Week in Review March 30th - April 4th

Turf Care Staff Orientation

On Saturday March 30th the annual Turf Care staff spring orientation took place. There were 56 staff members that spent 5 hours in the annual orientation program. During the orientation all staff members learn about the clubs mission and vision and how their role contributes to the success of the club.  This large group of staff also go through Occupational Health and Safety training, WHMIS training, learn many of the club's policies and procedures and are given a presentation about the club's environmental program - the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System for Golf.

Following this training that takes place in the comfort of the club house dining room the entire group moves over to the Turf Care Operations Facility to complete a 1.5 hr training session in break out groups. Each staff member will be given a training session in the maintenance shop and learn equipment safety and shop etiquette, also a yard tour where they are shown where they can park equipment, how to safely fuel and wash equipment as well as many nuances to the outside compound that are important for safety and efficiency. The final breakout group is a meeting in the staff lunch and locker room where all staff have more club policies explained such as how golf privileges work. Also uniform fitting and staff schedules are explained.

The end goal of this orientation training is to ensure that on a  first day of work, staff members understand their role and are prepared to contribute to the success of the operation in a safe and effective manner.

Driving Range opened April 2nd.

With very warm weather on Sunday and Monday, enough snow melted that staff were able to prepare the driving range for opening on Tuesday April 2nd. A beautiful day with temperatures pushing 20 degrees saw many members working off the winter rust. It was great for all staff to see many familiar faces returning after a long winter.

Golf Course Preparations / Spring Conditions

With 10 staff starting this week Turf Care Department were able to take advantage of a few warm days earlier in the week and begin preparations to get the golf course open. As of Tuesday afternoon we were able to inspect 12 of the 40 greens that no longer have snow on them. We are encouraged with the turf conditions on the greens and that we have been able to inspect so far. There is still a lot of snow to melt before we are able to perform the essential maintenance tasks required before opening the golf course. However, because the sun is higher in the sky this time of year, it does not take long with a week of good weather.

Covers coming off 15 Hawk green this week. Staff removed this cover because melting snow was trapped under the cover.

Staff removing standing water before it re freezes, then the green was covered again.

16 Raven - South exposed areas with little shade are almost snow free

Small area of weak turf (8 Raven) that was not sprayed with snow mold fungicide in October

#1 Raven remains snow covered

13 raven green cleared and looking good so far

Ice covering the pond on 15 Raven. We have observed over the years that the golf course is ready to open within a day or two, once the ice is off this pond.

Vole damage on turf surrounding a vole bait station (Cheeky)