The mild winter weather has been continuing and the fellas have been working on the course most days.  We've been tidying up the trees on both sides of the laneway coming into the club and also around the 7th green.  Yesterday we worked around the bottom of #18 using the pole saw and chipper.  Next week we are hoping to drop some larger trees including old poplars.

Administratively it has been very busy.  Much of January was spent working on our IPM audit.  New rules and regulations have created a much more onerous task of record keeping and learning how to use the pdf forms and website provided for the IPM desk audit and future site audit.  Second Assistant Jay McMillan has been very active in this process as well.  All 840 golf courses in Ontario are dealing with this right now and using the IPM website we can actually view what each golf course used in the way of pesticides in 2011.  Our 2011 pesticide report is currently posted in both locker rooms and in the Pro Shop.  All golf clubs in Ontario beginning in 2012 must host annual public meetings to brief neighbors and the general public on pesticide usage on the golf course.  In our case this will probably happen in November.

I have been late with blog postings due to the IPM audit and a new computer (and Windows 2010).  Anytime a computer update happens there is a new learning curve for how to navigate the programs.  I am also using a new phone and subsequent program to take pictures, hopefully better than previous.