “You also need to use your imagination.” The 80-year-old looks after everything from course maintenance to servicing equipment. He has one full-time assistant and a part-time summer student to help him maintain this country course with approximately 170 members. Like most superintendents, Walker says his biggest challenges are the weather and trying to
find employees. “We are situated in a valley and any torrential rains we get cause a lot of flooding,” he explains. “A creek runs through the centre of the course and sometimes overflows.” Will Walker ever retire so he doesn’t have to worry about these challenges anymore? He’s thought about it for the last five years, but each season he keeps going back. That said, as our conversation ends, he admits that this season will most likely be his last. What will Walker do the day he mows his final fairway? “That’s a good question,” he laughs. With six grandchildren, spending extra time with his family will certainly top his list. “I still enjoy it, but I’ve got to give it up sometime!” Walker says. GM
David MacPherson is a freelance writer and regular contributer to GreenMaster magazine as well as many other publications.
A grandaughter’s love
Brittany Walker Pays Tribute to Her Grandpa ◗ It honestly does not surprise me my grandpa is still working at the golf course at 80-years-old. All my life, he has worked extremely hard and I have never once heard him complain about the work that has to be done; he just goes out and does it. You can also tell that he is extremely passionate about the work that he does at the golf course and takes pride in it. For me, my grandpa’s work ethic is something I look up to. He tackles everything that comes at him without thinking twice about it. My entire life he has always been a great role model for me and the rest of my family. My father Darrell is also a greenkeeper. Growing up, my grandpa and my dad worked together for around 10 years as the greenkeepers at the Melita Course. My brother Brett and I spent many days and hours visiting them at the course and Brett even worked with my grandpa and my dad for one summer when he was in high school. Since then, my dad has moved on to being the head greenkeeper at a course in Carnduff, Saskatchewan, but that doesn’t stop him and my grandpa from constantly comparing and sharing ideas about what each of them are doing at the different courses. Dad still goes to the Melita Course every once in a while to help grandpa out when he needs a hand and grandpa has even travelled up to Carnduff to give dad a hand too. It is great to see the relationship the two of them have. Seeing that kind of relationship growing up has helped me have such a great relationship with my own parents and family. I remember, at the beginning of every spring, my brother and I walking our bikes to the golf course and grandpa and dad meeting us there to fill up our tires with air at the golf shed. It is the small things like this that grandpa always took the time to do, even though he was very busy, that stick with me to this day. Today, I work as a photographer at our local newspaper and anytime I have to go take pictures at the golf course, my
BRITTANY AND DOUG WALKER HAVE SHARED MANY A MEMORY AT MELITA GOLF CLUB.
grandpa is always willing to help me get to the places on the course that I need to be. I also remember a few years ago when the golf course switched to being able to control their sprinkler system with a computer at the clubhouse. Using a computer was definitely something new my grandpa had to figure out. However, he was not afraid to ask me to come up to the golf course to show him how to change some of the settings and get things working the way he wanted. Being able to ask someone for help is something many people do not like to do, but grandpa is willing to accept help and learn a new way of doing tasks when confronted with that kind of situation.
Growing up, I was the only female grandchild that my grandpa had; it was just me and five boys, so grandpa always treated me differently and definitely spoiled me any chance he got. We have always been very close. I admire him as a person for all that he has done for our family. If there is ever anything that needs to be done, he is right there ready to help, without even having to ask. Grandpa is a man of very few words, but his work ethic, knowledge, and passion at the golf course – and in life – speaks volumes! GM
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JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 31
FE ATURE ◗ JIM FLETT
Proactive Communication Strategies to Meet Demands Get your message out effectively and efficiently ◗ No one likes the unexpected. Golf members at a country club are no different. Members at a club can be demanding and take their ownership seriously. They want answers to why things are the way they are, or vary from the accepted standard. As superintendents, we need to be proactive on what should be communicated. It is an ever-challenging endeavor as weather affects the scheduling of various projects and practices to a point where the course conditions change and the maintenance plan has to be modified to suit the current conditions on an almost-daily basis. To add to the challenge, there are now many more avenues to deliver a message than ever before. There are a growing percentage of folks who have access to computers and smart phones and who get their news information via social media channels or blogs. It’s easy to get the message out to these people and the news is very much up-to-the-minute in a lot of cases. However, part of the challenge is that not everybody is, or cares to be, up-to-date with the high-tech world and some still prefer to be informed the old fashion way; on printed matter. That being said, communication strategies by the greens department today need to be broadly based and delivered, making use of all the communication mediums
32 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
out there to ensure that as many golfing members as possible get the message. This puts extra demands on the superintendent and his/her team. As a result, a proactive communication program needs to be designed and developed to get the message out effectively and efficiently.
Being Proactive
The main concept that will result in more effective communication to meet golfer demands is being proactive. Being proactive relies on everyone on the turf operations team to be able to identify any below standard item and bring it to a supervisor’s attention who is in a position to communicate it to the golfers. We all need to stay one step ahead of the golfer and try and get the information out there.
Blogs
A golf course operations blog is probably the #1 way to effectively communicate and update course activities online in a timely manner, as necessary. It’s easy to build and many superintendents have jumped onboard this communication medium as an alternative to the difficult task of posting to a website. The service is free or low cost and the blog post can be easily posted to the popular Twitter or Facebook social media channels to help get the word out quickly. Pictures can be easily uploaded and the
blog can be easily customized to match your club’s colour theme, include your logo and can be adapted to look similar your club’s website. Free or low-cost widgets can be added, such as a weather feed of your course, a maintenance calendar, a link to subscribe by email or a print button. Recruit various key staff as contributors and grant them access to be blog post authors. For example, it’s my assistants’ responsibility to post an update for the blog on weekends. Blog posts should be delivered in a timely manner so that those coming over to play in the early tee times are well informed of the day’s conditions. Time is always a factor first thing in the morning so the trick of creating a draft the night before that can be saved for use the next morning is a time saver. This allows for any tweaks that need to be made at the last minute before posting in the morning.
Social Media Channels
Be it Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, a YouTube channel, Google+ or anything else – social media channels allow you to engage and connect and can give members a chance to get an inside peak at golf course management and what it takes to provide exceptional course conditions. Two of the most popular social media channels, Twitter and Facebook, are widely used and are excellent for getting the word out and providing additional updates that don’t warrant a lengthy new blog post. Unexpected events or mishaps that quickly changed course conditions can be easily posted on Twitter or Facebook via computer or smart phone to give up-to-the-minute news to your followers. If golfers and the pro shop staff are monitoring your posts, frost delays, irrigation breaks and other unplanned course disruption can be quickly communicated to the golfer in a timely manner. A heads-up can be given, as well, for cultural practices that are going to be happening. To avoid being bogged down with too much time spent on posting updates, be sure to make use of the automated
This article is eligible for the
Gordon Witteveen Award designation for the author.
post features of the various social media channels to use your time more efficiently. For example, it is possible to arrange for your Facebook posts to be automatically posted to Twitter as well, which invokes the old two birds with one stone saying.
Posting Printed Material
Most clubs are trying to cut down on the amount of print publications they distribute in an effort to become more environmentally aware. However, not everyone is reading your electronic posts and it’s necessary to keep non-tech members informed, as well, by posted printed materials. At our club, the golf professional shop help us out by simply printing off the blog posts using the print widget that was inserted into our blog. They post it on the cash counter and on the bulletin board by the first tee. If the message is important enough, we also post it in the mens’ and ladies’ locker rooms and at the front desk at the clubhouse office. Three editions of the newsletter are printed for members during the season at this point, but are available in an electronic format on the website which, thanks to email, can be easily distributed.
Website
A website is a great place to put further reading for members on topics concerning golf course maintenance. Quality reading can be posted as links or pdfs on your club’s website. This information will further support your course management decisions and provide more background from industryleading professionals such as the USGA or college professors.
Email Blasts
Our club’s email blast is sent biweekly during the shoulder season and weekly during the peak summer season to members who have signed up to receive the updates. Sent out by staff in the main office, the turf department forwards anything by email that we want to be included by Tuesday at noon for a Friday email blast.
Blogging Terms Explained by Marc Cousineau Widgets: Enable bloggers to customize the appearance and content of their blogs without coding knowledge. Elements, like text boxes, images, recent posts, Twitter feeds and other apps, can be added and edited on your blog page using a simple click-and-drag or point-and-click system. Blogrolls: A list of other blogs that a blogger might recommend by providing links to them. This list is usually added on the side or bottom of a blog page and helps both the blogger and their audience to access numerous sources of relevant information that might interest them. “Subscribe Now” Button: A widget that allows readers to receive notifications when there are new posts in a blog. The notifications usually come in the form of an email and will help make it convenient for readers to stay up-to-date on the latest posts from your blog. Hyperlink: Used synonymously with the word “link”, this is clickable content within a web page that takes the user to another page, website or within part of the same page.
Expand Your Followers
Expand your list of followers by using a “subscribe by email” function on your blog or website. Keep reminding people how they can follow your blog or follow you on Facebook or Twitter on your written correspondence such a printed newsletter. You could even give out cards with your social media information on the first tee!
Consistent Communication
Social media is different from oldfashioned, paper written communication in that it’s a two-way conversation. If a golfer comments on a Facebook post, it’s out there for the whole world to see, so make sure someone you trust is closely monitoring your site. That way, you can respond quickly to an opportunity to thank someone for a compliment or offer an apology for a disappointing experience. In the world of social media, nothing conveys indifference like an unanswered post or tweet, so stay on top of your news feed.
Subject Lines That Sing
Attention to detail is the key to success.
In fact, studies say you have just 48 hours or less for your blog or e-mails to be read before they’re totally disregarded. That’s why it’s imperative that your subject lines provide some punch. For example: ‘Before You Bring Out that Important Guest’. A golf course communication program takes a little pre-planning, but once in place, it works effectively at getting the message out to members. You can never be faulted for over-communicating! It’s better to do more than less. There is little cost to getting started on a few social media platforms for your golf course. The key to success is to be consistent and have something posted on a regular basis. Utilizing the automated features of social media channels will allow you to limit the time you spend on this function and will keep you out on the course where you time is essential. GM Jim Flett is the superintendent at Muskoka Lakes Golf & County Club, a member of the CGSA Board of Directors and the co-host of the 2014 Fall Field Day..
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ME CH A N I C ’S CORN ER ◗ EDDIE KONRAD
Ohm’s Law and Resistance ◗ In the last issue of GreenMaster, we discovered that all components used in electronic circuits have three basic properties, known as resistance, capacitance and inductance. Let us first look at Resistance: The property of a component to oppose the flow of electrical current through itself. As you might expect, components whose main property is resistance are called resistors; The figure to the right shows the basic type of electrical circuit, in the form of a block diagram. It consists of a source of electrical energy, some sort of load to make use of that energy, and electrical conductors connecting the source and the load. The electrical source has two terminals, designated positive (+) and negative (-). As long as there is an unbroken connection from source to load and back again, as shown here, electrons will be pushed from the negative terminal of the source, through the load, and then back to the positive terminal of the source. The arrows show the direction of electron current flow through this circuit. Because the electrons are always moving in the same direction through the circuit, their motion is known as a direct current (DC). The source can be a battery, an electrical generator or some sort of electronic power supply. The load is any device or circuit powered by electricity. It can be as simple as a light bulb or as complex as a modern, high-speed computer. The electricity provided by the source has two basic characteristics, called voltage and current. These are defined as follows:
Voltage: The electrical “pressure” that causes free electrons to travel through an electrical circuit; also known as electromotive force (emf ). It is measured in volts (V). Current: The amount of electrical charge (the number of free electrons) moving past a given point in an electrical circuit per unit of time. Current is measured in amperes (A). The load, in turn, has a characteristic called resistance. Resistance: That characteristic of a medium which opposes the flow of electrical current through itself. Resistance is measured in ohms (Ω). The relationship between voltage, current and resistance in an electrical circuit is fundamental to the operation of any circuit or device. By explicit definition, one volt of electrical pressure can push one ampere of current through one ohm of resistance. Two volts can either push one ampere through a resistance of two ohms or can push two amperes through a resistance of one ohm. Mathematically: E = I × R , where E = The applied voltage, or EMF, I = The circuit current, R = The resistance in the circuit.
Ohm’s Law
One thing we need to be able to do when we see a schematic circuit diagram is perform mathematical calculations to define the precise behaviour of the circuit. Consider the basic circuit shown to the right. We know immediately that the battery voltage is 6 volts and the resistor is rated at 1000 Ω. Now, how can we determine how much current is flowing through this circuit? ◗ CONTINUED ON PAGE 36
You’ve read it. Now be a part of it! GreenMaster is looking for your ideas and original articles on golf course management. No story or idea is too small. If you have a story you have written or an idea for one you would like to see in the pages of our magazine please send it to bgarrett@golfsupers.com. We welcome all submissions. Your stories and ideas will make the magazine come alive and help golf course professionals across Canada. Those stories written by superintendents and assistant superintendents that appear in GreenMaster will also automatically be considered for the annual Gordon Witteveen Award. Grow with the CGSA!
JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 35
◗ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35
The relationship between voltage, current and resistance is given as E = I × R. Using basic algebra we can also rewrite this as: R = E ÷ I, I = E ÷ R. These three equations describe Ohm’s Law, which defines this relationship. To find the current flowing in this circuit, we must select the equation that solves for I. Using that equation, we note that: I = E ÷ R. Therefore, I = 6v ÷ 1000, I = 0.006 ampere (A) = 6 milliamperes (mA)
Resistors in Series
In the circuit shown to the right, we see two resistors instead of one. To distinguish them without assigning fixed values to them, we designate them “R1” and “R2.” In this circuit, we don’t know the specific voltage across each resistor, but we do know that the same current must be flowing through both of them. We will use that fact to help us with our calculations; E = I × (R1 + R2). That last equation has a serious consequence throughout all of electronics: resistors
in series add their values together to get the total resistance. Additional resistors in series simply continue to add to the total circuit resistance; E = I x (R1+R2+R3+R4) etc.
Resistors in Parallel
When two resistors are connected in parallel, as shown to the right, the same voltage appears across each resistor. However, each resistor provides its own path for the flow of current. If the resistors have different resistance values, they will carry different amounts of current, each in accordance with Ohm’s Law. Voltages are equal. So the Vs cancel out. Now let’s apply Ohm’s Law again and solve the above equation for total resistance: RT = 1 (1R1 + 1R2). R1 is 20 Ω and R2 is 30 Ω. R1 = 120 = 0.05, R2 = 130 = 0.0333, RT= 10.05+ 0.0333) = 12, RT = 12 Ω.
Three-Terminal Resistor Configurations
Consider the schematic diagram to the right. Because the resistors are shown schematically in a way that resembles the letter “Y,” this arrangement is known as a “Y” (or “Wye”) configuration. In fact, this circuit is found in a wide variety of devices A second configuration involving three resistors is shown in the schematic diagram to the right. Since the modern English/ Latin alphabet has no symbol that resembles this triangle, we use the Greek letter “Delta” (Δ) to describe this configuration. This configuration is just as important as the “Y” configuration. An essential difference, however, is that in the Delta configuration, the resistance between any two points is a series-parallel combination of all three resistors. You will encounter both configurations throughout the field of electronics, used in many different ways. You should be ready to recognize them when you see them. That’s as much on resistors as we need to know as equipment technicians. In the next issue of GreenMaster, we will talk about transformers and electrical fundamentals. GM
Eddie was the head mechanic at the Ladies Golf Club of Toronto for 22 years, regularly contributes to GreenMaster magazine and is a contract professor at Seneca College in Ontario teaching Reel Technology. 36 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
596118_Buffalo.indd 1
7/11/12 9:43:18 AM
BAC K N I N E ◗ MARC COUSINEAU
Of The People, For The People CGSA member and WOGSA President John Taylor loves turfgrass, connecting with colleagues ◗ It was more than 20 years ago that the idea for a Canadian golf course manager’s hockey tournament was born on a napkin. “I was playing golf one day with a Scott Dodson, the superintendent at Park Country Club in Buffalo, and we were avid hockey players. So we were talking after the round and we were saying that with so many guys in the industry who play hockey, we should organize a tournament. We drew it up on a napkin and ran it that same year,” says John Taylor, one of the main organizers of the annual event. “We always like to remember that first year,” says Taylor, the superintendent at Grand Niagara Golf Club, “because it was in January and there was a horrible ice storm that day. The first game was at 8 am and all the players showed up at 7 am, ready to play. That’s when we knew we had something that might work.” It’s been two decades since that first tournament and it’s still going strong, just one more part of Taylor’s amazing trackrecord of excellence and dedication on and off the golf course. Taylor, a 30-year CGSA member, started his career as a superintendent when he was 19-years-old, a time when most people are still figuring out what career path is right for them. Taking over the management of a golf course and an entire team at such a young age left Taylor with no room for boredom. “We learned off the seat of our pants,” says Taylor, describing his early days at Twenty Valley Golf and Country Club. “I failed at a lot of thing and got right back up and tried them again and kept rolling. It was quite a learning experience and quite a learning curve to face, but it all worked out for the best.”
Taylor spent 18 years at Twenty Valley before taking the superintendent position at Hunters Pointe Golf Course in Welland. After eight years at Hunters Pointe, Taylor ended up at Grand Niagara, where he’s been since 2008. Taylor has had many proud moments in the last 30-plus years as a superintendent, including helping to rebuild the clubhouse and install a brand new irrigation system at Twenty Valley, and taking over at Hunters Pointe, which was a newly-opened course at the time. But some of Taylor’s most fulfilling moments have come away from the greens and fairways of his course. Taylor, the president of the Western Ontario Golf Superintendents Association and a former president of the Ontario Golf Superintendents Association, says his participation in industry groups has been well worth the investment. “One of the biggest things I’ve ever gotten from being a member of an association is the networking,” says Taylor. “I’ve met many great people from associations that I still call friends today. Of all the things I’ve done over the years, that’s what I value the most, the contacts I’ve made and the people I can call when I need help and who will come out of the woodwork to do so.” Taylor is always striving to keep up this tradition of connectedness as president of the WOGSA. “We run a very low-key organization… and our big goal is to get people together. I always say that you can learn a lot by just sitting around with a bunch of people, having a beer.” With a golf course to manage and plenty of extracurricular activities to keep
“The first game was at 8 am and all the players showed up at 7 am, ready to play. That’s when we knew we had something that might work.” John Taylor
JOHN TAYLOR, SECOND FROM LEFT, AFTER A ROUND AT PARK COUNTRY CLUB IN BUFFALO.
Taylor busy, it may seem unbelievable that he can fit any more on his plate. But he can. The veteran superintendent spends time each week passing on his love of golf courses to the next generation of enthusiasts as an instructor at Niagara College. Taylor has taught golf course architecture for 10 years at the school and says it’s an experience unlike any other. “It’s been thoroughly enjoyable to help the students,” says Taylor. “It’s a totally different experience than what you do at work and I really like doing it. Hopefully at the end of the day the students get something out of it too.” Although Taylor can’t tell what lays ahead for him, one thing is certain; his passion will always reside in his profession and the people who make it special. “At the end of the day, being a superintendent…is a tough habit to break,” says Taylor. “I don’t know what the future holds…but I’m sure I’ll always be involved somehow. Hopefully I can keep giving back and having fun with my fellow supers.” GM
JULY/AUGUST 2014 | GreenMaster 37
TA LK BACK ◗ FROM OUR READERS
SUPER SNAPSHOTS: Swinging into Summer
Letters “
N ow a member of the CGSA! Slowly becoming more and more of a turfie every day.
Justin Smidt Glencoe Golf Turfcare
Talk back!
Email cgsa@golfsupers.com
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT – SCALP HAPPENS (PETER ASMA), A FOX TAKES A LOOK DOWN THE ROAD AT GREENSMERE G&CC (PETER ASMA), THE SUN SHINES DOWN ON THE CREW AT GREENSMERE G&CC AS THEY TOPDRESS (PETER ASMA), A VIEW OF HOLE #3 AT GREENSMERE G&CC ON A LATE SPRING DAY (PETER ASMA), SOME BIRDS ENJOY THE POND AT RED DEER GOLF AND CC (HEATH K.)..
Word on the Course… Q. W hat’s your favourite fact about the course you work at? A. “Peterborough Golf and Country
A.
Club will be pesticide free into June this year! A great feeling nice weather for turf! “Quilchena Golf provides a habitat to wildlife including: eagles, hawks, owls, falcons, ducks, minks, otters & beavers!”
38 GreenMaster | www.golfsupers.com
Q. T he most important thing to remember when prepping for tournament is…? A. ”Stop and smell the roses. Take
A. A.
enjoyment of the beauty you and your team have created and accomplished. Enjoy the moment!” “Don’t forget about your family.” “Straight pins, no clippings and beer for the crew.”
Q. W hen is your course’s first tee time? A.
9%
6:15 am 36%
6:30 am
36%
7:00 am
9%
7:30 am
9%
8:00 am
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