2011 Year in Review

This time of year affords me an opportunity to reflect on the past year and analyze what we accomplished and determine what we can improve upon to deliver an even better product in 2012 and for years to come.  This past season for me personally was filled with ups and downs and was a blur at times.  The talk of the spring was the dreadful weather, but once Mother Nature began to cooperate, there was no looking back!  Quilchena experienced some significant personnel changes with the subtraction and addition of some key personnel in the Turf Care department and the restructuring of management throughout the Club.  All in all, I believe 2011 was a success and we are anxiously anticipating an even more successful 2012!

Here are the highlights and lowlights of 2011 in chronological order...

Considering the cold and wet weather we experienced for most of the winter months, the course wintered very well, as you can see in the photo taken in January, and it was looking as though we were off to great start to 2011!

#5 green - Jan. 16, 2011

#9 - Feb. 27, 2011

As we quickly learned, that was not the case.  The 2011 spring weather included snow in February, the wettest March and coldest April on record - not ideal for turf maintenance.  We did take the opportunity at this time to remove some trees along the right side of #4 green to alleviate the ongoing issues with the tree roots out-competing the turf for moisture and nutrients.  These shallow tree roots were also "heaving" the right side of #4 green which resulted in poor ball roll due to areas of bare turf from mower scalping.  The removal of these trees also opened up a spectacular view to the island and north shore!  It's still hard for me to believe that once upon a time it was decided that it was a good idea to plant trees along the west property line, taking away the view that many pay BIG $$$ for!

#4 - our NEW view after the tree removals!

What a difference from 2010 when we were wearing shorts as we hosted the Winter Olympics!  No point in getting upset about the weather as it is the one thing we have absolutely no control over.  Luckily, the snow didn't stick around for long and we had a very small window of decent weather in early March that allowed us to install slit drainage on #18 green.  This new slit drainage allowed us to reopen #18 green, which had been closed for play since mid-November, immediately upon completion of the install.  

#18 green slit drainage installation

The saturated and sometimes frozen course conditions limited us from really kick-starting our routine maintenance and we were forced to devote much of our time to small project work such as restoring cart paths and removing some more of the unsightly cart path extensions from the course.  We also devoted a significant amount of time in the spring maintaining the drainage system.

INSTALLING SPRING... ███████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 44% DONE. Installation failed. 404 error: Season not found. Spring cannot be located.

The end of April also brought the end of Brett Finlayson's tenure here as Assistant Superintendent at Quilchena.  Brett and his German Shepherd, Sam, spent just over 3 years here and he was a big part of raising the maintenance standards and reintroducing the cultural practices back into the maintenance plans.  He was also instrumental in changing the culture of both the crew and the membership - something that is not easy to do!  Brett is now the Superintendent at Arbutus Ridge and in his short time there he has already made a significant impact in the overall conditioning and playability of their course.  Former Horticulturist, Brock Tingey, has since join Brett and Arbutus Ridge and is also making an immediate impact improving the landscape features and gardens throughout their property.  We continue to wish them well over on the island!

The weather didn't improve as much as we would have liked in May, but anything was better than what we dealt with in March and April!  The sun began to shine on a more regular basis and by the end of the month we were finally blessed with the typical beautiful lower mainland weather we've grown accustomed to.  The course had fully recovered from the late April aeration and it was now jam packed on a daily basis with golfers.  We had settled into our routine maintenance program and were focused on delivering exceptional and consistent playing conditions each and every day.

#14 - early summer conditioning

With Brett's and Brock's recent departures from Quilchena, Josh Webb was deservedly promoted to Assistant Superintendent and the search was on for a new Horticulturist and Irrigation Technician.  Not the ideal time of year to be looking to fill these rolls, but we knew we had the ability to attract qualified candidates.  The Irrigation Technician position was filled quickly by Matt Maxey from Blue Devil Golf Club in Calgary.  This was a seamless transition for both Matt and Quilchena as his experience and knowledge allowed him to excel in his new role immediately.  The search for a Horticulturist was now also underway.

As there weren't any construction projects on the golf course this summer, we were able to really focus on the detail work and manicuring of the different playing areas that provided great definition throughout the course.  Much of this detail work is accomplished by hand mowing and edging and does come at a cost.  Staffing levels must be appropriate to provide these conditions on a daily basis.  The photo below was taken on a routine weekday morning and shows just how much goes into prepping the course for play:

9 staff in this pic alone prepping the course for play

As expected, June delivered more ideal weather for both turf maintenance and golf.  What we didn't expect was an anthracnose outbreak on some of our greens.  Our greens previously experienced an anthracnose infection back in the summer of 2008.  Once turf is initially infected by anthracnose, the fungal pathogen is forever present.  It overwinters in the soil and waits for conditions to be just right to rear its ugly head.  Preventative fungicide programs must be in place to keep the pathogen from affecting turf.  Unfortunately, it seems as though our preventative program, which includes only products that have continually proven to be among the best at preventing anthracnose, had failed to keep the pathogen in check.

basal rot anthracnose

The chemical manufacturer from which we purchased the fungicide from was also dumbfounded by the infection.  They provided us some free product from another chemistry class to "clean up" the anthracnose and protect the rest of the turf from becoming infected.  Unfortunately, the worst affected areas required turf replacement.  These areas were stripped and sodded and have rooted nicely.  They will become less and less evident next season.

Things warmed up nicely in July and after almost two full months of searching for a suitable Horticulturist, we finally landed one!  Tara Mansholt, also from Blue Devil Golf Club in Calgary, joined the team.  This was a tough role to fill, especially at the time of year Tara arrived, but she adapted quickly.  She is continuing to improve upon the golf course landscapes and flowerbeds and is eager to instill some new designs and concepts in 2012.

August had arrived and along with it came the 2011 Royale Canadian Junior Girls Championship.  We were very excited to be hosting this event!  It allowed us to showcase the course improvements on a national scale and I must say, I think we delivered!  The preparation that goes into an event such as this is immense.  The course is setup as per the RCGA guidelines and let me tell you, they didn't make it easy on these young women!  The rough was rough and the greens were slick.  You had to have your "A-game" to contend.  It was amazing to witness the shot-making skills of these up and coming young golfers!  Made me realize just how much work my game needs!

"No, we are NOT hosting the US Open!"

With the course setup for the Championship, it took some time to return it to "everyday play" condition.  The rough was so lush and the growth was showing no signs of slowing down!  If I had a nickel for every time I answered a question about the condition of the rough, I'd be retired by now.  Yes it was long, yes it was thick, but remember...it's called ROUGH for a reason!  Trust me, we were doing our darndest to manage it by mowing and mowing and mowing it again.  It was healthy and thriving in the ideal summer conditions.  Healthy turf = less weeds, so lets not get too upset about it.

Our usual end of August aeration went well and the greens were fully recovered in record time.  This is attributed to warm air and soil temperatures, timely fertilizer applications, adequate moisture, smaller diameter aeration tines (on tighter spacing) and ensuring we apply enough topdressing sand to fill the aeration holes.  The greens will ALWAYS heal quicker from the late-August aeration than in the spring due to warmer soil temperatures.  It takes a long time for soil temperatures to warm up in the spring following our wet and cool winters.  Warmer soil temperatures promote growth resulting in a much quicker recovery from aeration.

#2 green 6 days following late-August aeration

Budget constraints forced us to forgo our usual fairway aeration in August and it didn't take long to realize just how important that scheduled aeration was.  Even after minimal rain, we were experience puddling on the fairways.  Some surface water was forming in areas we hadn't seen puddle in years!  It was time to schedule our aeration contractor, Farm-Tek, to complete a deep-tining on fairways to help alleviate this issue.  If we didn't, we'd be experiencing puddling on the fairways all winter long and well into next season.  We struck a great "fall season special" deal with Farm-Tek that afforded us the opportunity to fund this deep-tining with our new fiscal year budget.  I assure you, as long as I'm here at Quilchena, we will not be cutting this much needed practice from the budget again!

We experienced another major loss to our Turf Care team in September.  Mechanic, Cal McGregor, decided to resign as he was relocating to New Zealand to explore other possibilities.  Cal was an integral part of our team here at Quilchena and he played a significant role in the overall conditioning and aesthetics of the course.  I have recently heard from Cal and I'm happy to report that he has settled in nicely down there and he is doing quite well.  We continue to wish him well on this exciting new adventure in his life!

September also brought on the heavy rains we are used to experiencing in the fall and winter.  A little earlier than anticipated, but we were prepared for them by lowering the pond levels to maximize the efficiency of the drainage system.  If pond levels are high, our drainage lines fill and have no place to empty to.  As you can see below, this is what our drainage outlets typically look like during and following heavy rains:

drainage outlet on #3

October turned out to be a decent month with regards to weather.  Not quite as good as the Octobers we've experienced the previous 3 years, but not bad nonetheless.  Much of our time in the fall months is dedicated to leaf mulching, cutting down the rough to brace for the rainy season and other various tasks to prepare the property for winter.  We also completed a few needle-tinings (venting) on the greens to allow them to take a breather and brace for winter too.  Venting proved to be a key component of our maintenance practices this season and we are planning on doing even more venting in 2012 and beyond.  The venting process is a form of aeration that we can do throughout the year with no disruption to play.  As you'll see the effects of the venting are hardly noticeable at the surface, but the benefits below ground are substantial.  It is NOT a form of removing thatch though, so don't think that this means we can move away from traditional core aeration!  It's benefits are short-term and therefore the process must be scheduled routinely to reap the rewards.

#1 green immediately following verti-cutting & venting

Until recently, the winter has been quite mild and dry.  Yes, we have experienced some frosty and even frozen conditions, but considering 2011 is almost history, I think we've been quite luck so far this winter!  Not much to review for November and December, unless that is you want to hear me talk about frost delays and their importance.  Didn't think so.  That's fine with me too, all the information anyone will ever need is archived on this blog.  

Speaking of this blog, I truly hope you've enjoyed reading it just as much as I've enjoyed writing it!  This being my inaugural "blogging year", it's been a great learning experience for me and I certainly plan on continuing to maintain it.  I believe it to be one of the most effective communication resources one can utilize and it's also provided me with an extensive resource to draw information from and to review what has and hasn't worked for us here on the property of Quilchena.  I am constantly visiting other Superintendent blogs to see what they are up to and to find some new ideas to utilize here.  Here is a website I visit on a daily basis that has compiled Superintendent blogs from around the world for anyone to view:

click on image

I am anxious to continue building upon our maintenance practices in 2012 and look forward to hearing feedback from members and guests as you are the driving force behind our efforts!

Cheers and Happy New Year!