"Great Seminar"

   I don't often put the words great and seminar together when talking about attending a seminar but I spent the last two days at the Minnesota Golf Course Superintendent's March Seminar and it was.  It was two days filled with great speakers and some good discussion held right here at Dellwood Hills Golf Club.  The first day the topic was Sustainable Golf Course Maintenance with two Superintendents speaking about things they have done at their facilities and finishing with a panel discussion of 6 superintendents speaking about what they are doing to be more sustainable.

   The first superintendent from Kentucky spoke about how they have been making their own biodiesel fuel and how they have modified some of their equipment to burn vegetable oil as a fuel source.  He also spoke of how his facility has been able to collect water from the neighboring community and use it to irrigate the golf course .  They catch storm water as well as the effluent water from all of the septic systems of the surrounding houses.  The second superintendent from Florida spoke about the need for our industry to be leaders in taking care of the environment and being more vocal in letting the public know about our efforts.  He talked about the things that his staff has implemented at their golf course that not only benefit the environment but  make good business sense.  The afternoon panel discussion about Sustainable Golf Course Maintenance I will talk more about in subsequent blogs, so stay tuned.

   The second day of the seminar was on Winter Injury.  We had Dr. Brian Horgan from the University of Minnesota and Dr. Kevin Frank from Michigan State University talk about causes of winter injury and the best methods for recoverying.  We had Drew Larson give a presentation on the winter covers study he did for his Masters.  Bob Distel, Superintendent from Wayzata had a segment to talk about how they have used a heated tent to recover some of their greens very rapidly in the spring after they sustained severe winter injury.  And finally we had two people at the end of the day talk about the use of wildflowers and no-mow grasses to establish native areas on the golf course.  Usually my hope when attending one of these educational sessions is to take home one or two items that I can use to make myself or our operation better.  This seminar was packed full of great information as well as some great challenges to think "outside the box".
I thank the club for supporting myself and my staff in continuing our education and betterment.