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The Westmounter
turf &
maintenance
BY: CORY JANZEN
COURSE SUPERINTENDENT
The educational seminars my assistants and I attended at the annual Golf
Industry Show in Orlando, Florida in late January did little to prepare our
team for what was coming.
Our annual trip to this trade show and conference to keep pace with the
latest and greatest in the turf industry offered a lot of tips. We learned the
latest trends in technology, but did not receive advice on how to maintain
a golf course with the fewest staff possible; how to sanitize mowing
equipment after each use; let alone open and maintain a course during a
global pandemic.
Fast forward six weeks. In mid-March, the U.S. and Canadian economies
shut down. As COVID-19 quarantine orders were issued, the golf industry
scrambled to obtain government permission to perform essential tasks
and protect courses from damage if these seasonal maintenance practices
were not performed. Thankfully, we received verbal permission to proceed
from The Office of the Premier; this was a relief since the weather had
started to warm up and we still had our winter covers in place. A little
warm up is acceptable, but if it gets too warm under the covers and the
grass starts to grow, the carbon dioxide released is often lethal and results
in the killing of entire greens.
On March 19, we brought in the smallest crew possible to remove the
covers safely and efficiently. The good news: the grass looked perfect.
There was not even the smallest amount of winter damage. The bad news:
we didn’t know when–or if–we would be allowed to open the course for
play. The government warned us that if we started to do work that was not
absolutely essential to preserve the health of the turf and the property,
we would be shut down. The weather turned cold and wet, so we took
the next 12 days off to quarantine since there was no work that we could
justify as essential.
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On May 16, the Government announced that Ontario
golf courses were allowed to open. This was quite a bit
later than our normal opening day, but the weather
had been cold up until that point with only a handful
of decent days for golf anyway. Opening the course
brought a whole new set of safety concerns. With
hundreds of members golfing each day, we needed
additional staff to prepare the course ahead of play.
We would again need to ensure the safety of everyone
The golf industry lobbied the Government to allow involved, making sure members and staff were
golf courses to open, arguing that the game is well comfortable coming to Westmount. That is what we
suited to social distancing. While the industry worked continue to do as the season winds down and winter
behind the scenes on our behalf, we maintained the approaches.
course with a skeleton crew, including our year-round
staff and a few willing but inexperienced helpers from A huge thank-you to the staff who continue to make
the Pro Shop and the Clubhouse. We did this with Westmount a safe place to work and play. I really
the safety of our staff as the number one priority. We can’t say enough about how proud I am of all the
held our traditional morning meeting outdoors and employees here at the Club for really pulling together
assigned tasks via our digital job board, which staff and creatively solving problems to ensure we always
accessed from their mobile phones. Equipment was provided the highest level of service excellence despite
the challenges of COVID-19. Here’s hoping next year
sprayed down with sanitizer after each use, and there sees a return to somewhat more normal. I’m sure, like
was limited access to the maintenance facility. The me, you are happy to put 2020 behind us.
small crew had lunch in their cars—or outdoors once
the weather improved.
For years, the sarcastic inside joke in our industry TOP FIVE COVID-19 LESSONS LEARNED
is that this would be the perfect job if it was not for
golfers. This spring, we experienced first hand what 1. Ball washers didn’t get missed as much as we
that was like. I tell you, it was weird. Maintaining 160 thought;
acres for no one to play on at times seemed pointless. 2. Benches: We need some, but not on every tee;
Driving to work on empty streets 3. The condition of the bunkers is not that much
different from when we had rakes out.
and then working all day on an
empty course had a bit of a post- 4. Maintaining a golf course with no one playing is
apocalyptic feel. It was settled. The actually quite pointless;
5. People will come together in unexpected ways
joke was not funny. to solve problems when faced with adversity.
We missed seeing members
and having a reason to
maintain the property.
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