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.