Monday, March 10, 2008

The Future of Golf Course Architecture in Canada – Part One - The Enviornment





Photo courtesy of Brian Ewan








“We have a duty to minimize our imprint on the environment”

I plan on talking for at least a week about the environment and golf. I set out to give a lecture on the future of golf course architecture and found myself openly questioning the way things are done in both design and maintenance of new golf courses. This journey began a few weeks back with my learning that Ontario would head towards a ban of pesticides - while golf courses are expected to have an initial exemption - they are likely facing a long term ban. I knew right away that maintenance practices in Canada are going to have to change and so were the designs. Once you add the issues of water restrictions and the ever-increasing costs to build and maintain it makes it so clear that the golf course industry will undergo a transition and be forced to become even more environmentally responsible (most are better stewards than people realize). I knew that my design work was going to have to reflect what is to come – and place my new courses in the best position to cope with the future - rather to foolishly build to today’s environmental standards and leave the courses struggling to deal with each change in legislation.

Last week I attended the Canadian Golf Superintendents Conference in Calgary. I went to lectures on turf, fairway renovation, dealing with trees, soils, foliar fertilization (my brain hurt afterwards), eliminating pesticides (tomorrow’s discussion), the European Environmental Movement, and even rating courses with Bob Weeks. I also saw lectures by well know superintendents reflecting on the changes in their business and attended a panel discussion with an open mike for questions. I was able to seek out and ask many great superintendents from all over the country about the changes they face with the environment and what is possible. I went there with the goal of finding out if Canadian Superintendents believed that a reduced input program is possible taking our turf closer to a UK model in order to be more environmentally responsible.

One of my lectures included Ken Seims from Loch Lomond talking about the Environmental Movement in Europe and for the first time I was able to see how an existing course could become a better steward of the land. It was an eye-opening lecture on all the possibilities outside of the playing areas and what we could accomplish if we looked at the property as a whole – including all the buildings. I didn’t get exactly what I sought but I did get a window into what it would require. One of the keys that Ken stressed was drainage since it was the key to better choices on turf selection which is one cultural key to reduce inputs to turf. Another lecture talked about the fact that sunlight and the production of carbohydrates in the plant is the key to avoiding disease pressure and that airflow is not near as big a factor.






Jack's Point NZ









One fascinating part of asking a lot of questions is what you learn by accident. I was tipped off by another superintendent to ask Dr. Loyns about the potential of golf courses as a carbon sinks. He said that a study at the University of Colarado confirmed that golf courses are 50% better as carbon sinks than natural grasslands. Can it be possible that the future will have golf course could selling carbon credits?

To Part 2 – can we eliminate pesticides and herbicides?

18 comments:

GO said...

Hey Ian great seeing you in Calgary. I really believe that the message from the conference was sustainability. I believe it is the new catch phrase and best to remember it.
Reduced inputs, and successful implementation of such programs, is it about lowering our standards of conditioning, or is it about shifting the player’s expectation.
Many many clubs already operate in a reduced input environment, probably on a per unit area bases the majority of club’s practise this philosophy. Inputs AKA pesticides cost money. I remember when we didn’t spray fairways for diseases like snow mold. In fact we have several fairways that we didn’t spray this fall, the snow simply came early. Preventative pesticide applications for snow mold contribute to 50% of our pesticide budget. One years preventative snow mold application on fairways $$,$$$ amounts to the cost of a great trencher to improve drainage throughout the entire property. I am a little disappointed we didn’t get the pesticide down, but I also know that with increased aggressive cultural practises and some warm temperatures conditions will improve quickly. I wished I could have bought that trencher! Golfers in the future will have to appreciate increased cultural management of turfgrass, increased disruption, more coring is not boring.
I rarely if ever here golfers bitch about disease and trust me we allways have some disease generally at about the 10-15% range on fairways, 3-5 % on greens mostly “dollar spot” and it takes 2-3 the chemical applications to eliminate dollar spot. Just a little is some irony in the disease name? There are ways to manage disease but you really hit the nail on the head, increase sunlight, improve drainage, increase thresholds, and reduce risk pesticides. I can’t say eliminate pesticides, but honestly a very large reduction in their application. Now don’t think that there will be a reduced cost, it will generally cost more as labour inputs will increase.
That is enough for today I hope you get lots of response on this issue, I will check in the rest of the week!
GO

michael said...

Ian, would there be any way of obtaining copies of these lectures? (pdf's or word documents - I don't know if you have it documented or not) I think it'd be great for those who were unable to see these.

Anonymous said...

Nice article you got here. I'd like to read more about this matter. Thanx for posting that material.
Joan Stepsen
Tech gadget

Golf Club Las Vegas said...

Really nice article about Golf course architecture. Keep it up!

Anonymous said...

rss ground -
secret affiliate weapon -
secrets book -
spam bully -
spyware cease -
spyware nuker -
spyware remover -
spy zooka -
starting a day care center -
tattoo fever -
team idemise -
the bad breath report -
the cb code -
thedietsolutionprogram -
the diet solution program -
the rich jerk -
the super mind evolution system -
turbulencetraining -
turbulence training -
vincedelmontefitness -
vince del monte fitness -
warp speed fat loss -
wedding speech 4u -
windo fix -
wrap candy -
zygor guides -
7day ebook -
360 fix kit -
advanced pc tweaker -
adware bot -
affiliate naire -
art of approaching -
beating adwords -
believe and manifest -

Anonymous said...

public records pro -
questions for couples -
quick article pro -
quick paid surveys -
quit smoking today -
reg defense -
registry winner -
reg tool -
reverse mobile -
richard mackenzie direct -
rocket german -
rotator cuff training -
rss feeds submit -
satellite pc box -
save the marriage -
spy no more -
spyware stop -
super seduction power -
surefire trading challenge -
tattoo me now -
the bad breath report -
thedietsolutionprogram -
the diet solution program -
the dog food conspiracy -
the mini site formula -
tmj help -
tonsil stones remedies -
truth about abs -
twitter trick -
vincedelmontefitness -
vince del monte fitness -
warp speed fat loss -
wedding speech 4u -
win clear -

Anonymous said...

home made energy -
how do i get him back -
hyper vre -
keyword spy pro -
kingdom of pets -
mafia war secrets -
malware bot -
master cleanse secrets -
maternityacupressure -
maternity acupressure -
maximum paid surveys -
meet your sweet -
mobile tv pro -
musclegainingsecrets -
muscle gaining secrets -
my dish biz -
one minute cure -
paid surveys online -
panic away -
pc tv 4 me -
pdf creator -
perfect optimizer -
pick the gender of your baby -
plr wholesaler -
private niche empire -
project quick cash -
public records pro -
pull your ex back -
quick article pro -
quit smoking today -
reality creation secrets -
reg clean -
regi cleanse -
registry easy -

Anonymous said...

registry fix -
registry winner -
reg sweep -
reg tool -
reverse mobile -
reverse phone detective -
richard mackenzie direct -
rich garbage man -
rocket chinese -
rocket french -
seize cars -
shop until you drop -
six figure yearly 2009 -
sleep tracks -
spyware nuker -
spyware stop -
sunshine 4u -
the bad breath report -
the cash1234 system -
thedietsolutionprogram -
the diet solution program -
the free car -
the lazy marketer -
tonsil stones remedies -
truth about abs -
truth about diets -
turbulence training -
vincedelmontefitness -
vince del monte fitness -
violin master pro -
warp speed fat loss -
wedding speech 4u -
xp repair pro -
yeast infection no more -

Anonymous said...

vincedelmontefitness -
vince del monte fitness -
warp speed fat loss -
web traffic machines -
wedding speech 4u -
wind plans -
xp repair pro -
your fun business -
zygor guides -
500 love making tips -
acid alkaline diet -
acne no more -
advanced defrag -
anti spyware bot -
art of approaching -
banish tinnitus -
beat eczema -
blood pressure normalized -
burnthefat -
burn the fat -
conversationalhypnosis -
conversational hypnosis -
cpa arbitrage -
creative date ideas -
debt free in three -
digital background -
dirty talking guide -
discus fish secrets -
duplicate file cleaner -
dw insider -
earth4energy -
earth 4 energy -
easy tv soft -
easy web video -

Anonymous said...

save the marriage -
spy no more -
spyware stop -
super seduction power -
surefire trading challenge -
tattoo me now -
the bad breath report -
thedietsolutionprogram -
the diet solution program -
the dog food conspiracy -
the mini site formula -
tmj help -
tonsil stones remedies -
truth about abs -
twitter trick -
vincedelmontefitness -
vince del monte fitness -
warp speed fat loss -
wedding speech 4u -
win clear -
xbox 360 red light fix -
xp repair pro -
500 love making tips -
acid alkaline diet -
advanced defrag -
alpha male system -
amazing cover letters -
anti spyware -
anti spyware bot -
article rewriter -
art of approaching -
auto cash system -
burnthefat -
burn the fat -

darrell moddy said...

hi,
i just wanted to say how much i enjoy reading your blog. in a world full of spin, it's nice to get some fact-based analysis.
keep up the good work.

call center

mario games said...

Hey very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also…

ragdoll games said...

Thanks for posting, definitely going to subscribe! See you on my reader.

sports games said...

I would just like to say to all my fellow Entrepreneurs…just remember that persistence is the key to success.

sniper games said...

Nice experience shared. Its not less than an interview. Great way of posting such good and informative stuff.

Anonymous said...

I found your blog when I was looking for a different sort of information but I was very happy and glad to read through your blog. The information available here is great.
lollies

Hotel Chiemsee said...

Golf courses are such that no one should worry that their partner or family is boring, if you decide to take the bus in the morning. Many courses are excellent restaurants and spas - the perfect match for lunch - and even further courses will be spoiled for choice of activities available. Riviera is the cultural attractions that the area is easily accessible something is worth a visit. If you are near the coast, then it is also the possibility of some of the world's best beaches, golden sand and warm blue water. Then again, if you went to the effort to hire a villa in southern France to get away from it all, so you can do nothing but relax by the pool, perhaps after a short walk of the city of coffee and travel the local bakery.

Golf Platzreife said...

Golf courses are going to ask you to wear shoes, but shoes are not allowed in the clubhouse after golf so make sure you bring a second pair. Most clubs require you to wear a collared shirt, men must have sleeves, but women can use the sleeveless shirt with collar. When it comes to golf shirt with collar is the only thing that many forget, think of all the shirt is nice enough, but beware, if your site without it, you find yourself buying another shirt or denied.