Fall has finally descended upon us, our crews are down-sizing, and our courses are on the mend. It may seem that the season is winding down now that October has arrived, but we all know that not to be true. Most of us are starting fall projects, reseeding thin areas on the course, and aerifying a few areas where we know you can’t aerify enough!
As the educational meetings come to an end I want to remind you all that at our November annual meeting at Indian Creek Golf Club in Elkhorn we have Chava McKeel, Senior Manager of Information and Public Policy from GCSAA, coming to present on some of the sensitive environmental issues that are affecting public policy. Also presenting will be Jim Nedrow, Indian Creek’s very own, updating us on their course renovation in which they have been undergoing for two years now.
Every year teaches us something new whether it is how we can use different pesticides more efficiently or how we can fine tune our agronomic practices to improve quality of turf through difficult environmental situations. As we progress forward from this point I want to remind you all that documentation on the job is becoming such a vital tool for superintendents. And if you don’t think it is, think about that valve box for a section of low pressure pop-ups that was installed at your facility ten years prior to your arrival, and you have a valve that just won’t close all the way, but you can’t find it. A picture or a detailed illustration stored away in a file or on the computer might come to help save about five hours worth of search time. Or maybe you are trying to sell your membership/owner on a drainage project. The point you are trying to get across is a bit more difficult because the course floods and a pooling of water doesn’t reseed until about an hour after it rains. Yet, the person or people you are trying to sell the project on are never around while it rains, so you take a picture as it is happening. This then gives you the chance to explain the situation when it is more convenient for them allowing you to take them out to the site and explain to them what affects that pooling of water has on the turf quality during times of stress.
Turning the documentation process into a great tool to get accomplishments passed and finished at your club can turn into great teaching tools for our own members of NGCSA. Not only can you inform your fellow superintendents about something new or old that has worked for you, the benefits of presenting can also help you out professionally. When you speak you gain experience on presenting while you also get recognition and points toward your good standing with your local and national chapters.
So I encourage all of you to take the time from here on out to take the time to document anything that may be relevant to improving what we do on and off our golf courses, for it is one of the many reasons why we are always getting better at what we do.
Chad Giebelhaus, Crooked Creek Golf Club
