Burlington G.C.C Trip

This Thursday for our weekly field trip, we visited Burlington Golf and Country Club. After an odd bus ride filled with detours and bumps we had finally made it to the golf course. The first thing you see when you step off the bus is a big beautiful club house with an amazing view of Lake Ontario. It was there when we got to meet the legendary superintendent Dean Baker. Dean was the superintendent at Glen Abbey for many years and has hosted many Canadian Opens. He started off by telling us about the inner workings at Burlington and also introduced his assistant Jeff Lockheart. Dean went on to tell us about the course and could not have said anything negative about the place. He was a great host. We then started out onto the golf course. We walked a short distance to a couple of tall silver maples. Here Dean and Jeff went on about their tree removal plan where they plan to remove over 300 trees. They also explained how these big trees can take away from the turf because they produce to much shade so the grass cant get the sunlight that it needs. However even tho they were taking out over 300 trees they had already started planting new trees for the next generation. After talking about the trees we headed down the fairway a little bit to see part of their 1.4 million dollar bunker and cart path renovations. It seemed to be alot of work that they have planned for the next three years, but they are moving along quite well, and the money that is going to be put into the project is going to be completely worth it. We headed back towards the bus, making a stop at the shop. The shop was extremely nice, equipped with a mixing room, two bay garage, and even an indoor wash pad. I really enjoyed every minute of this trip because I was able to learn so much from Dean and Jeff. They both had some great advice and new ideas that I will carry with me throughout my career.

Joe Atkinson




(below View of the skyway bridge from the Club house)