Winter Preparation

I’m sure you, as a golfer, have asked yourself come fall time, “why is the golf course closed while it is still nice outside?”. Many golfers are in shock when the golf course closes down for the season Mid-October, when the sun is still shining and the leaves have yet to fall. During the golf season, the turf crew starts very early in the morning to prepare exceptional conditions for the many golfers to play that day, and come October, the crew needs their time to “put the course to bed”, as the turf professionals like to refer to it as. What goes into putting the golf course to bed? A lot! 

Let’s begin by explaining what goes into putting the golf course to bed. Each golf course Superintendent has his or her own way of putting the course to bed, but we will show what is involved in Shadow Mountain’s preparation for winter. Blowing out the irrigation lines is the first item on the list of fall preparation, as they do not want the lines to freeze. Blowing out golf course irrigation lines takes 2 days. The compressor is also a lot bigger than one that would be used at your house.

Irrigation heads being blown out

The compressor used to blow out the irrigation lines

Most turf will make it through the winter on it’s own, but at the low height that the greens are cut, they need some help to defend the winter diseases, snow cover, and potential ice cover due to freeze and thaw. This is where fungicide applications are crucial. Each golf course Superintendent has his or her own preference of how many applications of fungicide he or she would like to put down before the snow starts to fly. At Shadow Mountain, we have bentgrass tees, greens, and fairways, so they are all treated with fungicide to assist them in making it through the winter. Without the application of fungicides in the fall, the greens would succumb to the harsh winters that they face. This would result in dead greens come spring time, and this is every Superintendent’s nightmare. 

After the fungicides are put down, next comes pounding in rebar and steel posts around the tees and greens. These will be used to hold up orange snow fence which is used to keep the elk off of them, as the hoof marks create quite the mess. Roughly 2,500 posts are pounded in. This takes a lot of time, but pays off come spring time.   

Orange fencing being hauled to #3 green

Posts being hauled to #4 tee box

Posts being pounded in

While all of this is going on out on the course, all 81 of the golf carts, and maintenance equipment have to be moved into storage for the winter. There is a dedicated crew that hauls golf carts and turf equipment for a week to the storage location.

Golf carts being hauled to storage After all of the above has been finished, there are a few housekeeping items that are taking place this fall. Trees are coming down to make the golf course a little bit more golfer friendly for the upcoming season. As well, the much dreaded waste bunker on number 5 has undergone a facelift, and the green is better seen from the front half of the fairway.

Trees being cut down on hole 11

The waste bunker on 5 being cleaned up

I’m sure you, as a golfer, have asked yourself come fall time, “why is the golf course closed while it is still nice outside?”. There is a lot that goes into putting the golf course to bed, and also a few fall projects that cannot be completed when golfers are on the course. After reading this, we hope you have a better understanding why we need to close the golf course when we do.

Thank you for another great season!

From the Shadow Mountain Turf Care Team!

Happy Canada Day!

Beautiful morning spraying greens behind the greens mowers on Canada Day.

Aeration Day

Today we start aerating greens. The course closes in the afternoon on the Sunday, and then reopens on Tuesday. This gives the crew enough time to carry out the necessary tasks associated with aeration.

At Shadow we use the Toro ProCore 648 aerator.

Aerating Practice Green

 After the greens are cored, we then used the John Deere TC 125 for clean up. This system is very efficient. There is another Pro Gator waiting to dump the cores into. Once that Pro Gator is full, then it drives to wherever we are dumping the cores. It then returns and the cycle continues.

TC 125 in action on hole 2

Once the cores are removed, the greens are blown off with the Buffalo blower, top dressed, and brushed in. If deemed necessary by the Superintendent, we will add any amendments to the soil at this time while the holes are open.

First Day as an Intern at Shadow Mountain!

First day on the job as an Intern at Shadow Mountain in Cranbrook, BC! Looking forward to this year and what it has in store for me. One thing is that I won't get tired of the views working here. The mountains are amazing!

Hole 9 from the White Tees

While working at Aberdeen Glen Golf Course in Prince George, BC, I never had the chance to spray, as they had an Assistant to perform it. The first day working at Shadow Mountain, I was tasked with spraying fairways. A little bit of a shock for me, but I was up front with Brad, and told him that I have never sprayed before. He was a great teacher and spent a few hours with me in the passenger seat explaining how to spray and making sure I was doing it correctly.

Spraying hole 9

WCTA Conference and Presentation

During our Golf Course Management class with Jason Pick (instructor) at Olds College, he asked who would like to speak at the Western Canada Turfgrass Association (WCTA) conference in Victoria during the month of March. My fellow classmate Leandro Avveduti (Irrigation Tech at Petroleum Club in Edmonton currently) and myself were the ones who put our hands up, and thus ended up attending the WCTA and presenting in front of many superintendents and turf professionals.  For both of us, this was a great learning experience as public speaking aren't our strong points. After presenting, many superintendents came up to Leandro and myself congratulating us on how well our presentation was. For me, this was great to hear as it was my first major speaking event. It is quite a bit different than presenting in class among your peers, since most of the audience were superintendents who could be potential future employers. This presentation was not only good to get my name out there, but also to practice presenting my public speaking skills, which can always be improved. After this presentation, I would definitely look to present in the future.

Presenting at the WCTA Conference in Victoria