November!

It seems like November just arrived and already it is December 1st!

If you haven't been past the course lately, we have completed the lights on the trees and the clubhouse for the Christmas season. This involved the use of a boom lift to complete the tree top work and the building eaves. There is no shortage of lights on the trees surrounding the clubhouse and entrance so we encourage you to drive by one evening to take a look.

Today is the first of three wreath building classes with Julie in the greenhouse. Pictures of the classes will follow with the next blog post. She has stocked up on live boughs and shiny ornaments to make the participants' wreathes spectacular.

The remaining maintenance staff has just returned from a three day conference in Red Deer. Keith, Mike, Karen, Julie, and Ed were all in attendance at the annual Alberta Golf Superintendent's Association (AGSA) Property Manager's Conference. The conference is an opportunity for us to attend a selection of educational seminars as well as network with other members of the AGSA. Highlights included an informational seminar about the environmental impact of the 2015 US Open host course Chambers Bay in Washington. This course is a public course and is considered "green" because of the minimal environmental impact of the course and its maintenance practices. Superintendent David Wienecke presented some of the interesting challenges and rewards of preparing to host a major championship at Chambers Bay, a wall-to-wall fescue golf course. Also among the highlights was a seminar about new and exciting perennials hitting the market for 2012. Lyndon Penner looked at some new perennials as well as some old favourites for use in flower bed designs. As always, the AGSA and its board put together a fantastic lineup and a well organized event.

The turn of the month and the upcoming holidays also bring a few projects in the maintenance department that include some tree moving, more pond construction, fertilizer program design and as always snow removal and parking lot maintenance. We encourage you to follow us on Twitter  or Facebook to receive more updates.

So begins the season of the snow shovel

It seems the snow might finally be here to stay and winter has begun. The snow and colder season bring a change of gears for the EPGCC Maintenance Department. We shift our focus from the summer and fall jobs that are mostly based around the maintenance of the golf course to tasks that are focused on preparation for next season as well as keeping the parking lot and walks cleared of snow.

This season was a strange season for the golf course. It seemed to exhibit the extremes of Alberta weather including the extreme rain we saw in the early part of the season to the lack of precipitation and heat we saw in the later portion of the year. The golf course faired well, however, considering the weather extremes it faced. We don’t have to look far to see pictures of fairways underwater or puddles in places that haven’t had standing water in years. Fortunately, the time and resources we invest in maintaining the drainage system were obvious as the course remained playable through most of the rain it saw. August and September were dry months, with less than average precipitation. The effects of the low precipitation were compounded by a problem with the pump that transfers water from the river to the golf course and that is then used to irrigate the course. We were forced to be cautious with our water consumption on the course and consequently, some of the rough areas that rely on rain as the source of irrigation showed signs of stress.

In an effort to improve the irrigation and pond system on the course, EPGCC has decided to move forward with plans to dredge three of our ponds including 11 tees, 10 and 1. This process will include removing the current riprap stonework around the ponds; rebuilding edges and replacing the riprap with new granite stonework (picture); excavating the current pond bottoms deeper; and rebuilding the interior of the ponds with a shallow shelf that transitions into the deeper middle. The work is scheduled to begin in November and will continue throughout the winter months. We will post progress reports regularly here, as well as more regular pictures and tidbits on our Twitter account.

Our Horticulture Department has also decided to, once again, host three separate days of wreath building instructional sessions for members. Each session includes instructions and direction on live wreath building by horticulturalist Julie McKinley; all wreath making supplies; as well as lunch and merriment. Julie has hosted this event for three consecutive seasons and it is always well attended. This year is no exception, as an extra day has been added to accommodate the interest this season. Please check back for pictures of some of the completed wreaths early in December.

As always, stay tuned for updates and be sure to follow us on Twitter
or like us on Facebook to receive even more information.

Weather seems to be the topic of conversation

Despite the abundance of rain in recent weeks, the golf course has held up well. Staff morale and course conditions both remain good and we are pleased to see it. The city of Edmonton received record amounts of rainfall in the month of June and at the Petroleum Club alone, we had rain on at least 21 of the 30 days in the month. Specifically, the weekend preceeding the Edmonton Golf Association Ladies Amateur saw more than 75mm (3") of rain over a three day period. Preparations for the Ladies Amateur continued through the rain and the maintenance staff put in some very long, very wet days to get the course back to playable conditions. Unfortunately, the rain forced the cancellation of the first round but the second round went as scheduled.

Recently, the maintenance department has been double cutting fairways later in the day. You may have noticed a convoy of fairway mowers all mowing on one fairway. We mow later in the day in an attempt to dry cut the grass after the morning dew has disappeared. This provides a better quality of cut and in turn a better playing surface for golfers. This video is of three of our fairway mowers cutting in tandem across the fairway to make the cut as efficient as possible and with little to no disruption to golfers.

The month of June also saw the beginning and end of a very intense but thankfully short cotton season. It only took a couple of days of sunshine for the cotton producing trees to start letting the cotton fly. The staff had some fun with the cotton even though it can be a headache for them from cleaning rollers of mowers to allergic irritations. The season ended fairly quickly, to the relief of golfers and employees alike.

We've also had a busy aeration schedule lately that included another tee aeration, a greens aeration and a fairway aeration and topdressing. The videos below are of the two different aerators used on the tee aeration. Depending on the shape and surrounding area of any given tee box, either the tractor mounted aerator or the walk-behind aerator is used. Following aeration, we topdress as a way to add sand to the playing surface to help with that area's consistency.

You may have also noticed that the cartpath bumps have been shaved down. Todd Creighton, a contractor specializing in asphalt repair among other things, brought in an asphalt planer that reduced the severity of the bumps on the cartpaths, primarily caused by tree roots. He spent half a day grinding off the bumps and we cleaned up the dusty grinding behind him. The grinding isn't a permanent fix but it is a solution that makes the cartpaths useable and more pleasant to drive on. All of his information can be found on http://www.everythingconcrete.net/ including his contact information and services he provides.

As always, if you have any questions, concerns or comments, please feel free to post them here or contact us by email. Here's hoping for some sun and warmer weather!

The season is upon us!

So many things on our lengthy list of things to do have been completed but it seems that the list never gets any shorter. That is the nature of a golf course at this time of year, particularly in Alberta with a relatively short golfing season where we try to fit as many things as possible into one day.

Tractor mounted aerator

Our maintenance practices are now in full swing and we are on a regular maintenance schedule that includes mowing, topdressing, aerating, fertilizing and watering. We completed the first scheduled tee aeration on May 31^st. We used two different aerators, one unit mounted on a tractor and one self propelled walk behind unit. The tractor mounted aerator is called a Weidenmann and was used on tee boxes that have a large enough area surrounding them to gently turn the tractor. The other, more tightly surrounded tees, were completed using the John Deere Aerocore 800 aerator. Along with the aeration, we also included a topdressing application and a scheduled fertilizer application. Everything went according to plan and without any large disruptions for golfers.

Dandelion suffering effects of herbicide application

Golfers may have noticed some “twisted” dandelions around the course. We are mid way through our broadleaf weed control program. We use a dedicated spray unit that has been calibrated to the specific operator using it so that we can carefully monitor how much herbicide we apply to areas on the course. Dandelions are an aggressive weed and can be difficult to manage. Complete eradication is almost impossible but using effective herbicide treatments before the plants go to seed can help to manage the weed population and keep it under control.

Our regular maintenance procedures include a divoting program for the tee boxes. Starting this season, we have developed a tee maintenance employee position that we use on a daily basis to fill divots, set tee markers, tidy tee stations and fill divot sand boxes. So far, we are happy with the consistency and result this new position is providing. As with any new process, there continue to be some wrinkles to iron out but we are constantly monitoring conditions and that helps us to provide more training as needed.

Water quality meter

Also new this season, we have started a pond monitoring program. This includes weekly testing of the water in some of the ponds on the golf course. We use a water quality meter that monitors eleven individual parameters. Of those eleven parameters, the depth, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen and oxidation reduction potential are of most interest. The meter also includes software designed to help collect and display the data. The meter requires precise calibration and is therefore used carefully but is still easy to use in most circumstances. Keith uses the row boat to reach the middle of each pond and the meter records the GPS coordinates of each test to keep each test site consistent. So far, some of the results are surprising including the shallow depths in each of the test ponds. The quality of the pond water is important because we use that water to irrigate the golf course and if the quality is poor, it can have damaging, adverse effects on the turf.

In addition to the automated sprinkler system, we also hand water specific areas usually on greens and tees but potentially anywhere that may have more specific water needs. Hand watering allows us to control exactly where and how much water is being applied to an area of turf. Depending on location, weather and soil characteristics, water needs of a given area of turf can change drastically, even over the area of a single green or tee box. For example, an area on a green that has been sodded or patched will require a different amount of water than an area on that same green that is already established. In that situation, we would dispatch an employee with a hose reel to water that area specifically. This prevents the rest of the green from being over-watered in order to provide the area of sod with adequate water.



Copper coloured disease discoloration



As usual in Alberta, the spring weather is always changing and is difficult for educated weather forecasters to predict, let alone a turfgrass professional. The cool, humid conditions we have been experiencing for an extended period of time bring a high level of disease pressure. We have completed one application of a systemic fungicide on both the greens and the tees. We have seen good control so far but because the weather conditions are favourable for disease development some symptoms have started to appear on some small areas of a few greens. We have prioritized the identification of the disease in order to treat it appropriately.



 As always, please feel free to leave a comment or email us with any questions or concerns. See you on the course!

Opening day on the horizon?

This time of year always brings the lengthy list of things to do. We’ve been busy trying to stay ahead of the weather and keep up with golf course. It always seems that we wake up one morning and it’s the middle of June already.

Specifically, we have had more staff start full time for the season. This includes some returning university students, as well as a couple of new faces. We have 16 tarped greens that we usually pull off during warm days to let the greens vent as well as to cut and water them. We have cut the greens twice already this spring and as you can see, the green-up has already started.

The areas that surround the greens are also starting to show signs of recovery from winter. It is glaringly obvious how strong disease pressure was this winter, and how effective the fungicide treatments in the fall are. The green areas are treated with fungicide and meet the grey-brown areas at sharp angles where the sprayer boom shuts off. This is just one example of the effects that proper use of fungicide can have.

Some of the recent golf course construction is also obvious this spring. Ten fairway is new Kentucky bluegrass sod as you get closer to the green. This line divides the Kentucky bluegrass on the left from the old annual bluegrass on the right. You can clearly see a significant difference as you look across ten fairway towards the west.

Just like getting up early is something we tend to enjoy, playing hide and seek with one of the resident Pileated Woodpeckers is also a highlight to our day.

Orientation and Training

On Saturday, April 9th we held an operational review and tour of the new maintenance addition for returning staff. Twenty-one of the thirty, full and part time, returning staff attended. Uniforms were sized and all forms filled out in preparation of their start dates. This event also gave Karen an opportunity to meet the staff.

Wednesday, April 13th was looking promising as the bare areas were in abundance around the course. We used this opportunity to remove the tarps from 18 and 11 greens and found everything underneath looking quite good. Thursday, April 16th is another story as it seems winter has returned again.

Who says getting up early is a drag?

Spring at the Petroleum Club!

The maintenance department would like to take this opportunity to introduce Karen Rumohr. She is replacing Nick Salmon as one of the Assistant Superintendents. She spent 9 years prior to coming to the Petroleum Club, at Pioneer Meadows Golf Course in Edmonton as the Assistant Superintendent. Before Pioneer Meadows, Karen worked on the maintenance crew at Consort Lakeview Golf Club. She is excited at the experiences and challenges that the Petroleum Club will provide and is looking forward to a fantastic season.

During March, the maintenance department personnel took the opportunity to recertify and update our first aid certifications. Keith, Mike, Karen, Julie, Don, Ed and Paul all completed the Standard First Aid training from Western Canada Fire & First Aid Inc. along with a number of the management team. We practiced current first aid techniques and discussed several situations that could occur on a golf course. We feel confident that in an emergency situation, we would be able to provide first-responder care until EMS arrived.

Mid March also saw the first opportunities we had to see some grass. We took a plug sample from 8, 12 and 16 greens and brought them to the shop to thaw and to investigate what conditions may exist under the thick snow cover. After letting the plugs warm up and using a magnifier to examine them, we kept them watered and let them grow for a number of days. So far, all three plugs look good and provide a relatively positive outlook for the rest of the spring. In early April, we sampled 9 green and are still in the process of examining that plug for signs of winter stresses but we are optimistic about the results.

The spring has also been a time for clearing snow on the golf course to allow us limited access to most of the property. Paul and Ed have been busy in the skidsteer and using the snow blower trying to move snow off most of the cart paths. It has been a long process but with the help of the recent weather, we seem to be gaining ground.

As well as cart path clearing, we cleared trails for a series of test wells that were drilled beside ponds to better understand the subsurface structure of the ponds. These test wells will help determine the possibility of dredging and deepening the ponds to aid in overall pond health and water quality as well as add storage capacity on the course.

So far, April has provided us with some nice daytime temperature and some welcome sunshine. The thick snow cover has finally started to recede and we are staying positive about a late April opening. We are hoping to get out on the course to see some clear grass before the middle of the month.

We also have a Facebook Fan Page and encourage you to "Like" us to follow our Facebook posts as well. This link will take you to the fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Edmonton-Petroleum-Golf-CC-Maintenance/140167429384439. Stay tuned for spring updates. Things happen quickly for us at this time of year so we’re hoping to post regularly.

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