Most of our members have now started their seasons. Courses and Parks in the province are now open for business. There is still snow in the Northwest and flooding in the Northeast. The South generally is suffering from draught conditions. Most courses are in good shape and, as is the case every year, there are some who have had some winter damage.

In the near future the STA Board of Directors will have their spring meeting. Among items that will be discussed is the proposed 2009 Conference and Trade Show, the 2008 Research Tournament at Jackfish Lodge Golf Club August 12th and upcoming Educational Sessions throughout the summer and fall. Highlights of this meeting will appear in the May newsletter.

I’ve attended seminars on trees for almost 50 years. All were very informative and worthwhile, but I’ve never heard a speaker with more information than John Ball, Wednesday's headliner at the STA's 2008 Spring Seminar. He is a dynamic speaker that will captivate the audience. He has spoken at numerous conferences in North America on the subject of tree management.

One of my pet peeves when I was a green superintendent was the excessive marking of “Ground Under Repair”. Too much white paint alters the play of the game we all love. I used to boil when tournament officials would ask for the paint gun. To me, this was communicating a less than positive message to golfers about course conditioning.

The S.T.A. Spring Seminar will be held March 18th & 19th. The C.G.S.A. Seminar will be held March 19th. The topic – Managing Trees in Parks, on Golf Courses and in Towns. The speaker will be John Ball from the University of South Dakota. March 18th will include two 2-hour sessions, followed by a reception. Around this time Oakcreek is hosting a service school.

The Wind-up seminar was well attended with 65 people total. This is one of our better attended wind-ups. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Laurie Unruh, Ron Dagert, Darren Crilly and Doug Leavins for their efforts in calling members to come to Dakota Dunes Casino for a tremendous day.

Most recently I attended the Saskatchewan Golf Association’s Annual Meeting and Banquet. This was a well organized meeting, the highlight for me was being presented with a cheque for $1500.00 that goes toward turfgrass research. This will go to the Prairie Turfgrass Research Centre along with the S.T.A.’s contribution.

The S.T.A. 2007 Fall Wind-up and Annual General Meeting will be held at the Dakota Dunes Casino’s “The Room” November 27th 2007. The Wind-up seminar will feature Dr. David Doherty whose topic will be “Physical Properties of Soils”. We were very lucky to get this gentleman and a big thank you has to go to Darren Crilly and Terry McNeilly for their efforts in bringing Dr. Doherty to Saskatoon.

IN APPRECIATION: To the Melville Golf Club, its members and staff for hosting the 2007 S.T.A. Research Tournament. A big thank you to superintendent Marc Mohart for his help and cooperation. The condition of the golf course was excellent. The food services were great. Thanks to all!

West Nile virus is here. Make sure your employees are well protected with spray containing “deet”. Also, it may be wise to put up a sign at the first tee to spray for bugs and do it on a non-turf area like a cart path. I find most courses supply mosquito spray for their employees.