Recent Events Update

The first half of May has been busy at EPGCC as I'm sure it has at many Edmonton and area courses. After opening, our regular maintenance schedules have been in full swing.

Walk boom on 2 green

You may have seen our walk boom sprayer out on the greens if you play early in the morning. We use the walk boom to distribute liquid products on the greens without the weight of a full sprayer tank. The tank is parked off the green and a hose is stretched across the green to feed the boom and nozzles. In this picture, we are applying a foliar fertilizer application designed to provide the plant with nutrients directly to the leaf. This method is often useful early in the season when the roots of the plant are not fully functional.

The newly sodded greens are all progressing well. This picture is from 11 green which was sodded from our own greens sod nursery. The sod has  developed roots that extend past the original thickness of the sod and into the root zone on 11. This plug has large, healthy, white roots that are in excess of 8 cm long. A healthy root system is an integral part of having healthy turf and seeing these long healthy roots from the new sod is definitely encouraging.

Spring means new growth in the turf and also in the wildlife on the golf course. A few of our nesting pairs of Canada Geese have had goslings. There are six goslings in the centre of this picture and the Maintenance Team has seen as many as twelve more in other areas of the course. Please remember that Canada Geese can be extremely aggressive when protecting their goslings. If you encounter a pair with goslings, please exercise extreme caution and try not to disturb them. For the most part, they will make their way into a pond and avoid conflict but if they are startled or feel threatened by you they can hiss, snap and in some cases, aggressively pursue you. To avoid injury and stress to you and to the geese, the best solution is usually to avoid any confrontations with them and allow them adequate space to herd the goslings into the pond.

Early season is also a time when mornings are cold and often clear and frost delays are common. The Maintenance Team is in constant communication with the golf shop team during frost delays and they golf shop is usually able to answer any questions you may have. We also use our Twitter  account to give updates regarding frost delays as early as we can. If you use Twitter , you can check for information on frost delays before you head to the course if you are concerned about a delay. Occasionally, frost is not visible at the first tee or at the practice green but is present in the fairway or green surround. If you have questions about frost or about a specific delay that the golf shop is unable to answer, please ask to speak with the maintenance team or contact us directly at the shop.

6 Green: Cold but sunny

Questions concerning any of the information here can be directed to the EPGCC Maintenance Department through our Twitter account, our Facebook page, or contact us directly at the shop.