I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season, with lots of presents, good food, and lots of family around you. Our house was a beehive of activity from the 23rd of December until January 5th. With all the food still around, we could have continued for another two weeks.

We had a great Fall Wind-up and Annual General Meeting at the Lynbrook Golf Club in Moose Jaw. The Social the night before was most enjoyable with old friends, mostly talking about the year they had. Joel Simmons’ seminar was informative and educational.

No more golf for this year with just last minute work to complete. Some people are putting in drainage, while others are doing tree maintenance work. Still others are doing their equipment repair duties and sharpening reels. Weather wise it isn’t bad for November.

Fall is here and for most superintendents, it’s a very important time of the year. Most have a shortage of labour as they prepare their courses for the winter. It hasn’t been the greatest of summers due to cool days and nights that have brought down the rounds played. The excellent September weather wasn’t enough to bring the play back to normal.

The 2009 Research Tournament was a huge success with an excellent turnout and near perfect weather. The wonderful hosts at the Royal Regina Golf Club went out of their way to help us in all aspects of the event. All the competitors thought the golf course was in excellent condition. The complete day was most enjoyable and a big thank you goes to the Royal Regina!

The STA Research Tournament on August 10th is here. The Royal Regina Golf Club promises to be an excellent venue and an excellent opportunity to play on a well maintained private golf club.

The first part of July and we are all busy. Despite the spring that left a lot to be desired, things in the turf industry are going pretty well. While some golf courses had some issues as a result of the colder than normal winter and spring they are rebounding. This doesn’t happen overnight but is the result of some very hard work by green superintendents and their crews.

The start of another season, a cold one that hinders green superintendents and golfers. Golf courses in the province started up in pretty good conditions. As always, some are in mid-summer condition while others are struggling a little. With some warm weather, particularly warmer nights, everybody will enjoy first class conditions.

Spring is here once again and it’s time for all Turf managers to get at their property and get ready with clean-ups, etc. Most of the golf course people I’ve talked to in the last few days are happy with the way their course wintered.

The 2009 Saskatchewan Turfgrass Conference and Trade Show is now history. All in all it was a good show with an excellent turnout in spite of treacherous driving conditions throughout the province. All areas of the province were well represented. By all accounts the educational component was well received and by the number of superintendents I heard discussing the speaker presentations, I believe there was something each took away from the conference.