Good Morning

Well we are into our second day of the course being closed due to a foot of snow that has accumlated over the past 48 hours. It has slowly started to melt and if the weather forecast is correct we should be back on the course by Monday at the latest. With some free time yesterday Trent and myself headed into Calgary and had a chance to cruise by Priddis to see all the water that was rapidly accumulating in the ditches, creeks, and rivers. As well Alex Evoy invited us to stop by the Glencoe on our way home to check out the course and their flood relief efforts. The guys at both courses as well as many more in the area have been going around the clock for the last 3 days to ensure that the water does not breach their dikes and cause serious damage to their respective courses. I have seen pictures and witnessed first hand what these guys are dealing with, and I think we are pretty lucky we only have snow to contend with. Hopefully the worst has come for the guys in Calgary and they will able to sleep at home in the near future rather than sleeping at the shop. Good Luck Guys.


The Elbow River swelling along side the Glencoe

As for us out in Kananaskis hopefully we can get back onto schedule this week. We currently have some granular and foliar apps on hold until we can get back out on the course. As well we are currently making our way through the bunkers on the Kidd course adding sand and removing as much debris as we can from them. We have finally settled into a normal routine and all staff members are currently being trained on many different pieces of golf course maintenance equipment. A social club for our turf care staff has been formed and I believe our first event is either going to be a trail ride or paintballing. Here's to a great season with awesome weather, unlike what I am looking at out the window right now.



Snow falling outside my office

On a final note we have our first recipent of the "Blue Hard Hat". Our crew is required to wear white bump caps at all times and for a deserving individual they have the opportunity to wear our blue hard hat and be recognized. Our first recipent this year was Todd Cox. He was basically on a snowblower from mid March until about a week ago and has been a great team member. As well as getting to wear the hard hat for a week he has the opportunity to add a motivational quote to our new formed quote board in the staff lunch room.



The "Blue Hard Hat"


Everyone have a great weekend.

Mitch

We Did It !!!

Well it has been awhile since we have updated the blog, but we have been a little pre-occupied with trying to get the golf courses open. Trent should think about sticking with the golf industry rather than wasting his money betting on horse racing. Not only did the course open on May 20^th, but we opened all 36 holes, something that was not expected. Our turf care team, joined by members of the pro shop and outdoor services teams worked tirelessly for 16 days straight, 13 hours a day to get the course opened for the 20^th. It definitely was the toughest spring start up I have ever been a part of, and I was happy to finally have snow blowing off my daily task list for the first time since the start of March. The team showed amazing determination and personal strength as we had to push everyone to exhaustion, including our management team. We still have a long way to go, but I am looking forward to getting into a routine and picking away at some of the cleanup we have left to complete.

I played my first round of golf yesterday and played surprisingly decent. Hopefully that trend will continue tomorrow and I can take a few dollars off of Trent and our mechanic Terry. Hopefully everyone can make it out to K Country once this season and get in a round. The greens are in very good shape and the rest of the course will follow once we get our fertility program into full swing.

I have done up a quick little photo montage and interview with Trent that documents our battle with Mother Nature this spring.

Off to the Races

Well we are in our final push that is going to last the next two weeks, to get this golf course open. We still have a pile of snow in places that do not get a lot of direct sunlight so we are furiously trying to manually throw the snow into the surrounding bush. As well we are cutting greens every other day as well as hand watering the greens and tees with tanks, due to the irrigation system not being fired up yet. We put in a long day yesterday folding up all 32 tarps onto pallets and getting them ready for summer storage.

The biggest challenge we face is cleaning up all the debris and elk droppings on the course. We have 51 staff in today to help us accomplish this and probably over 60 team members by next week to get the course looking great.

My fellow assistant Trent, who is huge into horse racing, gives us the odds of 7-2 in reaching our goal. All I know is we are going to do our best to get their, by making sure we accomplish everything we possibly can in this time period. As well to reply to Trent’s comment about goalies being a different breed, I believe goalies are just a little smarter than the other positional players in hockey. Why chase a little black disc around when you can have brought to you. Just a thought!

Have a great day

The Sun is Shining, The Snow Is Melting, Birds Are Chirping, And The Elk... Well, Their Still Delivering Us Little Presents

After some welcomed recent sun, and warm temperatures, the seeming never ending snow is melting. Currently we are clearing snow around tee decks, surrounds of greens, and fairways with the skid steer (bobcat). We have also started clearing everyones favourite, elk droppings, which are everywhere!

I personally would like to welcome our new wave of staff who joined us on Monday. Including our foreman for the season, James Bryce. Even though James has only been with us for three days, I have certainly been impressed by his leadership through the team. I look forward to him spending the summer out here with us.

I would also like to commend the rest of our staff who have been here since day one. They have definately kept their work rate to the high standards they set for themselves since they arrived.

Special mention goes to Mitch Davidson, our Assistant Superintendant. Mitch has worked tirelessly assembling the crew since December among all the other goings on of the maintenance department. The guidance and advice he has given to all has been second to none. Even though he is a hockey goalie, and from what i'm led to believe, a strange breed!!

Calvin McNeely (Superintendant) along with his wife Linda have been forever blowing snow off the fairways, cart paths and greens. In an effort to clear these areas and get the snow to melt, so we can keep up our preperation for opening day.

All in all, despite the mammoth snow fall over the winter, which has been a major set back, but out of our hands. Slowly but surely, everything is starting to come together. If mother nature decides to be kind to us and bring some sun and warm weather, opening day will be just around the corner!

May 2nd Update

Calvin checking out the ice damage on the double green

Well after taking off two days in a row since our crew started April 4th we were back at it agian on Sunday continuing to do everything we can to prepare the golf course for our new opening date, May 20^th. Given the amount of snow on the course right now it will take a miracle to get the course open for that date. For the most part the greens look pretty solid, with minimal ice damage on a few greens and some poa greens that suffered some setbacks after being under covers for too long.We are currently in the process of clearing the green surrounds to ensure we have enough room for larger equipment to navigate as we plan to start cutting and performing cultural practices this week. As well we have put down a granular fungicide to help prevent snow mould and fusarium.

The third wave of our turf care team has come on board this week, and not a moment too early as it is going to be a huge undertaking to clear the course of debris and elk droppings that have accumulated over the winter. I have estimated in a week or two we will have an army of 60 to 70 staff, many from other departments, working towards getting the golf course in shape for opening day. The next few weeks are going to hopefully be organized chaos, as there is going to be a million things going on at once. I am extremely happy to have Trent on our leadership team, as he has stepped up and become a great leader that the crew respect. I find this even more impressive as most of the staff can’t understand what he says due to his thick Australian accent as well as his poor taste in country music.

I would also like to welcome our new foreman, James Bryce, to our supervisory team. James has just graduated from the Senecca turf program and has over 5 years experience at Algonquin Golf Course, which is in New Brunswick. He will no doubt play a big role in the success of the turf care team as he will shoulder most of the spraying as well as being another voice out on the course.

Hope everyone has a great week.