End of the Rainbow

Well there has been another huge gap between this blog and the previous one. I have definitely dropped the ball trying to keep this blog updated, but I am planning on doing a better job from here on out. There have been quite a few changes since my last post on the K Country Turf Care Team. Our second Trent Luckhurst has headed back to Australia to focus on his jockey career; I didn’t have the heart to tell him his 6’1” 180 pound frame is not your normal build for a jockey, so good luck Trent. James Bryce has moved up to fill his position and has done a great job in doing so, and I am looking forward to working the winter with him and putting together another solid team for next season.


Our team is down to a solid 23 team members down from 39 in mid season, but we still have the capabilities to get everything done we need to on a daily basis. I am happy to hear that everyone, including Shane has made it back to their respective colleges and universities; I was worried Shane would have gotten lost in a pub somewhere on his way back to Elmwood College in Scotland.

Fall is in the air, but the temperatures are still staying above seasonal only resulting in three frost delays for golfers this season. As well the leaves in the area have just begun to turn, which will lead to starting our fall leaf cleanup program. This year I plan to use a new tool on the Kananaskis Country Golf Course, a turbine blower. I have used one in the past and they are worth their weight in gold. As well we will be using our Toro sweepers and good old hand raking.

This next week will prove to be a busy one for us as we must cut our new tarps to size, finish our tee core aeration, and deal with some compaction issues in a number of greens with an Aerragreen machine. Yesterday was the first time I have ever seen one of these machines, much less seen it operate. Basically what it does is send a probe down a minimum of six inches into the root zone and send an 80-100 psi blast of air to relieve compaction below the surface. When the blast of air is released the turf on the green raises then falls back down, and if you have some fresh plugs in the area of the blast it is not uncommon for them to shoot out of the green. I am interested to see what type of results we see from this practice, as I have never used it before.

The countdown is on for closing day, as the course is open for another three weeks followed by two to three weeks of work to prep the course for winter. The course is in great shape, and the Turf Care Team looks to finish out the season on a high note.

Hydraulic Leak on the Rough Mower

Aerragreen in action blowing the plug out of the green

Cruise Control

Well I have finally had a chance to update the blog again, thanks to the help of Mother Nature giving us a rain day. We have been very lucky this season, getting great temperatures and timely rainfalls. Hand watering and using Q.C heads in some of our peripheral rough has been kept to a minimum which has allowed us to focus on a few more smaller course improvement projects. Tree pruning to improve turf health has been something I have made a priority as we have many high traffic shaded areas around greens and tees. We are currently slowly making our way through a tee aeration project with our GA60. It was scheduled to be done before opening, but due to our later opening date we could not accomplish the aeration. We have pretty much completed our verticut schedule for the season with maybe for one more depending on the weather. Other than that we are in cruise control for the remainder of the season with maybe one or two drainage projects to be completed.




Crew wise our team continues to provide excellent playing conditions everyday. This is evident by the amount of positive feedback we receive from our guests on a weekly basis. We are going to start to lose some of our student team members as they return back to college and university. As of right now we are looking at going into the fall with 25 to 30 staff members, which will still allow us to get most things done on a daily basis.

Its Been Awhile

Well I have definitely been slacking on the turf care blog this month as some of my present and previous employees have reminded me. July has been a busy month at the Kananaskis Country Golf Course, as well as at every golf course in the country. The weather has been great this month with normal amounts of precipitation, and not one morning frost delay which is very rare at a mountain golf course. As of today I have not had to use any insect repellent on the course, and knock on wood, it will be the first time I have never used any during the season. Coming from Manitoba I know what mosquitoes are all about, so it is a nice change to have a limited amount of pests on the golf course. Speaking of pests I have noticed a few more elk on the golf course and they have been leaving their mark on the greens as well as in the bunkers. There has also been an increase in bear activity in the area, mainly grizzly bears. Numerous trails have been closed in the area to reduce the chance of the bears coming in close contact of the trail patrons. Calvin, Trent, and I spend a lot of time dealing with bears on the course, and after awhile the novelty wears off, so a good day is one not spent dealing with bears.

Bear 105 "Maggie" and her cubs

This month we completed a deep tine aeration with the help of Specialty Turf, and have been plugging away at smaller golf course improvement projects. We have been doing some selective tree removal and pruning to improve turf health in high traffic areas, as well I plan to get the GA 60 rolling next week to relieve some compaction in walk on areas. Fertility wise we are right where we want to be with all applications up to date and all playing surfaces looking great. We are still cutting our greens at a relatively higher height than most courses, but with our topdress and rolling program we are still achieving our desired speeds while still promoting a healthy stand of turf.

Overall I am quite pleased with how this season is going. We are pretty much at the half way point in the season with only 11 more weeks left for the course to be open for play. The turf care team has been great, consistently delivering an excellent product each day to ensure we meet or exceed player expectations. With a crew of 40 + there is always going to be changes, but for the most part we have maintained a very strong team core that is responsible for the great conditioning of the course today. Staff training is an ever continuing process as we like to have a versatile staff that doesn’t lose motivation by having to do the same thing day in and day out. It keeps our supervisory busy, but it definitely keeps the crew morale up, and the mid season slump at bay.

The Crew getting ready to end another great day



Luis and Adam in deep conversation on 6 Lorette

Finally I would like to congratulate Shane Buckley in being named the top student in his turfgrass program at Elmwood College, in Cupar Scotland. I had the opportunity to visit Elmwood College in 2008 during my trip to UK and the program is known internationally for producing great turfgrass managers. Shane is no different, he has been an important part of our team, providing leadership and performing many of our most important tasks. I have just received word that Shane will be heading back to the UK at the end of August to complete his level 3 certification. We are going to miss him, but we wish him all the best in continuing his education and know how much thought went into making his decision to head back to Elmwood.

Shane on 3 Kidd

Summer is Here

Well July 1st has come and gone, as well as the summer solstice. It’s hard to believe the days are already getting shorter and we are already ordering our new winter covers for this fall. The course is really starting to fill in, with all our snow mould spots virtually gone, and many of the elk urine dead spots starting to regenerate. Within the next two weeks our team will be starting aeration on areas with heavy compaction. These areas include tee and green walk-ons, and rough along cart paths. Our team is lucky in the fact that we have a continuous cart path system on both courses and that it is always cart path mandatory for golf carts everyday of the season. This definitely helps reduce compaction on the course caused by golf carts, but we still must relieve the compaction caused by foot traffic caused by over 300 players a day, per course.


It looks like we are going to have some great weather the next week, which will be a nice change. We have been lucky to escape most of the rain in June as well as the mosquitoes that accompany standing water. Being from Manitoba I am used to being eaten alive and being out here this season is a nice change. We played golf the other night and there was not one instance where a mosquito had broken my concentration. That being said I guess I didn’t have any excuses for playing so poorly and losing money to Calvin and Terry.