New Assistant

I am pleased to announce that Woodside has a new Assistant Superintendent and his name is Brent Lees. Brent has been on the grounds crew at Woodside since 2008 and has recently completed his second year in the turfgrass management program at olds College. Brent will be continuing his studies in the fall as he pursues a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in turfgrass management. Since day one Brent has been a positive influence here and does a tremendous job each and every day. I do know that he has a very bright future ahead of him in the golf course industry.

Great Blue Heron

10 Years

It's hard to believe that it was 10+ years ago when John MacKeeman took over as the golf course mechanic (or Turf Technician as he prefers) at Woodside. But I suppose that time flies when you are having fun. John really has been a tremendous asset to Woodside, he is extremely motivated and a jack of all trades. He does an excellent job keeping the equipment in tip-top condition and always helps out on the course when needed. There is no job too big or too small for John and I know that he will enjoy his new Ridgid cordless drill. Thanks John!

Spring fertilization

It's hard to believe that we had a foot of snow on the course just 3 weeks ago. Since then we have started the irrigation system up and have done just three repairs and today I fertilized the greens with a 12-3-12 analysis with an ammonium sulphate nitrogen which has some acidifying properties as our soil is slightly alkaline and a neutral pH is preferred. This fertlizer can cause some leaf burn so it was watered in with a good irrigation cycle. If you are fertilizing at home, any balanced analysis will do fine and some people like a higher phosphorus (middle number) analysis in the spring to help with root development.

Finally

Finally we have had a decent run of weather and we have been working diligently on some cultural practices to help the turf recover from winter. Here you see Dale Deyo running the vertical mowers over the fairways to remove last season's growth and allow the new grass to start growing. This is Dale's second season on the grounds crew. "I was born in Kingston Ontario on May 28 1944 and lived there for 36 years where I met my first wife and had three children two of our own and one adopted. I worked for the Board of Education as a janitor for eight years and then grounds maintenance for four years. I came to High River in 1986 to work for the Town of High River for twenty three years. My first wife left me to return to Ontario, I married Wendy my present wife in 1994. I retired in 2009 and moved to Airdrie and I am at present working for Woodside Golf Course in grounds maintenance, seasonal and part time. I enjoy working here." Dale really does an excellent job at Woodside and is a real asset to the grounds crew here.