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46 Members See a Variety of
Facilities
In Chaska/Shakopee Tour-on-Wheels
MSTMA held its annual Tour-on-Wheels
on August 4.
The first stop was at Shakopee
Jr. High School at 8:00 a.m.
Dale Wysocki, showcased his softball field and football
field's lush bluegrass. Shortly before 9 a.m, 46 members boarded
the bus and traveled through the old town of Chaska enroute to
the Chaska Athletic Park which was established in 1950, Hosts at
Chaska will be Tim Weibe, Public
Works Director for the City of Chaska, and Brian Jung,
public works foreman for the City of Chaska. The pair, along
with Reinders' Jeff Schmidt, talked about some trials and
tribulations they have dealt with and still deal with. Most of
the issues centered around water. Located just off the Minnesota
River, any overflow creates big time issues.
Attendees then moved on to Hazeltine
National Golf Club in Chaska where Certified Golf Course
Superintendent Jim Nicol showed the group the
improvements being made to the nationally-recognized
championship course. The group saw various stages of green
construction and seeding. Nicol explained the game plan.
Although Hazeltine will host the 2016 Ryder Cup, Nicol insisted
that the members were the one's who made the call to close the
club and deal with the issues that needed attention. It was not
a PGA decision.
Mark Erickson hosted the next stop at Canterbury Park.
Members learned about Canterbury's facilities and maintenance
practices on the grounds track and turf track. Canterbury Park
is built on 400 acres. Attendees were able to walk on the track
and check out the turf in the infield where races take place.
The turf is cut to 6 inches.
The last stop was Winter Park, practice home for the Minnesota
Vikings Football Club. Grant Davisson
showed the group the outdoor practice fields and the indoor
practice facility and the maintenance practices that go along
with each.
Reinders, Inc. sponsored a picnic-style lunch featuring
hamburgers, hot dogs, bratwursts, chips, cole slaw and more.
Other sponsors of the day included Property Props, The Tessman
Company, JRK Seed, Kromer Co., Superior Tech Products and MTI
Distributing Inc.
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 2009
Tour-on-Wheels
MSTMA held its annual Tour-on-Wheels
on July 22. Forty-eight MSTMA
members
attended the event. Members registered
and met at the University
of St. Thomas
where Coffee and donuts were provided
in the parking lot.
At 8:15 a.m. University of St. Thomas
hosts Roger Weinbrenner and Robert
Reed showed members St. Thomas’ new softball field. The group then
boarded the bus and traveled to the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank
Stadium where Mike McDonald,
Josh Graham and Andy Johnson led tours around the classic
new stadium.
The opening of TCF Bank Stadium
has made
this a fun year for University of Minnesota
Head Groundskeeper Mike
McDonald and his
assistants, Josh Graham and Andy Johnson.
Mike McDonald is a past president of the
Minnesota Sports Turf Managers
Association
and Josh Graham currently serves on the Board of Directors.
MSTMA members have taken advantage of an opportunity provided by McDonald and
the University of Minnesota to be a volunteer on the
Gopher Grounds Staff for home football games. McDonald hopes to offer
this opportunity for the 2010 season as well.
At 11:30 a.m. the bus headed for
Goosepond
Park in Oakdale where
Randy Bastyr talked
about and showed
where improvements
were made on
the
softball fields.
Attendees then went to Woodbury High School and had lunch. MSTMA President Paul Griffin talked to the group shortly after
lunch about the sodding and seeding that took place on a mammoth
project.
The well-fed group traveled to the State Capitol and looked at the
grounds. Jay Johnston talked about the way things get done around the
Capitol.
At 3:15 p.m. the group arrived at Macalester College. Jerry Nelson
hosted a tour of Macalester’s impressive inside sports facility and the
various fields outside.
The bus returned to the University of St. Thomas shortly after 4:00 p.m.
All destinations were informative and worth the trip.
THANK YOU
SPONSORS!
Special thanks
to our four sponsors of the event: Darrell Ervasti, D.
Ervasti Sales Co.; Tom Thul, The Tessman Company; Kevin Manley, JRK Seed
and All Pro Turf, and Joe Churchill, Reinders, Inc.
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