Audubon Certification

During the first semester in our second year of the diploma, we took Environmental Management for Golf Courses with Jason Pick. During the 15 weeks of this course, we as a group (4 students per group) got to pick a golf course that we wanted to help Audubon Certify. My group chose The Edmonton Petroleum Golf and Country Club (EPGCC). This is a private course that is located in Spruce Grove, Alberta. A fellow classmate in my group is the irrigation technician at EPGCC, so that was the reasoning behind picking that course. The superintendent at the course had been part of an Audubon certification previous at another golf course in Alberta. We as a group spent many hours on getting the golf course certified. We created a website to host all of the information required to become certified. The website address is: petroleumaudubon.blogspot.ca. During the AGSA conference that we attended, my group presented our final project (the website) to the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent. We finished all the major work, and now the superintendent must send in the final application. 

Check out Audubon International if you'd like to get your golf course certified. 

http://www.auduboninternational.org

AGSA Conference

December 1st and 2nd the second year turf class attended the Alberta Golf Course Superintendents Association (AGSA) conference in Canmore, Alberta. It was held at the Coast Inn. There were a lot of great speakers there, and they had topics for mechanics, horticulturalists, and turf orientated people.

Great view from the parking lot. 

Class Trip to Banff Springs

Today we made a trip out to Banff Springs Golf Course to take a look at how they run things as well as their Audubon achievement. This golf course is a Stanley Thompson design, and has had a few restorations back to the original design. The superintendent at the course is Bob Burrows.

Banff is a neat golf course to see because they are in a national park, thus needing permits for a lot of things. They are encouraged to keep the animals around, thus having some problems with elk and such.

Their shop is modern and set up very well.

Covered storage for their machines.

They use this to clear snow in the winter and also to clear
greens of snow. 

Up by the green, there are 3 mounds behind it representing
 the 3 sisters mountain range that you can see in
the background. 

It was a very nice day to go on a tour. Below are a few pictures with the Fairmont Hotel in the background.

At Banff Springs, they aerate tee to green, tree line to tree line. They do not have any organic matter issues, just compaction is the primary reason for aeration.

The fall aeration holes are left open without sand to
help water infiltration during more mild conditions. 

Something that they did that I had never seen before was a
"clean up cut" with the aerator.

Fairway aeration. 

In the fall months, the elk create these ruts in 
the turf, which causes quite a bit of damage. The crew 
is skilled in repairing the damage with turf of the same 
variety and colour. 

The pump house was very clean and tidy.
They rotated the wiring on the pumps
every 2 years to help keep the
usage even. 

We took 2 class photos on the course. One with the Fairmont Hotel in the background, and one on the tee deck of the Devil's Cauldron.

Aerating Greens

Today we aerated our greens at Aberdeen Glen with solid tines. Aeration helps the turf by allowing water and air to more easily penetrate the surface down into the soil. It also helps to decrease any compaction that may be present. It has been in the 30's for most of the summer, so this aeration will definitely help the greens get some water to the roots in this hot, dry weather.

We use a John Deere Aercore 800 aerator

The solid tines that we used were cross tines

The process we underwent during this aeration was as follows:

1) Aerate with solid tines

2) Seed any thin areas on the greens

3) Laid down a medium topdress

4) Brush in sand and seed into the green 

Topdressing

Today I put down a light topdress on the greens. 

Sand sitting on top of the dew

Repairing a leak

Today we repaired a pinhole leak in a 3 inch T. The 3 inch T converted into a 2 inch lateral line. There was the main bundle of wires running along the 3 inch main lateral line which we had to be very careful not to cut with shovels while digging. We used a 3 inch and a 2 inch telescope and also a new 3 inch T with a 2 inch converter.  

Big Leak on Hole 9

Today we found a leak that didn't look all that bad at the beginning. I mean yes, it was way bigger and deeper than any normal leak, but nothing that wouldn't take more than a couple hours to fix...we thought.

This is what we arrived to in the morning. The ground 
underneath was caved in from the water pressure that 
washed away the soil.

So we proceeded to remove the sod and dig it out to find the break. We dug with shovels to a depth of about 4 feet and found no sign of water or a pipe.

This hole was about 15ft long by about 4 feet deep

After digging the trench out and finding no pipe, we got the mini excavator to dig out the rest until we found the pipe and the leak. 

As you can clearly see, the trench tripled in size.

                            

With the excavator, we dug to a depth of about 6.5 feet and finally found the pipe and the leak. The reason that it was so deep is because when the course was built, they installed the irrigation system and then wanted mounds on this area of the hole, so they put dirt over top of the old ground level. So instead of having to dig that deep again in the future, the superintendent decided to install a new pipe higher up at a depth of around 3 feet. 

The new pipe laid in the trench

Backfilling this trench took quite a long time. We used the mini excavator to put the fill back in the trench, then used plate packers to pack the trench once there was enough fill on the pipe.

Backfilling the trench with the mini excavator and the plate packers

Finally, we laid the sod back down on the approach and the rough, then watered it well the following days. 

Laying Sod

Hand Mowing Tees

At Aberdeen Glen Golf Course, we hand mow our tees. We have a Toro and a Jacobsen reel mower that we use. 

Bunker Maintenance

Today we did a bit of bunker maintenance which included refilling any low bunkers, and fixing any liner that was showing. Then we raked every bunker afterwards.

Replacing a 2 inch Valve

Today we had to replace a 2 inch valve that was stripped (or so we thought). The valve stem would turn for eternity so once it was dug up, we took apart the valve insides and found that the valve stem was actually broken from someone overturning it. 

Once dug up and replaced this is what the final product looked like. We used a telescopic extension on one end of the valve and screwed the other end of the valve into the existing pipe. 

Earlier that week, another valve broke (just our luck I guess) and this is what it looked like (Below). We had no other choice except to turn off the pumps and replace this valve as well. 

Beautiful morning at Aberdeen Glen

Plugging

Today was also a day for plugging any dead spots that showed up this spring. Aberdeen has a nursery on site which saves on the cost of sod and plugs. We used cup sized plugs as well as hex plugs.

Irrigation Repair

Today was the day to replace a few heads around the course due to damage from previous years. Each sprinkler needing to be changed is using the new style of the Rain Bird 700 heads, so re-wiring was necessary.

Fertilizing

Today was a fertilizer day across the whole course. Foliar and granular were applied. We used a blend of 18-18-18 for the granular spread on fairways, tees, and rough.

Winter Kill on Greens

The greens at Aberdeen turned out quite nice this year. Only 2 greens had some winter kill. The winter kill had little growth so it needed to be sodded. First, we used the sod cutter to cut out the dead turf. Once the turf was removed, we sprinkled Axis(water retention), and some fertilizer in the cut out areas. We then cut out sod from our bentgrass nursery on site. Once the adequate amount of sod was removed from the nursery, we transported it and placed it piece by piece on the green. After the pieces were laid, we tamped the top of the new sod to make everything level. Once we were finished, it then needed watering to stop the sod from drying out in the sun.