Turf Mind

Well it’s the end of the semester for us future turf experts and what a ride it has been. I’m sure myself and many others in the class came to this program not knowing a whole lot about the turf industry. This program has helped me realize that anyone can do it as long as you have the motivation and dedication to get a job done. I feel that we have had an extremely successful semester from doing well in our classes as well as organizing and managing a professional Turf Symposium. I feel that we have made lots of connections within the industry from our annual field trip every Thursday and from organizing the symposium.

The Turf 11A class should feel very proud with everything that we have completed this semester as well as our professors should feel very proud for everything they have done for us. Without the expertise, I’m not sure if any of us would be feeling the way we do now. They have all done a great job in keeping us on track and up to date with the most important news in the industry.

I want to congratulate all of the first year turf students on a semester well done as we move into the winter semester and our internship this summer. I hope everyone keeps up the hard work as together we make this program what it is and as fun as it can be. Great job class of 11A and to all of our professors!

Communication in the turf industry is a huge asset to being a successful turf manager. I feel from a student perspective that if you are going to be a good turf manager, you’re going to need to have strong communication skills. I say this because for instant if you are a superintendent at a prestigious private golf club, you’re going to need skills to prepare and present a plan in front of the General Manager as well as the Greens Committee.

Communication and public speaking is something that everyone can improve. It will never hurt to have the strong skills so that when you do perhaps need to go up onto a podium and present a 30 minute speech, you won’t look like an idiot. Public speaking is something that I have never been great at but to this day I am trying to work on improving it so when the day comes when I am a turf professional, i will know exactly what to do.

If you feel that you don’t have the strongest communication or public speaking skills, then try and improve it. All it will take is a few minutes a day standing in front of a mirror and just work on a short speech. You may think this is a stupid thing to do but as i stated earlier, when the time comes and you have to present something in front of high honoured people or just a large crowd, you’ll think to yourself “ Thank god I have strong communication skills!”

Turf Care is the largest turf equipment and parts Distribution Company in Canada.  Ron Craig is the owner who is a graduate at the University of Guelph in Business. Ron Craig has always used the motto “I love golf, and I love Turf care. Ron has always done the most to keep his company successful and if selling mowers isn’t working, he will also lease them, trade them in or do repairs to keep the profit from going down from the previous year.

Toro has been a golf equipment distributor in Ontario since 1975 then expanding the company farther across Canada into Quebec and the Maritime provinces. Turf Care is also the place you can go pick up almost any part for a mower that is imaginable as well as a store for contractors to stop by in the morning and pick up any parts that they may need for the day.

Turf Care has 32 years of service. They have been selling and installing anything from golf irrigation, landscape irrigation, lighting, water management, parts, commercial equipment, used equipment and golf carts. Turf Care I feel is the most highly recognized turf supplier out there. From my experience visiting the warehouse, I will always use this company in the future as they strongly promote their company and I have never heard anything but good things about them.

Are you fighting bad hydraulic leaks from your mowers year after year? Many superintendents fear every morning when they send out their staff to mow the golf course that something bad is going to happen. One of the most common reasons for dead grass due to equipment is from leaks. One way that we could all get rid of this problem is by going electric. Electric greens mowers are some of the latest technology in the golf management business.

The new electric mowers are great for the environment and for your budget. There will be no more need for oil changes, hydraulic changes as well as the use of fuel. Many superintends are faced with not having the money to purchase these electric pieces of equipment. I suggest that turf managers find a way to afford one because in the long run you will save yourself lots of money. Just thing of how much money you spend yearly on gas as well as oil and then ask yourself if buying an electric mower is worth it. Another thing you should always be thinking about is the environment. Electric mowers are almost noiseless leaving a problem solved for managers dealing with noise regulations every morning.

I feel that using electric mowers are a great way to show that you are trying to go green. No more fumes lingering in the air or having those nasty leaks on your greens leaving dead streaks or blotches in different places. Go green and go electric!

The semester is coming to an end and didn’t we make it end with a bang! Myself and the University of Guelph Turf Grass students held our turf symposium this past Friday, November 27^th and didn’t it go smooth. As out class rolled in early Friday morning you could not help but notice the excitement and nervousness that we brought with us. We had been working for so long to pull off this successful event thinking we were going to have about 100 guests. This wasn’t the case as we ended up holding this event for over 120 turf professionals in the Ontario region.

We had great speakers who all did a terrific job staying to our topic “Turf in tough times, how to do more with less”. I feel that one of the high points of the event was having Keith Bartlett from St. Georges Golf and Country Club come to the podium and share with us his ideas and challenges facing the 2010 Canadian Open. He explained to us the challenges of facing the PGA standards as well as using his budget wisely. Keith went through almost every hole on the golf course showing photographs as well as explaining to us what he has done to improve each hole as well as bring a championship feeling to each hole.

The symposium was a great success not only for the students but everyone that showed up. We had the chance to learn lots and I’m sure everyone left with new ideas. Great job Turfies!

Superintendents these days always ask them self; would I rather work on a private golf course or a public golf course. People have their own opinion on almost anything just like I have my own opinion on this. I have worked on a private golf course for the past three seasons and I have learned to love and hate it. The positive is that the benefits’ are good and the hours and money are good. The downfall is that you and your staff are always being pushed to the edge and being watched under a member’s eye.

            Public golf courses tend to not put as much effort into the results on the golf course because they know that they aren’t under any tight pressure for putting a beautiful result out on the course. Private golf courses are completely the opposite because of the fact they know if something they do looks bad and they notice it but don’t fix it, a member will soon notice it and notify your boss. The people in the industry that want to learn and learn fast should be looking for jobs on private courses and not old public courses.

            This is all my opinion and as I stated I feel that working on a private golf course is more of a learning experience for the employee because you are learning a strong eye for detail and a powerful work ethic.

University of Guelph students will be hosting a turf symposium based on the topic of  “how to do more with less”. Us students have been working very hard to help educate turf experts in ways that they are not used to hearing. Lately due to the pesticide ban, many of these educational opportunities for the industry have just been based on the pesticide ban and ways around it.

Our symposium is going to have three tremendous speakers including Keith Bartlett, Superintendent at St. George’s Golf and Country Club, Ron Schiedel, co-owner of Green Horizons sod farms and Dr. Tom Hsiang, University of Guelph turf researcher. These speakers are going to bring exciting speeches to help educate the people from the turf industry. Keith Bartlett will sure bring an interesting topic to the table as he will be explaining his strategy and tactics on successfully managing the 2010 RBC Canadian Open. We will also here from a co-owner of one of the biggest sod production companies in Ontario who has experienced the down turn of these economic times better than anyone. To wrap things up, we will have one of our own professors from the University talking about economic times as well.

We strongly suggest that all industry professionals try and attend our symposium. This will be a tremendous learning experience for everyone and will be a great time to introduce the next class of Canadian Turf Experts!

Every golf course superintendant dreams about those perfect playing conditions on the day the tournament begins. Superintendent Scott Bowman has had the blessing to manage two consecutive Canadian Open championships. I beleive when he took the job just few months before the open had begun, he was not sure what to think about having this oppourtunity. He was dealing with some greens that have just started their third full season of grown in, but that didn’t stop him, the weather did.

Scott and his crew put hours on hours in on the golf course for preperation of the tournament. The course was looking spectacular both years he managed the tournament. Greens were rolling faster then ever, and the rough and fairways were as healthy as could be. The players came in and played a reel tough course the first day for the Mike Weir charity event. Once the Tuesday roled in the skys started to open up with storms ripping through the area. The Open saw rain almost everyday of the tournament both years leaving Scottie and his crew a whirwind of bunkers to be pumped and raked and fairways to be squeegied. The 08′ tournament finished late Sunday night while the recent 09′ tournament had to conclude play on the monday.

This just shows that living the life of a golf course manager/ superintendent is no easy task. You will never know the hours you work, but one thing you do know is that your doing something you love.

The Trebro Auto Stack has truly named itself as the new turf harvester in todays generation. Just a few years ago, there never was a machine that could do what this bad boy does. This is a one man operated macheine that looks like it needs several more. This new technology has saved Turf Harvesters thousands of dollars in labour per year.

Before the Auto Stack was invented, harvesting sod was a real challenge to Turf Harvesters for the reason that they didnt have a machine that could cut, roll, and stack a full skid in 3 minutes. Years before the Auto Stack was invented, they only had equipment that could cut and roll the pieces of sod. Unfortunately that left the biggest job left for the human man power, stacking the sod onto skids. You can only imagine how thankful Sod producers are having a piece of equipment that can cut, roll, stack, and drop a skid without any man power needing to do any physical labour. This is truly a great investment to make in the long run when you look at the money your saving on labour. 

I feel that the Trebro Auto Stack is a magnificent piece of equipment and i could only imagine how happy Sod producers are with this peice of equipment. It not only saves labour, but it also saves time, lots of time.  This macheine has done well in the sod industry and i hope more business make the investment in purchasing an Auto Stack.

Many turf experts in today’s world are starting to think that if Artificial Turf is going to be the next best thing because of the new ban on pesticides. I feel that Artificial Turf can be good on a maintenance level but is a downfall on a playing perspective. None the less, Turf experts need to keep learning and educating their minds around the new pesticide ban so that when it does come in full effect, We’ll know exactly what to do.

Artificial Turf has really came along way considering all they use to play on was a piece of nylon on top of a concrete(astro-turf). Most sports industries have now moved to a more state of the art playing surface with longer fibers that are spread farther apart. The turf they use now is more of a softer style made from polyethylene and 100% rubber and silika sand mix beneath the surface. The negatives of the Artificial Turf is that athletes still would much rather play on an all natural surfice because it allows less strain on their bodies. The artificial surfice puts more strain on a athletes knee’s and ankles because the surfice still isn’t as soft as a natural playing surfice would be.

I feel that using natural turf opposed to artificial turf is a great way to go if you can. Artificial turf is still a better source for a manager with a small budget but less people prefer playing on the artificial turf. I still feel that if you can find ways around the new pesticide ban and keep up with your daily maintenance schedule and keep up with your over seeding, you should be okay in the long run with keeping a well maintained turf facility.