2026
WHAT’S HOT – August 2, 2026
1. Once again, I came in to do a little manual watering of the tees, however, these 35km gusts have put an end to that plan. Total waist trying to put some water down in conditions like this.
2. Thanks to Jody Lehman from Trig Energy for applying a dust suppressant to our gravel cart compound road. It’s a new product for Trig and Jody thought what better a place to give it a try than NBGCC. We appreciate Jody’s generosity and his team’s professionalism.
3. Believe it or not, we’re really looking forward to aerating our greens in a couple weeks. They are so stressed out from the heat and traffic lately. Considering we no longer do a June aeration, by August the greens are hurting. We just have to wait until the tournaments are done in mid – month.
4. Judging by all the positive comments lately, the crew is getting pretty damn proficient at maintaining our golf course. Of course, there’s still a hick-up or two but the effort is definitely there. And I think they are having fun.
5. I believe last report, we were rationing irrigation because the river was so high and we needed to take our pump out. Well, it finally went down enough to allow us to keep our reservoir topped up. However, in a matter of days a massive sand bar silted our inlet up resulting in very little flow to our pump. Considering the road access to the river was scheduled to be closed for paving that day and we required an excavator down there, panic set in. However, an early morning phone call to Unicon Construction resulted in Corby Lehman having an excavator there within the hour and the job completed shortly there after. Huge Thanks to Corby and his team for looking after us.
6. I received an email from a member requesting we cut our primary rough mowing on the same schedule as our fairway mowing. Not entirely sure why. Both fairways and primary roughs are mowed on the same days and have been for several years.
7. We’ve put a tremendous amount of time and energy into our bunker maintenance this entire season and the majority of our members have expressed their deep appreciation.
8. We finally got our #18 fountain back from the Edmonton dealer. Thankfully they were able to repair it and we didn’t need to replace it. Wasn’t cheap though.
9. The evenings are getting ridiculous with vandalism and theft. Please report any unusual activity to the pro shop immediately when seeing it. We have to get rid of these idiots.
10. Our mid season financial meetings are coming up soon. The end result of these discussions is whether we are proceeding with budgeted projects this fall. This year we are looking at building 3 more forward tees, additional recapping and paving of cart paths, as well as replacing the steps on the #5 gold tees.
11. I never look forward to a short work week prior to our club’s major tournament of the year. The maintenance team always wants to put on a good show and produce the very best conditions and its difficult when you lose a day to prepare the course. This year is particularly difficult. We’re expecting 3 bus loads of guests from other clubs to work around. One in particular has absolutely no regard for the conditions of our course and divots will be a flying. Kind of disheartening for the staff.
12. K&S Asphalt did a great job on Riverside Drive leading up to our main entrance. Now if the City will only considering letting them do more on the hill coming down.
13. Speaking of disheartening, it was disappointing to witness a member dump a terrible chip shot into the bunker then hit something in the sand on his next shot resulting in him slamming a rake and breaking it.
14. We’re putting down 340,000 gallons of water a night in recent weeks. This doesn’t include our early morning manual water.
15. We still have people spraying themselves down on the turf. Saturday morning we saw a burn on the 3rd green, foot prints and all as a result of mosquito repellent. Please apply your repellent on cart paths or in the parking lot.
16. Supposed to be very windy the next couple days. I hope it lets up enough to let us fertilize soon. The greens look terribly stressed and need a feeding soon.
17. One thing about this hot dry weather, irrigation short comings become obvious demanding attention.
18. Hard to believe our students will be leaving us at the end of the month. Couldn’t have been happier with them. If you know them, please beg them to come back next season.
19. We are presently on rotation of verticutting one week and topdressing the following week. Always trying to attain that perfect ball roll.
20. The same email suggested we move our tee markers more left and right and not always in the middle. We have always instructed our course set-up people and those that train operators to do such a thing. The markers are moved daily. Many tees it is not doable due to the small size of certain tees, particularly the blues.
21. A ¼” of rain would be nice right about now.
22. As always, gsaw@sasktel.net
Grant
WHAT’S HOT – July 11, 2026
1. Considering how hot its supposed to be today, I thought I’d get some manual watering done to the greens before the staff showed. Luckily, we received a good amount of rain last night so those greens will be just fine without the extra attention. So, I’m here. Might as well write this thing.
2. For the first time in several years, we have a full Crew finally. Well almost. We’re missing an important part time employee and for the time being, we’re absorbing the position by a fulltime employee which is a challenge on certain days but we’re managing. This particular part time position is extremely important in our maintenance regime requiring training and course knowledge. So it just can’t be filled mid stream.
3. Considering the heat were expected to get, combined with the high humidity, we’re about to have perfect conditions for disease development. You might just see some funny coloured turf out there in upcoming days.
4. We’ve made the decision to dedicate a higher degree of maintenance protocols and cultural practices to some problem fairways. Specifically, those bordered by poplar trees. The combination of poplar roots, compaction, shade and disease, has resulted in poor turf quality. We just completed several days of root pruning. Prior to that we preformed an aggressive aeration of some very thin areas. Next week if the weather cooperates, we’ll get into a more thorough aeration with larger tines. We’ll be asking for some cooperation from our members.
5. Due to the high-water levels in the river, we were forced to remove our pump on June 24th and haven’t been able to fill our reservoir since. Considering it was low at the time, our irrigation has been extremely limited since, resulting in some very firm conditions at times.
Luckly, we’ve had some timely rains. More on that later.
6. The Crew has spent upwards of three weeks working in the bunkers. Redistributing sand already in place, adding fresh sand where necessary and finishing off with edging. On any golf course, bunker maintenance is the most time demanding element in a maintenance regime. Combined with the cost of sand these days, easily the most expensive.
7. Its such a pleasure having returning employees on our Crew. Training new employees is such a time consuming and expensive component each year but when you have some experience in place, it really does get you off to a better start.
8. Timely rains are always nice but torrential events have really caused us a substantial amount of extra work. Pumping out low areas and bunkers. Hand shoveling bunker sand back into place. Cleaning up grass clippings from wet mowing. It all takes a toll on your regular maintenance.
9. In up coming months, we will be investigating the purchase of upgraded equipment to augment our new fairway maintenance protocols specifically an aerator and root pruner.
10. I received word yesterday morning that Sask Water Security is forecasting the river levels gradually going down which they suggest will be enough to allow us to reinstall our pump and begin filling the reservoir again. It will likely be an all day project for the majority of the Crew. We will get down there as soon as the morning cut is complete.
11. Another hydraulic leak on a new mower. This time a rough mower. As always, in an area of the mower most difficult to get at and repair. And again, a 10-cent o-ring failure resulting in leaking an entire tank of oil. Luckily in the rough. These oil leaks are getting far too common these days and they aren’t limited to just one manufacturer.
12. The mosquitoes are absolutely atrocious this morning. If you choose to spray down, do it in the parking lot or on a path please.
13. Please reduce your speed coming and going on our entrance road. We’ve had a few close calls involving maintenance staff working adjacent to the road.
14. We’ve been moving a lot of trees out of our nurseries in recent years. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to keep up stocking them with new seedlings. We usually allow the young trees 5-7 years to mature before we move them out onto the course. I think we have enough mature trees for two more years of moving then we’ll likely take a break for a few years.
15. We’ve received several positive comments in recent years regarding the attention we give the gravel road to and from the cart compound . Our ace mechanic Danny dedicates an hour or two each Friday to level it before any traffic arrives to the course.
16. You’ve probably noticed the fountain missing in the #18 pond. Its experienced an electrical failure in its pump. Its presently at the dealers getting the issue diagnosed and hopefully corrected. Needless to say, I’m just a little upset with the length of time its taking.
17. We continue to see total disregard to replacing divots on our par 3 tees. PLEASE REPLACE YOUR DIVOTS.
18. As always, any comments, suggestions or questions; gsaw@sasktel.net
Enjoy the upcoming weather,
Grant Sawchyn
WHAT’S HOT – June 13, 2026
1. I’m dropping the ball with my submissions. Its been such a busy spring and I just seem to forget to make some time. My apologies. Here goes.
2. So we definitely are having a difficult time managing the growth rates as of late. The week of heat really set the grass a growing.
3. The heat also brought the poa-annua grass to life again. Particularly on the tees and approaches. Its recovering nicely but has a ways to go yet.
4. The last couple years we’ve lost a lot of turf to disease. Especially on our poplar lined fairways that are always in the shade.
5. The new fairway mowers have arrived and have been in use for a few weeks now. They are pretty much identical to the ones we traded in.
6. Had another damn hydraulic leak last week. Luckily it was only on the last three greens being cut. A tiny o-ring on a fitting failed.
7. We’ll try and get at that hill side in front of the 13th blue tee this week. Its cut by hand and not a riding mower. It’s a big job.
8. Apparently, there’s a contingent not satisfied with our dandelion management. Instead of asking questions, they like suggesting its neglect. Very disheartening.
9. Oh ya, the dandelions on the hillside on 13 haven’t been sprayed and likely won’t be. It isn’t worth rolling a machine and serious injury.
10. We are going to start an aggressive aeration of weak areas of some fairway. It will result in plugs laying on the ground until they can be cleaned up. DON’T DRIVE ON THEM!
11. May is always a crazy busy month. Poplar leaf clean-up occupies a ton our time. I think the vast majority of our membership understand and appreciate why the work is so important.
12. We finally addressed some poplar roots in some greens. Too bad a little more research wasn’t done before planting the nuisance trees. Could of asked a kid working at the SGCC who did nothing but dig roots out of greens.
13. We spray for dandelions approximately 2.5 hours daily for about 10 days. And this year, in terrible conditions, that is, wind and the occasional drizzle.
14. Hopefully we can find time in early July to do some root pruning down some fairways. Coupled with an aggressive aeration we’re hoping to rejuvenate some thin areas.
15. We’ve received a ton of complements recently on how well the staff is dealing with the growth rates in the rough. The new staff is really catching on well to the regime.
16. We tried addressing some pot-holes on the asphalt paths. Not perfect, but a better ride than before.
17. Shade from poplar trees creates a perfect environment for disease development resulting in turf loss. We’ve never put down a preventative fungicide application. Hopefully we can address the situation soon.
18. The entire crew was involved in sand trap maintenance the last few weeks. Existing sand was moved back into place and if required additional sand was added. All hand work. It will be an ongoing process for a while yet.
19. When we built the new 4th hole it was necessary to remove our weather station. We were able to post reports of weather conditions we dealt with. Particularly at night when the majority of our irrigation takes place. I miss it.
20. Grass trimming around trees really fell short this week, however, most members appreciate how we focussed the majority of the crew on bunker requirements.
21. When the crew is cleaning up aeration plugs, allow them to do their job. Pick your ball up and move it out of harms way so they don’t have to continually stop.
22. As always, any comments or concerns gsaw@sasktel.net
Enjoy your week,
Grant Sawchyn
Golf Superintendent -nbgcc
WHAT’S HOT – May 10, 2026
1. How about that weather. The Crew sure had their fill of the cold stuff. Even lost a new recruit due to the cold. He figured he just wasn’t cut out for outside work. Oh well, he put in a solid 5 days.
2. The team is slowly coming together. Some returnees, some new recruits and even some very well seasoned vets. I’m looking forward to building an efficient and fun team.
3. We started pulling the tarps of the tees and greens April 21st. Unlike other golf courses who can immediately put their greens into play, we still have a considerable amount of prep work prior to play.
4. We got the irrigation system fired up May 3rd. Like everything that’s put away for an extended period of time, there’s a few little glitches in the pump station that required tending to. Nothing serious and nothing that held us back from our regular protocols.
5. There still remains a lot of frost in the ground on some areas of the course, particularly #’4 and the 19th fairway. I’m not sure of the science but the high alkali areas hold the frost substantially longer.
6. There’s been a substantial amount of poplar tree clean-up first thing this spring and recently. Several high wind events through the winter really did a number on the trees as did recent winds. Vile weeds.
7. Yes, we plan on addressing the poplar roots in #’s 2 and10. Serious communication problem last season. Very embarrassing too.
8. Prior to putting the tarps down in the fall, we aerate the greens and cover them with a heavy sand topdressing. To rid the sand in the spring when the tarps come off, the sand is dragged into the aeration holes. The greens must be dry to pull the heavy metal mat around.
9. Although the irrigation system is running, we’re always reluctant to let it run automatically for as few days. We prefer watering manually in the early mornings to work out some bugs and see what repairs may be necessary.
10. The greens were absolutely beautiful when we pulled the tarps off. Unfortunately, snow and -12 wind chills came along a few days later. It set them back a bit but I’d still consider them pretty good considering the winter.
11. We can not put the circulating pump in the well at the #’s 9/18 water hazards. The water in the well is still frozen solid. No babbling brook. Sorry. And the fountain will go in when the pump goes in too.
12. Yes, I’m the guy that labeled the cart compound. If there’s any errors, I apologize. I was working under duress. It was the day before we were opening.
13. I’m not sure what the deal is but we receive very few student applicants these days.
14. The cul-de-sac ponds take a considerable amount of cleaning each spring. Hopefully we’ll get at it soon.
15. Not like we’re fertilizing tomorrow but we still haven’t received or order. Supply chains still haven’t rebounded from the pandemic.
16. Can’t wait to see our flower volunteers doing their thing in the beds around the course. They’ve had a whole winter to think about it. Should be good.
17. When we start using the new forward tees on #’s 14, 15 and 16, the height of cut will likely be slightly higher than the others. At least until their rooted in well at which point we’ll shave them down.
18. Hopefully the river stays at a decent level this summer and we don’t have to ration irrigation while we wait to have our inlet dredged out. Its supposed to be hot and dry so fingers crossed.
19. We are going to have a few new faces on the crew this season who are going to require considerable training. Please be patient while they are learning to operate in a very different and at times difficult work environment.
20. Had my first comment about why the greens are so slow.
21. As always, gsaw@sasktel.net with comments and questions.
WHATS HOT – April 19, 2026
1. If I only had a nickel for each time someone asked me, “so when do you think?”
2. Needless to say, the weather is driving us nuts. On March 19th, our friend Joe at K&S plowed roads for us out on the course. Once we got out there, we were pleasantly surprized with how little snow there was and considering the weather that day, felt it would be gone in no time. No need to blow the greens off. Nice.
3. That first tour of the spring also showed very little sign of porcupines. Also nice. Until last Wednesday. Again, the pines and elm on #14 took a licking, but also those beautiful tamaracks on #6 got chewed to hell. Very sad to see.
4. Once again putting a crew together is proving to be a challenge. Very few applications particularly from students. Times have definitely changed considering that’s all we used to get. We’ve managed to attract a few fulltime staff though. At least enough to open the place. Still have a way to go though.
5. We are waiting on some new equipment to be delivered. Several months ago, we ordered two new fairway mowers and a fertilizer spreader. Dealers don’t stock equipment like they used to. Its basically ordered from the factory and seldom is it manufactured until ordered.
6. We went for another tour of the course on March 28th. We couldn’t believe how much more snow had accumulated since the 19th. James from Seeds Landscaping is our go-to guy and was called immediately. Blowing the greens off was a must.
7. Last season, I thought we had the silvery moss on our greens under control. In fact, I didn’t see a speck of it the entire year and trust me I was on the hunt. However, at the end of October when we were putting the tarps down, I noticed some. Although a very small amount, we’ll have to address it as soon as favorable conditions are here.
8. All our equipment purchases are based on our 5 Year Equipment Replacement Program. We developed it back in the early 90’s and have stuck to it as much as possible. It’s served us well by avoiding costly repairs and ensuring good trade-in value.
9. What’s particularly disappointing about the porcupines attacking the tamaracks on #6, is back in 1996 when I planted them within the new mounds, a lot of grief was thrown our way over it. The clique of the day suggested that the 36 coniferous trees would never catch in the dry sandy soils and it spread like wild fire. I think we can all agree those particular trees on both sides of #6 have done well and its something we have been very proud of.
10. As for construction this year, we are building three more forward tees on #’s 5, 9 and 11. They will likely be the final in-house tees we construct. The final four are the par 3’s and considering the amount of materials required to expand them, we just don’t have the resources. A contractor with large equipment will be required.
11. Thanks to maintenance team members Mark, Tim, Ethan and Kristian for coming in on their day off Sunday to get a head start on the week. We all feel under the gun to get this place open and still have a long way to go.
12. Silvery moss is new to the province’s golf courses and some have it much worse than others and, in many cases, based on their cultural practices or lack there of. Some of causes for the development of silvery moss are low mowing, excessive irrigation including morning dew, shade and compaction.
13. There’s a huge amount of poplar branches laying around the course this spring. And probably more under the snow that we haven’t seen yet. It was an incredibly windy winter. Several days hitting 70-80 kms per hour. Those branches might have to lay there for a while yet until higher priorities are addressed.
14. We basically completed the bridge installation through the #10 swale last fall. However, we didn’t turf the area of fresh soil. We wanted the spring run off to cut its natural path going under the bridge first. Plus, considering the time of year the project was done, it would have been unlikely any new turf would be rooted in and the spring’s rushing water would have taken it away.
15. We are considering putting out the old yellow flags on the greens this spring. Just for a couple weeks. The most frustrating thing about new staff is they’re not knowing their way around the course. Every hole looks the same, they get lost and certain areas don’t get addressed or jobs take much longer than they should. We’ve received complaints in the past for using them but numbered flags help new recruits find their way around and frees up experienced staff from prolonged supervision resulting in more jobs getting completed.
16. Blowing the greens off this spring was extremely difficult. There was three very distinct layers of frozen crust within the snow pack most likely due to the two mid winter melts and the rain event earlier on. As well, on the surface of the greens, was a very thick and solid layer of ice and we all know what that could mean.
17. We plan on replacing the railway tie steps on #5 gold tee once we have our crew trained up on our regular daily maintenance regime. The ties will be replaced with treated timbers similar to those at the 13th tee.
18. And back to the silvery moss issue and specifically increased development of it due to compaction in our greens’ rootzones. We no longer aerate to the same extent as is required mostly due to tournament scheduling. Last season we didn’t aerate at all. Now then, silvery moss will never out compete healthy bentgrass or poaannua. It moves into thin stressed turf and compaction is the best way to create those conditions. Compaction leads to poor gas exchange and reduced root growth resulting in slower recovery and thinner turf. Silvery moss quickly invades all the open spaces.
19. Its absolutely heart breaking to see brand new tarps eaten away by mice. The tarps we use are as much as $4,000. We’ve never had much of a mice problem through the years, however when we have its been winters of drifted snow and crusty layers in the snow.
20. We have a ton of work to do before we can open. Firstly, the weather has to cooperate and dry the place up. The greens have to be dry before we remove the tarps and drag the winter topdressing into the turf canopy. The greens have to be cut several times to pick up the residual sand to produce a quality putting surface. Can’t be done if they’re damp and we’re leaving tire prints. Fences have to be removed from tee decks and the accumulated leaves blown off and ice formations along the fences broken up. Not until they’re dry can we drag last falls aeration plugs into the canopy. And the fairways, always the last to dry. The fall’s large aeration plugs still remain and are the last to dry. If not dry, the mud plugs our mats. And obviously we can’t allow traffic on wet fairways. So, what are the guys doing on a Sunday? They are putting furnishings out and blowing as much debris off “semi dry” tarps as we can. Just trying to get a step a head in a rather frustrating spring.
21. So that’s it. And as always, any questions or comments gsaw@sasktel.net.
Have a great week and hopefully we’ll see you at the Spring Scramble May 2nd and 3rd.
Fingers Crossed.
Grant Sawchyn
