For the last few weeks of TRF 1740, I had the opportunity to learn more about how the cultural practices we use everyday are influenced by the weather. The driving question given to us for irrigation was “How will you assess soil moisture to prove how much irrigation is needed?” from this driving question we were to research in depth and create a plan of action to go out in the field and answer the question.

My initial plan was to measure the moisture levels in the greens using a moisture meter after the sprinkler heads had ran for a certain amount of time, to measure how much irrigation is needed to raise the moisture levels to optimum percentages. Unfortunately for me, mother nature threw a massive curveball at me and it rained for the entire week of this project. This meant that no irrigation would be used on the course for the entire week.

Unsure of how to proceed with my original plan, I emailed my teacher for advice and decided to measure how long it took the greens to dry out from all the rainfall. So, after the rain stopped, I measured the moisture’s daily to monitor how fast the percentages lowered. The results changed the way I viewed how much the changes of weather impacts not only the usage of irrigation, but the moisture percentages of the greens itself. To see the results, click here. In the future, I will use the lessons I learned from this project when I’m a golf course superintendent, to better my decision making when it comes to the usage of irrigation with the changes of weather that can happen during a golf season.

In the last four weeks of turf school, I have had the pleasure of learning many new things that have contributed to my interest in not only turfgrass, but architecture as well. The main influence in the last month that has piqued my interest was one the projects given through the evaluating playing conditions course (TRF-1760).

The assignment given to us was on physical land characteristics and we were to investigate each major turfgrass surface (tee boxes, fairways, greens, etc.) on two holes. One of the holes was supposed to be the hardest hole on the course, while the other was an easier hole of the same par. I chose to study hole number thirteen, which is the hardest par four on Dancing Bull at Serenity Golf Club and I compared it against hole number eight, which is a very easy par four.

When I first began the project, I immediately started to see how the architect had carefully mapped out each hole perfectly to accommodate each handicap. Starting with the tee boxes on number eight, you could tell just from standing on them how easy the hole really was. Each tee box was lined perfectly with the green, plus the large, straight green fairway and shortly mowed rough made for a very easy tee shot with a lot of ball forgiveness. Number eight also only has one hazard, which is a wetland to the left of the green, but it is easily avoidable if you stay to the right of the green and land in the approach.

When it comes to number thirteen, again you can tell just from standing on the tee box how tough the hole really is. The tee boxes aren’t lined up with the green at all, the fairway is very small with a large dogleg to the right half way up the fairway. There are trees all around the hole, as well as a large fairway bunker to the left of the green. Let’s just say if your first shot isn’t absolutely precise, you will have a hard time making par.

This assignment really helped me understand the way an architect designs a course and how much detail goes into each hole. From the tee boxes all the way to the hazards themselves, each square inch of the course has been carefully planned out and shaped to the way it needs to be. I plan to use the knowledge I have obtained over the last few weeks to continue studying the holes at my golf course and really get a good understanding of how an entire course comes together. I also intend to use the lessons I learned from this class and other classes to better myself as a future superintendent who may need to step in and help with architecture/physical land characteristics.

Over the last few months or so of field school, there have been lots of events that have contributed to my perspective and interest in Turfgrass Management. I have contributed in many cultural practices as well as crew/project management and the experience has been outstanding. From these experiences there have been two events that stood out to me the most for my interest in turf and that is two of the projects we have had to do for field school: assessing mower sharpness and turf characteristics. These two projects showed me turf in a way I never really seen before and strengthened my love for it.

With mower sharpness, I learned a lot about the damages a dull mower blade really has on turf. The experiment showed me that with dull mower blades, the leaf tips will be torn/ripped which can cause problems with both the colour and health of the turf and the inconsistent roll of a ball as well. Knowing this information has helped me to have a better understanding of when it’s time to re-adjust your bed knife spacing or sharpen your reels.

When it comes to turf characteristics, this project really helped me to have a way better understanding of how to tell the difference between grass types. Having an entire golf course to use at your fingertips for identifying different grasses is phenomenal. This project helped me to be able to identify grasses just by simply looking at them for a few seconds to find the most key identifying feature. For instance, with bluegrasses, they have a boat shaped leaf tip, whereas ryegrasses tend to have a pointed leaf tip; once I see that boat shaped tip, I can narrow it down immediately to a bluegrass.

These lessons will help me in the future with having the ability to tell the difference between different grasses or when you have a dull mower. I can use my skills with identifying in many different ways, such as: when I’m trying to find a fescue line, or if I’m trying to identify a certain type of grass that I’m unsure of, or even if I’m trying to identify Poa annua on my bent grass greens. With mower sharpness, if I notice that the leaf tips are looking ripped or torn, or the colour of the green is looking a little bland, I now have the knowledge of knowing when its time to assess mowers sharpness. Having these skills will help me in my journey of becoming a golf course superintendent.

TRF-1730 has been an absolutely phenomenal experience so far in the first week. On Monday we were tasked with building a retaining wall in the pavillion and on Tuesday we were given the task of constructing a cart path in the botanical gardens on the Olds College campus, which included everything from planning to installing the path itself! Going into the class, I had a slight understanding of alot of the information due to my past in construction and flooring. The experience helped me to understand, figure out and pick up on what was being taught a bit quicker then some of the other material in my other classes.

With that being said, when we were given the task of constructing the cart path I learned something extremely valuable that could have helped me in the past and will definitely help me in the future. The lesson that was learnt was about the importance of detail. When I say detail I mean things like precise measurements, tampering, or elevation. I know many times in the past I have built a project and been a bit off on the measurements and continued anyways, only to have the project fall apart in the end; if I had just taken the time to perfect my measurements, I could have avoided all of those situations.

With the cart path project there were other lessons learned as well. Such as staff management, material management, budget management. We had a few bumps in the roads with forgetting some key tasks, or mismanaging the crew; but in the end we put in a lot of hours and worked together to ensure the success of the project to this date.
The lessons learned this week were detrimental to be apart of to help shape the way I manage a construction project in the future as a superintendent. I intend to take these lessons and put them to use to ensure every project is perfectly level to the correct elevation, compacted precisely, measured correctly, managed properly, and done right the first time.

In the last week of TRF 1660, I had to overcome the hardest obstacle I would endure in irrigation; this obstacle was electrical. I had dealt with some electrical situations in the field, but never really understood what I was doing; I just got told what to do. The gentleman who dealt with the electrical at the course I used to work at would try to explain it to me, but it would just go way over my head because he spoke too fast. I had heard the term “Ohms Law” many times in my life as well but never quite understood what it meant.

After the first few days a lot of my questions were answered and my understanding became stronger, but then came the biggest obstacle of them all; learning how to use a multimeter. We had to create an electrical troubleshooting guide for irrigation and that required a good understanding of the multimeter. I knew you had to connect the posts to wires but I never knew what to look for, what setting to put it on, or what any of it meant. One of the first things I learned is probably the most important; never test for resistance with power flowing in your wires, because it will blow up your multimeter. It took another few days of trying my hardest to remember what numbers I was looking for on which setting and where to use each setting, but I finally understood how to use the multimeter.

After finishing this week, I can confidently say that I understand the electrical that has been taught to us, how to read a multimeter and how to troubleshoot an electrical problem in an irrigation system. I plan to use the knowledge I have gained in the very near future when I install a small irrigation system in my parent’s lawn this summer with validations from my mentor during the process. I also plan to use it in the future if I ever run into an electrical problem in the field, I can use the troubleshooting guide my group and I made to find the problem and come up with a solution.

In the first week of TRF-1660, I was finally able to understand the process of how a globe valve and sprinkler work. Last year I basically had to assume the position of irrigation technician as the previous tech had quit. With absolutely no knowledge on how a sprinkler works; instead of fixing them, I spent a lot of time spinning them off the swing joint and putting a whole new head on, as well as replacing the bottom valve on numerous sprinklers without knowing why I was doing so.

Not only on the first day was I having a bit of a hard time wrapping my head around the way a valve worked but also how to troubleshoot a faulty sprinkler. After hours of studying and looking up diagrams of how they worked, I was able to see how the pump worked which helped me to understand the way a sprinkler works. After I had the understanding of how it worked, I was able to see and understand how to troubleshoot if its stuck open or closed. If I had known how to do this when I was the irrigation tech last year, I could have fixed all the sprinklers and saved a lot of money.

Now, at the end of the week, I have full confidence in being able to walk up to a faulty sprinkler or valve and be able to diagnose the problem and fix it with ease. With this knowledge, I will be more successful in the near future with my irrigation project in field school. I will also use this knowledge to my advantage in the field for the rest of my life. No longer will I waste money and throw away a sprinkler, now I will diagnose, repair and re-spin the same head back on, knowing that it is fixed correctly and will work properly.

In this final week of TRF-1620, I realized the importance of two traits; attendance and slowing down and paying attention.

 Throughout my life I have always been the kind of person who races through tests and even though it hasn’t always affected me negatively in courses such as English or social studies, when it came to math my speed always messed me up and that really showed at the beginning of the week when it came to my math. Instead of completely reading the question, or figuring out what exactly I needed; I would fly through the question and end up confusing myself. I would than have to go back and do everything I should have done in the first place. Not only is that a waste of time, but if I didn’t go back and redo the calculations properly, the rest of the questions that follow would be wrong. So, learning how to slow myself down and read the question fully and break it down into what I have beforehand is really beneficial to getting the correct answer the first time.

Attendance is obviously important for mandatory events, but what about for optional ones? Well this week I also learned the importance of showing up to class even when you don’t have to. On Thursday there was a practice quiz and a study day, so the class was optional and quite a few people didn’t show up. Let me tell you something, they missed out on an absolutely phenomenal learning experience on math and sprayer functions. The people that showed up had a huge advantage over the ones who didn’t because we had the math questions broken down and we were shown how to solve them. Some of this math included some we never went over yet, which was going to be on the test the following day. The people who didn’t show had a huge surprise when they arrived the next day. So, with that I can say yes, optional days are also important because you never know what information you may miss.

In the future I will use all of what I learned this week to my advantage. For example, if I have to calculate a pesticide application; I now know I have to take my time, and gather all the information I can for a perfect calculation. I also learned about the importance of attendance, so in the future I also intend to go to optional events as well. For example, at an CGSA or AGSA conference; I will be going to any optional event I can, because you never know what you may miss and it could be extremely beneficial.

Prior to TRF-1620, I had acquired my authorized assistants’ certificate and due to me obtaining my licence early I don’t follow the same rubric as my classmates which is tough sometimes because I have to work alone. Although in saying that, being in a classroom environment with peers around me and a teacher to answer any questions I may have, is extremely beneficial and helps me stay focused on my tasks.

I didn’t have strong studying skills before I started this course, but because this course was so extensive, I had to create new ways to study that would work for me. I began the class by highlighting the entire book with three different colors: green for important information that I need to know, blue for definitions or explanations and orange for examples or bullet points. I used this technique to highlight the important information so I was able to begin a well-organized cheat sheet. This cheat sheet will include all definitions, formulas and information that will be important to know for the test; I can use it as a guide to study hard for my test.

This week has taught me studying techniques I will take with me into the future. Even if I’m a golf course superintendent I tend to continue to broaden my knowledge, for I believe there is no such thing as learning too much. So, I can use these study techniques I have developed and continue to use them. For example, if I were to ever take my aquatics pesticide licence, I would use the skills I have learned over the week and use them to my advantage to have success in the course. I intend to continue to work on my study skills and find ways to make it even more beneficial for myself.

Coming into TRF-1210 I was a little bit nervous about the plant physiology side of the course, for the simple fact that my memory of biology from high school was a little fuzzy. When we started the second week, we were given a driving question for plant physiology; our driving question was “How do Plant Growth Regulators work?”. Our goal was to give a presentation that explained the basic physiology of how a grass plant works, how PGR’s (Plant Growth Regulators) affect a plant, what kind of Plant growth regulators there were, and which PGR active ingredients were legal in Canada.

When I first started researching the topic, I was very overwhelmed with some of the terms that were being used. Such as Trinexapac-ethyl, or Gibberellins. The group I was in was also feeling overwhelmed, so we decided to take a day and watch a few videos that were provided by the class through Moodle. That was honestly one of the best decisions we could have made because watching those videos gave us an understanding of some of the terms being used in the PGR research. It also gave me a reminder of the basic physiology, such as photosynthesis and transpiration. The day we took off to research individually was beneficial to the entire group because we were able to come back the next day and work together to understand the process of how a PGR Inhibited plant growth and put together a strong presentation.

In the near future at the CGSA conference I intend to use the knowledge I have learned in the first and second week to understand and communicate with superintendents, sales reps, etc. Having an understanding of how a plant works and the parts of a plant will be extremely helpful when talking to important people at the CGSA.

In the end, I learned a lot about plant physiology. It was information that I will carry on because I had to work hard and research to figure it out. I am excited to continue my learning and dig deeper into the physiology of the grass plant.

In the first week of Turf-1210, we started working with turfgrass identification. I went into this class very excited to broaden my knowledge on turfgrass itself. When I first started the week, I wasn’t able to tell the difference between the many different types of grasses. We were given a brief introduction into the different terms such as the auricle or the ligule in our last class, but I never really got a grasp on exactly what they were. On the first day, we were given a couple different species of grass and an identification key and were told to use the plant characteristics to identify them. Because of my confusion on the scientific terms at first, it was a rough time identifying the first plant. After we identified the second plant, I started to understand it a bit more. Now, almost a week later, after lots of practice and research, I have full confidence in all the terms of plant identification as well as their Latin names, identification characteristics, cultural practices, and their usages in the workplace.

This information and knowledge will help me substantially in the future for my career. For example, I could use my identification knowledge on an Annual Bluegrass free green that was grown with Creeping Bent grass. If any outbreak of Annual Bluegrass should arise, having the knowledge to be able to identify it as soon as it emerges and ridding the outbreak could save the green from Poa annua spreading and taking over.

Another example could be if Perennial Ryegrass was used in a blend with Kentucky Bluegrass to seed a fairway. Being able to have to ability to tell between the two species once they have both emerged is critical. Having this knowledge will tell you when the bluegrass has overtaken the ryegrass and will help you have a general idea of the optimal time for the fairway to open. In conclusion, this week has proven to again fill my mind with knowledge that I will forever remember and use frequently in the workplace.