Another Fall Wind-up and Annual General Meeting is in the books. 37 members attended despite terrible weather conditions which made driving an adventure. Because of a bad cold which kept me in bed for five days, I was unable to attend. People tell me the day was excellent with a tremendous seminar and great food.

 

The Seminar, Bunker Maintenance, presented by Bob Ranquist was the best ever according to some S.T.A. members who never miss a Fall Wind-up. Mr. Ranquist touched on every aspect of bunker maintenance, some of which included:
1) How they originated.
2) Golfer complaints and expectations.
3) Raking and edging.
4) Design and drainage.
5) Type, colour and how much sand should go in each bunker.
The above came from members who attended and also said we could have this seminar again another time.

 

A highlight of the Annual Meeting was the presentation of the Drew-Smith “Member of the Year” award. The deserving S.T.A. member was Doug Leavins from the Chinook Golf Club in Swift Current. Doug, also an S.T.A. member, participates in all S.T.A. activities. He attends all seminars and the Research Tournament no matter where they are in the province. As a Board Member, he never misses a meeting, driving great distances to contribute to the S.T.A. I’ve always said the best superintendents are those that further their turf education, are active in the community and support their turfgrass associations by getting involved. Doug Leavins fits this to a tee. The Chinook Golf Club, I’m sure, is proud to have him.

The 2007 S.T.A. will have a new person in the Chair along with new Directors Rod Ward and Gord Moore. They, along with the incumbents, will have their work cut out for them as we are losing members and have shown a loss in our operations for three straight years. We have to correct these reverses.

Very few golf course superintendents don’t lose their jobs because of poor course conditions. Most are fired because they can’t or don’t communicate with the owners, general managers, greens committee, board members or golfers. In this day and age, superintendents need to be ‘people persons’. They should take every opportunity to communicate with the people they work for or with.

From late October to mid November I spent time in North Carolina with my daughter and then travelled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for about 10 days. I visited many golf courses, only one of which was busy. That was Pinehurst #2 and it was packed. With accommodation it cost $230.00 to play a round. The fairways were extremely wide and a lot of bunkers wouldn’t come into play for most every-day golfers. All the greens, however, were turtle backed and people had real trouble with them even though they weren’t overly fast. One thing I did notice was how well the drainage system throughout the course worked considering they had 3 inches of rain the day before. There wasn’t any standing water anywhere. Speaking of Pinehurst #2, course superintendent Paul Jett said when they hosted the last U.S. Open, each green was cut 28 times during Open Week. Incidentally, Mr. Jett had 125 people maintaining the course for the event. When you have turtle back greens cut short 4 times a day it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why the greens were tricky fast!

At my daughters golf course outside of Chapel Hill the owners asked me what the golfers complained the most about in Canada. I answered “quality of sand traps, slow play and aerification.” To help his course, the owner added frost delays and course rangers who try to speed players up and insist on repairing ball marks and replace divots. He had smaller greens (3000 sq. feet) on each hole the golfers played during frost delays and aerification. Problem fixed. Being an owner, he answers complaints about the ranger with “He’ll still be here… you may not be.” Case closed. He gets 80,000 rounds per year. Green fees are $18.00 per round with carts going for $12.00 per round. There aren’t any nine hole rates. By the way, he answers complaints about the bunkers by saying: “Don’t go in them, or hit it, go find it and hit it again, no matter where it is.”

Besides the recent seminar on bunker maintenance I would like us to host seminars on Drainage and Golf Course and Park Trees. Dr. John Ball, Professor of Forestry for South Dakota State University, would be a great choice for Tree Management. Speaking of drainage, an experienced golf course builder told me this was the most important task in building a new golf course. Unfortunately, some people see this area as a savings in construction costs and then blame everybody but themselves when the course is unplayable due to excess water.

Let me take this opportunity to wish all S.T.A. members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May everyone enjoy good health and much happiness this Christmas and in the New Year. That’s it guys… I’ve got to go buy presents!