Page 42 - GBC summer 2015

I did what any member of our association would do when we have a problem or need information: I looked to my peers. During the winter that I was notified of the event, the Canadian International Turfgrass Conference and Tradeshow was in Toronto. Brian Youell was accepting the award for Superintendent of the Year. In his bio, it was mentioned that he had hosted a major event for several years. I introduced myself to Brian and asked him if he minded sharing some information about course preparation and what to expect for the week of the event. His response was true to the nature of our association as he took the time to discuss it and answered all my questions. We exchanged emails and he said he would forward all his tournament notes to help me plan my week. I can’t thank him enough for his generosity, especially considering I had never met him before!
There was a lot of support from the agronomy department of the PGA Tour. We had a lengthy phone call during the winter prior to the event that lasted the better part of a morning. We discussed
“Our biggest issue around tournament recovery, and one that is most obvious to membership, is the rough.”
the club’s resources and what we would do to prepare the golf course during tournament week. The next winter, we discussed the previous year’s tournament and also made changes to improve the next year’s event. The agronomists are very understanding of budget constraints and help to think of solutions that fit your unique situation and solve challenges.
At our club, members and guests are permitted to tee off right up until 2:00 pm on the Sunday prior to the start of tournament week. It is a challenge to prepare the course while receiving heavy member and green fee traffic leading into the event. The heavy traffic, combined with the heat stress, is a challenge, especially when we are striving to achieve the desired speed, firmness and moisture content on greens.
It is important to pay attention to thatch levels on back tee decks. Quite often, these tees look great, but because of lack of use they can be puffy, making it undesirable for the tour players. Tournament week is beneficial for the other tee decks. Other than the two Pro-Ams, they get some time to fill in and recover from the heavy summer traffic. All fairway divots are filled during advance week (the week before the
tournament)andthenfinishedoff Sunday night before tournament week begins. During tournament week, fairways are checked daily and any divots are filled.
Our course receives a lot of cart traffic and tournament week is a great relief of this stress. Carts are used Monday and Tuesday for the Pro-Ams, but after that there are only rules officials travelling on the course. The volunteers are shuttled around on carts, but they are required to travel on the cart paths.
Regular tee times resume for members and guests at 7:00 am on the Monday morning following the tournament. I always give my staff Monday off on the week following the tournament. They have had a long week as well and work an average of over seventy hours during the tournament. We do pick up four volunteers for the week; my dad, my step-dad, my uncle and a supplier friend of mine.
Our biggest issue around tournament recovery, and one that is most obvious to membership, is the rough. The rough is mowed at 3” on Wednesday of advance week.
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Golf Business Canada