Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/82830
2012 CAMPUS NEWS BY JORDAN COLLINS YEAR TWO With summer quickly coming to a close, the 2nd year turf management "turfies"are getting ready to come back for another exciting year of school, and optimistically the most successful! I have found it has made a world of difference on the golf course having applied even just that first year of knowledge at work. Relatively early on in my career at 19 yrs old, I believe it's important to start building applied knowledge to become a complete, well-rounded Superintendent like my father. My Superintendent (Curtis Collins), and only 4 employees (yes, four), care for our 18 hole golf course giving me the opportunity to try a lot of those skills we are learning at college this year. Although occasionally limited resources can limit where we spend our time, ensuring the essential aspects of the course are up to par have always been a first priority. You would think our golf course would lack in overall aesthetics, but with a veteran of 15 years, two turf students and a rookie looking to perhaps begin a career in our industry, the compliments were better than ever, and Curtis says confidently, "We could stack up our golf course against any other." It can be an incredible experience to witness the ingenuity when challenged to do so much with so little; sometimes few resources can create a most inventive and creative environment. It is my sixth season at St. Paul Golf Club in my hometown St. Paul, Alberta located two hours northeast of Edmonton, and it can be difficult for us to find help when we need it. Our resourcefulness was challenged late this April when our irrigation pump motor went down. So what did we do? We fire up a 60 year old Massey Ferguson with a pump contraption hooked up to a couple of water tanks with pump hoses attached and we used this old- fashioned technology to water our greens for three weeks while pump repairs were made. Our Northern Alberta climate adds to the challenges of a limited budget but has subsequently prompted both creativity 20 ...END OF SUMMER; THE BEGINNING OF JORDAN COLLINS and ingenuity - our members say the golf course looks immaculate despite our modest resources. This year, I am the incoming president of the Turf Club at Olds College and as discussed earlier, starting my second year of the turf management diploma. Each year our turf club elects new directors and this year we have big shoes to fill. However, I am confident we can lead the way and create fun events for turf students to share our knowledge, socialize and communicate. We plan a variety of events and conference opportunities for our diploma and degree turfies this year to promote networking and meet representatives of our industry. The AGSA and WCTA conference are two functions we will be participating in this year. We took advantage of the convenient venue last year at the CGSA conference in Calgary and recognize the value of conference education and networking. On-campus fundraisers this year will include several annual events, the Halloween Howler, the McCullough Classic Alumni golf tournament, our Dodge ball tournament, local recycling program, as well as several others proposed to afford association memberships and offset conference costs. To help accomplish these goals, our turf club members have nominated our team of five directors; Lance Wakefield is the Vice President, Jon Kardelis is the Treasurer, Jay Green is the Media Coordinator and Matt Choquette is our Sports Coordinator. Participating on the turf club board is an amazing opportunity, to be recognized by our colleagues as leaders, and also to learn the functionality of boards first hand - in a relatively "safe" environment. I am certainly looking forward to making the best of it. I hope all of your summers were as fun and relaxing as mine and look forward to seeing you in Penticton! Best regards, Jordan Collins jordan.collins@oldscollege.ca Turf Club President, Olds College WESTERN CANADA TURFGRASS ASSOCIATION BOARDROOM YARN BY DAVID L. DOHERTY FOLLOWING THE PATH OF USEFUL SCIENCE There is always an answer if we follow the path that useful science leads us down. Recently I had occasion to go back and look at some of the reports that I had written some 20 years ago, and in so doing realized how far we have come in regards to useful science since those early days in regards to the physical properties of sports turf root zones. In the early nineties we assumed that the larger the tine hole we punched in our greens the more effective the process of aerifying would be. I wrote reports in which I stated that because of the condition of the root zones, we needed to use 3/4 & 1 inch hollow tines to start on the path to a balanced [physical properties] root zone. Boy, was I ever wrong. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to every superintendent that followed the industries and my traditional thinking that the bigger the hole the better. During that time in the early nineties I presented an ISTRC physical properties report to a superintendent in the New England area of the United States. His comment to me upon my finishing my diagnosis was that it was the most comprehensive physical property's report that he had ever read, but that it was totally useless to him in the real world. The report indicated that he needed a displacement of 20% of surface area to a depth of 3 inches over the next 12 months to begin the reconstruction effort, which his greens needed. With the equipment he had at that time this would require 6 STA FIELD DAY UPDATE disruptive aerifications [In the early 90's most aerification equipment had fixed spacing] which was totally unacceptable for the club and its members. The realization that there was a tremendous gap between scientific data and real world application hit me rather hard, to say the least. The line of thinking [Science-Research] that followed to solve this dilemma was to reduce the spacing between the holes which would result in greater displacement using the same size tines. Example: • 0.5" inch hollow tines on 2.5 spacing equals a displacement of 3.14% • 0.5" inch hollow tines on 1.5 spacing equals a displacement of 8.73% This science-research and the embracing of smaller spacing between tines led to a revolution in our thinking of how to use the tool of aerification to help achieve balanced physical properties. I believe that you would be hard pressed today to find a piece of new aerification equipment that does not have variable spacing. What led to this change? Science Research based on need from the real world would be my guess. This science-research has allowed us to understand that we can use smaller tines on tighter spacing and achieve better results in regards to displacement amounts, with less heal time, resulting in less lost cash flow due to the heal time of the holes. By conducting science- research on bent Continued On Page 22 The Soccer Centre, home to The Ontario Soccer Association, The Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum, and all of Ontario's provincial leagues, will host the Sports Turf Association's 25th Annual Field Day, September 20, 2012. field house that can accommodate three indoor soccer fields or one full size 11-a-side game. In the winter months, a 25,000 square foot bubble encompasses one third of the outdoor field creating additional training space. The Soccer Centre has two international size outdoor grass fields, one international size outdoor artificial turf field, a sports therapy clinic, restaurant and lounge, and is located on a 25 acre parcel of land that is easily accessible from Ontario's major highways. Featured speaker is Thomas Serensits, Manager of The Pennsylvania State University's Center for Sports Surface Research, who will address both natural and synthetic turf topics. Joining Tom on the speaker roster is Kathleen Dodson, University of Guelph, and Ted Chudleigh, Member of Provincial Parliament. Complete program details are in the event brochure. For topnotch turf education and the opportunity to network with colleagues and industry suppliers, plan to join us where they Volley in Vaughan at The Soccer Centre, 7601 Martin Grove Road, September 20, 2012. The Centre is Canada's leading competition, training, education and exposition soccer facility. It is like no other in the country featuring a 130,000 square foot