Sprayer Pre-Mix Tank Project

One of the most important cultural practices here at Stow Acres Country Club is spraying our greens, tees and fairways. On average, we spray twice each week. We have two dedicated sprayers, one 175 gallon Spraytek DS175 for greens and tees, and a 300 gallon Toro Multipro 5700 for fairways. Given the volume of the tanks, and the precision with which the sprays are mixed, it can take upwards of an hour to fully load the sprayer. Each spray is typically 2-3 loads, which requires 2-3 hours or more of mixing and loading the spray. This season, we decided to change the process up a little.

Rainwater Harvesting - Roof, Parking lot, Filter, Storage, Irrigation

Here's a quick look at a rainwater harvesting project at Boerner Botanical Gardens near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ed Beaulieu of Aquascape, Inc walks us thru a rainwater harvesting system and a permeable paver patio which is designed to capture the rain water from the roof and the parking lot of the facility. Boerner Botanical Gardens can then utilize the rain water for irrigation on their property; as well as provide habitat for wildlife and protection of the downstream watershed by controlling erosion.

A Look At Kiawah Golf Resort

The Kiawah Island Golf Resort in Southern Carolina is a leader in sustainability in our industry. They have plenty awards for their numerous projects and have truly made an impression with environmentalists, local residents and their guests. Below you'll find many examples of their projects and how they communicate their actions to guests and community.

Consider Solar for Your Golf Club

We've covered some great examples of photovaltaic solar panels in the golf industry in the past, with more to come, but we haven't asked the question Is Solar Right For Me? We can find out by asking 2 more questions, Does my location get enough sun? And will my expected Return On Investment (ROI) make this all worthwhile? There are some great resources available on the net that will help get you started, and it should only take you 10 minutes to get your answer.

Dividing the world into five solar performance area based on
yearly averages of daily hours of sunlight and temperature

Gas vs Electric vs Solar Assisted Golf Carts

This is awesome...

"A new report, by the Sustainable Technologies Evaluation Program (STEP), a multi-agency program led by the Toronto and Region Conservation, is shedding new light on the energy efficiency of gas, electric and solar-assisted golf carts. The report, released today, determined that gas carts were on average over three times less fuel efficient than an electric golf cart. In real terms, the difference in fuel economy between a gas and electric golf cart is similar to that of a Hummer H3 SUV and a Toyota Prius Hybrid car. Findings show that electric carts have 85 per cent lower fuel costs and produce one-quarter of the emissions of gas carts. STEP also determined that a solar-assisted golf cart isn't the only solution when looking to reduce air pollution and cutting greenhouse gas emissions."

Ohhh.... keep reading you'll like this...
"A solar-assisted cart might obtain an energy savings of 12 per cent over a conventional electric cart which is much less than manufacturer claims of 30-50 per cent. More importantly the study found that the energy consumed by the carts varied greatly, indicating that other factors relating to cart condition (e.g tire pressure, new bearings) or driver behaviour may be more important than the solar panels in determining overall energy consumption. The report concludes that a well-maintained electric cart, free of mechanical problems may offer better energy and financial savings than the purchase of solar panels."

The full report is after the jump...

Eco-Facilities: BMP Manual - Iowa Waste Reduction on the Golf Course

The Iowa Waste Reduction on the Golf Course manual is a great example of a regional specific guide to waste management on the golf course. The guide is fairly basic, but goes beyond the usual golf oriented material to describe the proper disposal methods of waste products we find on courses.