Golf Associations Highlighting Industry’s Positive Impact and Sustainable Practices

VICTORIA (May 18th, 2011) – Today the British Columbia Allied Golf Associations (BCAGA) brought local golf industry representatives to the Legislature to increase awareness of golf as a major driver of British Columbia’s economic and physical well-being and highlight the responsible practices of the industry.

“Golf is played by more Canadians than hockey,” said Doug Ferne, spokesperson for BCAGA. “More than 812,000 British Columbians, and six million Canadians, play golf each year, making it Canada’s number one sport in participation and a great way to get fit, stay healthy, and have fun.”

A recent report by the National Allied Golf Associations found thatBritish Columbia’s golf industry represents more than $2 billion in direct sales acrossBritish Columbiaevery single year. BCAGA members and their affiliates employ almost 47,000 British Columbians across the province. The golf industry contributes $417.2 million per year in tax revenue to the various branches of government.

“British Columbia’s golf courses contribute a great deal to our economy,” Mr. Ferne continued, “but we also want people to know how we positively impact the environment.”

AcrossCanadathe golf industry manages 160,000 hectares of green space and nearly 41,000 hectares of unmanaged wildlife and vegetation. Golf courses employ certified operators, using the latest scientific methods, to ensure they engage in modest, safe environmental practices – increasing playability of golf courses while reducing the costs of course operators.

“Golf is good for our health and the economy ofBritish Columbia,” said Mr. Ferne, “And we will continue to be good environmental stewards because it’s good for the planet and our bottom line.”

For more information, please contact:

Spencer Keys, BCAGA Public Affairs

Telephone: 613-883-5889 (cell)/ 613-233-8906

Email: spencer@impactcanada.com

BCAGA is a provincial golf organization comprised of the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada (NGCOA), British Columbia Golf, BC Golf Superintendents Association (BCGSA), Professional Golfers Association of BC (PGABC), Canadian Society of Club Managers (CSCM), Western Canada Turfgrass Association (WCTA), and the BC Golf House Society, dedicated to improving all sectors of golf in British Columbia.

April 2010: Yesterday’s (April 12^th) greens aeration went quite well.  We had a good day of weather, which always makes the process go smoother, and with nice weather in the forecast, we are hoping for a speedy recovery.  I thought I would share a couple of photos of the aeration procedure, and explain how we do things.

First, a little on aeration from the USGA website…

Aeration is an extremely important maintenance practice.  Although it results in a temporary disruption of the green, aeration improves water penetration into the soil, reduces soil compaction, stimulates turfgrass root growth for a healthier plant, helps control thatch build-up, and improves overall growing conditions.  Aeration is generally done twice per year, and sometimes more often if certain problems exist.

Think of it like going to the dentist for your twice-yearly check-up.  The same holds true for aeration.  You can skip a visit to the dentist, but you will contribute to problems over the long term.  You can skip one of the semi-annual aerations, but this can result in a faster turf loss.  Your superintendent isn’t being overprotective.  They are doing exactly what should be done to ensure long-term turf health.

Our first step is the core aeration itself.  We use 2 Toro Procore 648 greens aerators, each set with 30 tines to ‘pull’ the core.  The machines work in combination to cover all of the greens, with each green taking approximately 20 to 30 minutes to complete.

For this aeration, we used 0.324” Inside diameter tines, spaced at a 2.0” by 1.5” pattern.  The picture below shows a brand new tine on the lefts side, with a worn tine to its right.  With this tine size and spacing arrangement we were able to impact 6.3% of the surface area (calculated using the ISTRC.com Aerification Displacement Calculator)  **The tine on the far right is a 0.283” inside diameter tine, which we use in our mid season aerations.

Once the cores are pulled, our crew comes behind with snow shovels and scoops to pick the cores from the green.  This is a very labour-intensive part of the day, so to speed things up, we had all hands on deck for this.  It was quite a sight to see that many number of staff out there, but their hard work made the process move along at a good pace.

Once the cores are picked off the green, the next step is to topdress the green.  Our topdresser travels across each green throwing down a layer of sand.  To do all 18 greens takes approximately 60 tonnes of sand!  This is one of the more time consuming aspects of the procedure.

Once the sand has been spread on the green and dries, it is brushed in.  The drier the sand is prior to brushing, the better the process works.  This is where weather has a big impact on the success of the final product.

After the green has been brushed, we use tow-behind blowers to help work the sand into the holes.  We have had very good luck using the blowers for this purpose.  They are also helpful on the days when we don’t get the direct sun drying the sand as well as we would like.

If all goes well, at this stage the greens will be filled, but with not too much extra sand on the surface.  Ideally, they will look something like this.

Next, we roll the greens to smooth any bumps and imperfections, and re-cut the cup.  Now begins the process of growing the greens back in to get them back to full turf cover as soon as possible.

I appreciate your patience during this process, please remember that it is done with the long term health and playability of the green in mind.  The short term disruption to your golf game will pay dividends in a healthier green requiring less inputs over the course of the season.

Crown Isle has become only the third golf course on Vancouver Island to win international kudos for its environmental initiatives.  It has been designated a certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary by Audubon International after implementing a program of measures over the past four years.

They have included cutting water consumption by a third and also severely restricting pesticide use.  An inventory of all wildlife and plants on and around the course has been drawn up, many indigenous plants have been added to the estate, and a Garry Oak ecosystem has been established.  Buffer zones have been established around water features to both protect wildlife habitats and maintain water quality, and bird box and mason bee programs have been introduced.

Audubon is a U.S.-based international education and certification program that helps organizations and businesses protect the environment while enhancing their bottom line.  Its ‘plan-do-check-act’ approach offers information and guidance to implement an environmental management plan that improves efficiency, conserves resources, and promotes conservation efforts.  Certification is awarded to publicly recognize environmental achievements and leadership at a wide range of facilities, not just golf courses. Community colleges and cemeteries are among others who have sought accreditation.

Only two other courses from more than 50 on the Island have so far been accredited by Audubon – Cordova Bay in Victoria and Fairwinds between Parksville and Nanaimo. Just ten courses in B.C. carry the award.  Crown Isle course superintendent Mike Kearns said Crown Isle was proud to have secured certification.  “There are misconceptions in the industry about golf courses contributing to the negative impact on the environment from chemical usage and over watering,” he said.  “We are deeply committed to environmental sustainability at Crown Isle, so we decided to mitigate our course’s environmental impact, and worked towards receiving Audubon certification.  “It was a challenging process, but we did it and are honoured to join the ranks of some of the most prestigious courses in the world that have also demonstrated a solid commitment to environmental stewardship.”

Crown Isle doesn’t deny it uses some chemical-based products to keep parts of the 140-acre course and ancillary grounds and gardens in tip-top shape.  But their use has been significantly curbed, as staff have progressively switched to more environmentally friendly methods of ground maintenance.  It’s all been a question, in their view, of getting the balance right.  “People think we must be doing dreadful things to have such great curb appeal,” Kearns said in an earlier Echo interview.  “But they don’t see the efforts and manpower we put in to maintaining as much as possible by hand or mechanically, including a huge amount of weeding.”  And apart from the planting of colourful annuals around the clubhouse and its approaches, almost all the landscaping surrounding the playing areas is now focused on native species and long-lasting perennials.

As part of the accreditation process, around 500 species of plants were identified as growing at Crown Isle.

“Encouraging strong, healthy, native plant growth in our landscaping helps control weeds naturally,” Kearns explained.  And many pests can be dealt with naturally with the help of birds, hence the bird box program around the course and another initiative to encourage mason bees to help pollinate plants.  On the course itself, Kearns says his staff “are continually out there, aerating, cutting and top-dressing to give us a strong turf. Once you have strong turf, that dramatically reduces the need for other action.”  He said Crown Isle pursued an integrated pest management approach, with chemicals used only selectively in limited areas such as on the putting surfaces.

From time to time – especially at the end of winter – there is a need to apply fungicides. Kearns added: “There’s no two ways about it. We still have to use some fungicide control products. But from all the products on the market, we make the best choices we can.”

pround@comoxvalleyecho.com

It’s been hard to tell at times with our recent weather; we started the month with snow and frozen conditions, and then went on to receive 11” of rain over the next 2 1/2 weeks (difficult on both your golf game, and our maintenance practices).

For some perspective, a typical March on the golf course averages about 4” of rain.  I think the course handled all this rain as well as could be expected, but let’s hope that we are getting towards the end of the heavy rain and settling into a more typical west coast spring.

Here is a quick update of what to expect around the golf course over the coming weeks:

Greens Aeration

There are always lots of questions each spring about greens aeration….When is it?  How disruptive will it be?  How long till they’re back in shape?

Our greens aeration is scheduled for Monday, April 18^th, and the tee sheet has been blocked from 12pm onward to allow us to complete the process.  With some good weather, we should be able to get the greens back in shape quite quickly.

Here is a Link to a blog posting from our spring 2010 aeration.  This year’s procedure will be very similar.

Bunkers

The crew will be working their way through the bunkers this week, and begin the process of preparing them for the season.  The heavy winter rain has had many of them quite saturated, but you will notice some good improvements in the coming days.  Due to winter staffing levels, bunkers receive limited attention through the middle of winter, but as spring approaches we will be ramping up the conditioning in this area.

Kelly has been working on re-shaping the bunker at the Practice Chipping Green.  Over the years, a 2.5’ to 3’ lip of sand has developed from the countless shots that have been played from this bunker and the resulting ‘spray’ of sand.  The bunker will be back in play soon.

Mowing

It won’t be long until we start seeing more of our seasonal mowing crew back on the job.  With each passing day, there are more and more signs of turf growth; we are usually on a regular mowing schedule by the middle of April, but for the time being will mow as weather and growth rates dictate.

FYI, here is what a typical mowing schedule is like for the golf course:

Front 9 Rough – Monday and Thursday

Back 9 Rough – Tuesday and Friday

Fairways and Collars – Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

Tees – Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Greens are mowed and/or rolled daily in season

(This is a typical schedule, and is adjusted as required due to growth rates)

As usual, there are a lot of behind the scenes jobs that need to be done to prepare the golf course for another summer of play.  We are starting to get more and more staff back every week, and they are hard at work completing these tasks.  From irrigation system recharging, fertilizing, overseeding, lawn aeration/dethatching and garden cleanup, there is plenty to keep everyone hopping.

This conference is the premiere educational opportunity for our profession in Canada, and after the first three days we haven’t been let down.

On Saturday, Travis attended a full day seminar with Dr. Frank Rossi of Cornell University and picked up some great information on potassium fertility, Nitrogen, and findings from the extensive research work at Bethpage State Park. I sat in on the Poa Management and Evaluating Putting surfaces with Dr. Watschke of Penn State University where we had some good discussion and idea sharing with the seminar attendees from various regions of the country.

Sunday was a very full day. Our education session was jam packed with a number of shorter presentations on topics such as: Management Tips for Healthy Root Systems, Managing Jobs and People, Maximizing your Fertility Dollars, and Turf Disease Identification. ***Trust me, turf folks find these topics very interesting!!!! Our annual awards luncheon was also a highlight, as two Vancouver Island Superintendents figured prominently. Jim Dafoe from the Fairwinds GC was awarded the BCGSA Superintendent of the year, and Dean Piller of the Cordova Bay Golf Course was awarded the CGSA Superintendent of the year. I was particularly happy for Dean, who I consider my mentor in the industry (having worked as his assistant at Cordova Bay for a number of years). He has had a very impressive career and is a great role model for superintendents everywhere. During the luncheon, I was also recognized for my certification as an Accredited Golf Superintendent, and received my silver pin along with 5 other newly certified colleagues from across Canada.

Another full day on Monday included presentations on topics such as: Increasing Efficiency and Effectiveness of Fertility, Enhancing the Resistance of Turfgrasses Against Disease, Watering Techniques, and Balancing Career and Family Life. The Trade Show also opened on Monday, and was fantastic. What a great opportunity having the key suppliers of fertilizer, equipment and supplies in attendance. With nearly every conceivable peice of equipment, service provider and supply on display, this is a good chance to get a ‘hands on’ look and compare offerings from different companies.

Attending this show every year gets me really fired up and excited about the upcoming season. There’s nothing better than spending time networking, socializing and learning with your peers from across the country. The sharing of ideas, experiences, and goals for the upcoming year is invaluable. I’m extremely appreciative of Crown Isle’s support of my professional development, and am excited about the knowledge and ideas I can bring back to our golf course to better serve our members and guests.

With one more full day to go, I just hope our sore feet can hang in there!

Let the people that look after your golf course look after your home landscape.  Crown Isle is now adding a landscape maintenance division to our grounds operations.

Head Gardener Judy Stoutenburg is moving into a new position as Landscape Division Manager, and would be happy to have a look at your property and provide a quote for maintenance work.

Judy can be reached at landscaping@crownisle.ca if you would like more information.