Sprayer Instructional

On April 9th we had Toro bring out a Toro Multi 5800 to teach and demonstrate the in's and out's of a sprayer unit. The second year students had the benefit of having
Barry Cochrane and Dave Blanchfield bring the 5800 to instruct us how the unit works. This was a great demonstration and instructional day.

The second year students were studying all of the second semester for their Landscape Pesticide Applicators License. This is a course that gives turf students the opportunity to become professionals in another area of the turfgrass program.

We would like to thank Toro, Barry, and Dave for bringing the Multi Pro 5800.

4th year in Turfgrass Directed Field Study (DFS)

After completing my Associate Diploma in Turfgrass Management at The University of Guelph I moved to St Andrews to be a part of the greenkeeping team who prepared The Old Course for the 2010 Open Championship. I spent 8 months working on the ancient links and took a lot away from the experience. Then I moved to Victoria, British Columbia to work for Scott Wheeler CGCS, a mentor of mine who instrumental in my professional development. While working for Scott we had many discussions on how to advance my career, we came to the conclusion that perusing a degree would greatly benefit my advancement.

I feel fortunate that I enrolled in the Bachelor of Applied Science Degree majoring in Golf Course Management in the autumn of 2011. My pursuit of higher education allowed me to gain a better understanding and knowledge of what it takes to be a successful superintendent in the golf course industry. Most importantly, the successful completion of my third year allowed me to partake in the Directed Field Study and assisted me in finding a year round position as an Assistant Superinendent at The Glencoe Golf & Country Club.

One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is being surrounded by a management team that is passionate about producing the best possible playing conditions, as well as creating an environment that is enjoyable for all of our staff. This inspires me to put my best foot forward each day and to do what is required to assist in the management team’s quest for creating the most enjoyable experience for our membership.

Completing my Directed Field Study at The Glencoe Golf & Country Club has allowed me to develop a stronger practical skill set and has acted as a catalyst in developing my professional competencies. My mentors throughout the Directed Field Study, Kerry Watkins AGS, Shawn Major AAGS and Chris Paterson, were instrumental in my success and they will continue to mentor me throughout my career.

To support the professional development that took place throughout the past season, a Student Learning Plan was created and then revised. The updated Student Learning Plan outlines and clarifies specific educational competencies that were achieved in 2012. 

In addition to what was planned on paper, many opportunities for both personal and professional development evolved, such as, assisting Mr. Brian Vinchesi, President of Irrigation Consulting, with auditing select areas of our irrigation system, attending the AGSA and CGSA conferences, partaking in a two day heavy equipment training seminar and enrolling in a two day Arboriculture Canada tree felling course.

The Student Learning Plan played an integral role in identifying the competencies that would prove beneficial in my pursuit of professional development. Students create a report to highlight and discuss the challenges they faced while enrolled in the Bachelor of Applied Science Program. This report also discusses the completion of their learning objectives outlined in their Student Learning Plan.

I would like to point out that in my personal opinion; the Directed Field Study portion of the Bachelor of Applied Science Program at Olds College offers a unique experience to its pupils in comparison to programs that do not offer an in-depth opportunity to work within the industry.

The Directed Field Study provides chronological development. The three years of academic study prepare the foundation, allowing students to professionally develop and test their acquired skillset while employed in their respected field. You may enter into the Directed Field Study with the expectation of simply implementing the educational objectives discussed in your Student Learning Plan. However, once employment commences you must rise to the challenges of unexpected demands, changes in job description, and unplanned interruptions, all with the added pressures of real time constraints and deadlines. Quite simply, throughout the Directed Field Study, students are given the opportunity to draw upon the theory obtained from prior years’ formal education and then are required to implement the necessary competencies to successfully complete the task at hand.

Mark Kolentsis

3rd year in Turfgrass

The third year of the applied degree is part of the highest level of education you can obtain in turfgrass management, to this day Olds College is the only institute in Canada offering this type of education for turfgrass students. My expectations where just that, gain the highest level of education to speed up my goals of becoming a successful superintendent in the near future.

 There were many aspects of learning in the3^rd year that I felt would give me an edge in industry. To list a few, the IPM class provided realistic scenarios interacting with actua lclients.  We were assigned a golf course in the area and those courses appointed our group 3 key pests that they deal with day to day.  Taking all semester to complete you and your client come out with a professional document outlining a full-scale IPM plan.

 The integrated project is the pinnacle of the research component of the 3^rd year. It’s a full semester of figuring out the logistics and detailing the steps of your project, carrying over into the 2^nd semester you execute the research and present your results in a symposium in front of 300 people. It’s a real sense of accomplishment seeing your integrated project come together in the end. It’s a process and a large component of the program but really gives you confidence to understand data and research out in industry.

Another class that I considered the bread and butter of the degree program is Golf Course Master Planning with Jason Pick.  When you become a superintendent your role steers from being on the grounds to office work, a large fundamental is that of human resources and the budget. A daunting task but this class goes in depth on the knowledge directly associated with the future of your industry in that aspect, something that the diploma does not offer.

To summarize the 3^rd year I believe it’s a valuable investment in your career that will benefit you as a manager in the future. It will defiantly separate your resume from the rest when applying for a job. Like any degree program there can be minor adjustments done to the course but I can say from my experience that the pros outweigh the cons, your managerial skills will be amplified as a result of the degree program. The links below are a few projects you can expect to accomplish while enrolled in the third year.

IPM document link:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6-SgPCwpDInN05yalNUd0ZFdjQ/edit?usp=sharing

Environmental Management Blog:

http://franzsustainablegolf.blogspot.ca/

Franz Unterberger

2nd year in Turfgrass

After finishing the first year of the Turf program here at Olds, I was excited to go back to work for the season.  The job had changed from a summer job to pay for post-secondary to a career choice; a career I found myself excited to begin.  As the summer came to an end and the second year started, I found I had some pretty exciting expectations for the year.  I was eager to take my knowledge and experience to a whole new level.  I was also excited to be involved with the Turf Club executive board, a strong team with each individual bringing their own strengths. I quickly jumped at the chance when asked and I’m glad I did. Being involved with the Turf Club allowed me numerous opportunities to network and I can’t complain that it padded my resume nicely.

A quick look at the classes for the second year showed that several of them were turf specific.  Classes such as Advanced Golf Course Irrigation, Advanced Turfgrass Management, Golf Course Design, and Golf Course Construction gave us the opportunity to question why we chose to do certain practices and the possibility that perhaps there could be alternatives to the traditional line of thinking in Turf Management.

During the first semester Ian Morrow taught us how to audit irrigation systems in Advanced Golf Course Irrigation.  Combining this new knowledge with what Jason Pick taught in Advanced Turfgrass management, we quickly learned that simply irrigating the whole course based on the fact that that’s how it has always been done, may not necessarily be the best practice.  Golf Course Management focused on developing our personal management philosophies and gave us strategies to deal with different and unique types of conflict.

A few key benefits to these classes, besides the hands on training and key industry information being taught, include the fact that as second years, we walk away with several manuals and programs that can be easily implemented into any golf course with only a few tweaks required to personalize each manual. Advanced Turfgrass Management saw us end the course by building a manual that included a complete cultural calendar, a winter protection manual, and a fertility program for not only greens, but also tees, fairways and rough. Golf Course Management saw us build an employee manual that included employee etiquette standards, best management practices for all areas of the course, and a functioning job board that meets all of the described best management practices. Dave Moroz taught Advanced Golf Course Soils and had us build our own Turf Fertility Calculator. This calculator allows us to input a wide range of information and show us the best way to attend to the turf and the soil on our courses.

All of these manuals are going to be a major asset to me as I enter the industry as a manager. I know and trust these manuals and calculators and firmly believe that I will continually use them throughout the years.  The fact that I am walking away from my second year fully equipped with several tools that I have developed, has allowed me to fully appreciate even more the effort and direction all of our instructors poured into us over the last eight months. The second year of the Turfgrass Management program goes over and beyond to ensure that you are able to leave Olds and enter the industry as a fully equipped professional.

Jay Green