December 19th Update

This will be short and sweet.  Not much of any significance has changed on the golf course with respect to snow cover and the "ice" situation.  All surfaces are still frozen with about 6" of snow and some have a thin layer of crumbly ice directly on the surface.  We need to get through January without any significant rain or increase in temperature and then I'll have a better idea of where we stand, hopefully.

Fall projects are the usual equipment tear down and reel grinding for the mechanic.  Brad built a few more of the garbage enclosures that will be used on select holes to accent the brick work we will continue doing around the ball washers.

Garbage Enclosure

I like the idea of these things because they hide the garbage and they are cheap to make.  The material costs are:
1. Two packages wood panelling: $16/can
2. Wire mesh: $6.50/can
3. A quarter of a 5/8's plywood for lid: $8
4. Recycled 2x6 from the clubhouse deck for the base: $0
5. Recycled 2x10 from old shop: $0
6. Staples for air gun, glue, misc. : $5/can
7. Stain: portion of 2 cans @$50? maybe $10

Total materials is around  $45/enclosure.  We are getting a little thin on the recycled lumber but the amounts we use are minimal and having to add the extra lumber would only increase the cost by another $10 or so.  Labour?  Building and staining 5 of them took just under 60 man hours.   They are not a necessity but I think they add something.

Hopefully, you had time to answer the survey I posted a link to in the last post.  Go to Kimberley Bulletin Article to read the article that was appeared in Friday's paper.  Unofficial grapevine has things will remain status quo but we'll have to wait.  I was pleased to hear from a number of people who took the time to fill out the survey.  Again, hopefully, we will get a better representation of what people across the province really want.

Unless things get strange on the course my posts for the next month will be sparse but will start up more frequently in February when all the "Snowbirds" may be starting to think about comin' home.

We got a problem....

The "we" in that statement encompasses anyone who has anything to do with golf.  Somewhere in the cacophony of news I'm sure you've heard that the provincial government has plans to create new legislation concerning pesticides (see: Bill Bennett weighs in on cosmetic pesticides ).  This topic exhausts me but it also gets me riled up (go to the Bill Bennett link and read the comments; especially the one by Agent_Whatever.....somebody you may know).  It's hard not to appear as a single minded,  uncaring, environmentally polluting, self interested capitalist when opposing a pesticide ban.  I can appreciate peoples concerns but the debate has become entirely emotional and has turned into a pissing match between both sides and their experts.  Both sides have arguments that support their view but as anybody over 30 or anyone who follows the news knows its all about how you present your facts.
Provincially the ball got rolling, I think, with the New Democrats proposing bill M-203 (Cosmetic Pesticide and Carcinogen Control Act).  Although it was defeated, some of the points included were:

1.) banning pesticides use on non-residential areas including institutional, industrial, commercial and recreational properties.
2.) a 5 year phase-out of pesticide use by golf courses
3.) allow municipalities to pass more restrictive bylaws
and, a contradiction that that kills me every time,
4.)  does not apply to the agriculture or forestry industry!

I am repeating myself, but if pesticides are so bad then why not an across the board ban?  Economics?  Employment?  Here is some stats about golf in British Columbia you're going to see a few times:

- Golf contributes over $4 billion in gross production annually

- Golf employs nearly 50,000 people in BC.

- Tax revenue from golf exceeds $400 million annually

Here is a one fact no person can dispute and one that I promise will happen without pesticide use:

Snow Mould Damage
on a Putting Green

With the climate in our area the biggest disease issue is snow mould and the damage it causes.  There is no effective alternative to fungicides for snow mould control.  There are numerous angles to debate but in politics it is numbers, financial and votes, that drive any governmental decision.  Right now decisions are being made on assumptions that, for instance, information derived from an online survey in February 2010 is indicative of all British Columbians feelings towards a ban.  That survey had 8000 respondents with 88% supporting a pesticide ban.  The population of British Columbia in 2010 was 4.5 million.  You need to go to this link https://www.leg.bc.ca/pesticidescommittee/ before December 16th and answer the survey the way that best suits your beliefs.  I hope to e-mail out some more information before the dead line to educate people.  Remember, pesticides is a very broad category that includes more than just Weed 'N Feed and you need to understand what you're supporting, for or against, and the consequences of your choice or inaction.

Week of November 28th

I went and checked some surfaces to see how things have changed over the past couple days and things have changed a bit since last posting.

Snow Depth on #4 Green

Generally, there is enough snow cover on all greens to give us an insulating layer.  Some surfaces have remained thawed and should be good for rest of winter.  Others that were semi-thawed are now frozen and, along with the greens that remained frozen since the beginning of the season, have a pebbled ice surface of maybe 1/2  inch thick.  The ice still lacks any real cohesiveness but is probably solid enough to prevent damage to the surface during snow removal in the spring.

"Pebbley" ice and Grass on #4

Because of the greens it is on (most don't see much sun this time of year) and the fact that it is removed fairly easily all we are going to do is watch it and make sure it doesn't grow thicker and/or more dense.  If conditions change we'll begin pulling random turf plugs and decided on a course of action based on what we see.  I'll keep you updated.

Week of November 20th

The was not the weather I wanted in the middle of November!  After that nice 15 cm of snow last Thursday we had another 11 cm come Tuesday a.m.  However, that was followed by one inch of rain over the next 2 days!  By the end of the rain the snow had been compressed 50%  to just to over 12cm.

Just under 24cm snow Tuesday a.m

Just under 12cm (radio is 12cm to base of antenna) on Thursday

I was fairly sure ice would appear on the surface of the frozen greens but as of today, Thursday, November 24 there doesn't appear to be any ice on any of the surfaces I checked.  Even better was the fact that those greens that were frozen seem to have thawed slightly which is maybe why no ice developed.  The forecast is for fairly normal weather (flurries, highs near zero and lows around -4 degrees Celsius) which is good.

Situations like this are far from my favorite but they do help develop a data base of experience which can aid in making decisions next time out.  Before we went and checked each green yesterday, I was under the assumption that a rain event of that size would be a problem since that has been the case in years past (anybody remember 18 G the spring of 2008?).  Even after having the worst case scenario I talked about in the previous post play itself out and things now appearing "rosy" I hesitate to comment on how the turf will overwinter.  Heck, we still have one week of November left!  I've been spraying the greens as late as December 14th so, suffice to say, we are not out of the woods yet.

It's What it is Now

15 cm last night.  Hopefully, it is here to stay!  We've been monitoring the greens, specifically #4, and ended up leaving things alone.  I guess the good news (ice wise) is nothing has really changed or gotten any worse.  The extra snow is actually nice since it will help buffer any dramatic weather changes.  Best case it keeps snowing from now until March.  Worst case, above normal temps with rain.

Yesterday one of the "herd" had a problem:

This deer managed to get his antlers tied up in the netting on the driving range.  Luckily for him, someone saw him near the end of the day.  I wasn't involved but I guess the extraction procedure involved a bit of a tussle and, apparently, the buck still has chunked of netting wrapped up in his antlers.  Could have been worse.

To Snow Blow or Not To Snow Blow.....

That sounds a little melodramatic but that is one of the arguments I've been having with myself since last Thursday (Nov. 10th).  As referenced in the last post, the small layer of snow remaining on the greens could be a problem.  The forecast last week was calling for increasing temperatures and possible showers.  We ended up making the call last Thursday to remove the thin layer of snow on those greens where ice could develop.  The real troublesome greens were already tarped so the greens we removed the snow from were those greens that had a frozen surface, had some occurrence of winter damage in the past, and where the snow had slightly melted .  The other greens that hadn't really seen any late season heat still had a couple inches of snow on their surface so we left them.  We ended up taking the snow off of 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, 18.  The moisture that ended up coming was a mixture of wet snow and rain and made for some interesting conditions.

Snow Layer 14G

By Sunday most of the greens were like the above picture: a fluffy snow layer over corn snow over frozen ground.  The corn layer is porous but tight and crumbled with little effort.  The greens that had the snow removed were a bit different.

9 Green

Obviously there was less snow in general and the surface on all (with the exception of one) were slightly thawed.  Again the snow layer was a tight corn snow but still came off the surface with minimal effort.  The funky one is 4 green.  The surface is bullet proof and the snow cover is very solid or, dare I say it, "ice like"?  The layer is small and does come off with a bit more effort but now we have to decide what it could turn into.  Again, the forecast is for more snow which puts a time constraint on removing the snow from 4 green since I would want anything left on the green surface after snow blowing to melt.  Also, forecasted overnight lows are below -10 degrees Celsius and exposing a partially melted surface to that temperature is pretty much a guaranty for ice.  There is always a way to rationalize your choices but it is only with the benefit of hindsight do you know if the right choice was made so, again, To Snow Blow or Not To Snow Blow......

Bring it on

I guess it can snow any time now.  The sprays have all been applied to the greens (I've still got one in my back pocket if conditions dictate it), tees, and fairways.  We did a few experiments with different rates and different products including one that is more a plant health promoter with fungicidal properties.  We also did a little demonstration that should have people talking in the spring....however, there was sort of glitch that may have balled up the demonstration but everyone is just going to have to wait until spring to find out more!

Tarp wise we went with the same general idea of laying tarps as we did last winter:  permeable over-wintering tarps of varying weight on #1, #6, and #15 greens and the sandwich approach (permeable on the green surface which was then covered with an impermeable tarp) on #7 green.  A few of the covered greens were sprayed with an extra preventative fungicide application since the humidity under the tarps can be artificially high and that can encourage disease development.  I had planned on purchasing some extra tarps for this winter but decided against it for budgetary reasons and the fact that the greens that have a history of being funky in the spring already have tarps.  I will budget for more in the spring since they are useful for encourage growth regardless of the spring conditions and who knows what next spring may bring?

We went out last week and put up the fences around those greens with a history of animal traffic patterns. To make things go quicker we installed a series of steel sleeves around those greens that we fence every year. For each green we have measurements of each sleeve from a central point and with that information and a metal detector we go out each fall and find the locations for the posts.  This is sort of a throw back to those days when the elk seemed to show up before the snow fell or the ground was able to freeze and we had to fence greens to control damage.  With elk traffic patterns and herd size changing it seems to be a far less of a problem in recent years.  They still show up but it seems later on and in smaller numbers.  This might be one of those things we can do differently to save time since it seems the elk are less of a problem.

Looking for Sleeves

This past week we had  a small accumulations of snow that will work nicely as a insulation layer to protect the short cut turf from the forecasted lows of -15.  We'll keep an eye out for weather changes since this thin layer of snow could, if lightly rained on, form an ice layer.  If we get more snow and it accumulates to around 8" to 10" we should be on our way.

Snow and Fencing on #10 Fairway