March is typically a wet month for us at Redwoods, and this year was definitely no exception! With the arrival of spring, the beautiful blossom of cherry trees, and the emergence of daffodils and tulips, it's hard not to get excited about a new golf season! One of the challenges our
Turfcare Team faces during the changing of the seasons are our limited ability to consistently cut grass--primarily the rough. 

Our native soil here at Redwoods is mostly clay, other than greens and tees which are both sand-based. Clay particles are very small and when clay becomes wet it has phenomenal moisture retention capabilities which isn't the most beneficial property to have. When clay becomes saturated it stays that way until the water can drain through, evaporate from the ground, and transpire from the turfgrass plants. This "drying" process can be a little difficult to attain during the West Coast Spring season we are all so used to that often features plenty of rain and cooler temperatures.

When our ground is saturated, any form of surface traffic such as regular footsteps, carts, or mowers, can cause damage to both the soil structure and the turf itself. Our Turfcare Team wants to avoid compacting the soil with the weight of the mowers at all costs. Compaction creates less space within the soil for water and oxygen to move, making it easier for the ground to become saturated with rainwater, and also leaving less space for turfgrass to grow roots. This is our main reason why we don't cut our turf as often when the ground is wet, even if we have a few sunny days in a row; we want to preserve the turf that we have and enable it to flourish during the beginning of the golfing season.

So the next time your foursome is scavenging for their golf balls in the deep rough you can explain the science behind our long grass. Enjoy the Spring golf and try to keep it in the short stuff!

-Your Redwoods Turfcare Team

 

Do you ever feel sore after your first few rounds of the season? Check out this article featuring some exercises that will help build muscle in the right areas, prevent injury and improve your game!

By Guest Blogger Josh Doornenbal, owner of EDGE Strength & Conditioning

Golf exercises have been growing in popularity over recent years as the value of fitness to golf performance becomes better understood. Here are three golf exercises related to core stability that can help you:

• Play better golf
• Protect your back
• Feel better

The three drills featured in the video teach you to resist torque and create stability while doing rotational movements with the rest of your body. With all golf exercises, we don't want to simply mimic a golf swing. If the exercise looks and feels too close to a golf swing it will do more to negatively impact your mechanics than it will to actually create strength in the right areas.

 

1. Half Kneeling Chop & Lift

What you need: A cable stack or an exercise/resistance band.

 

What to do: Fasten the resistance band to something stable and go down on one knee beside it. Keeping your shoulders and hips facing forward,
pull the band across your body and towards your chest. Then extend your arms forward away from your body. Bring the band back to chest position and then back to resting position at your side and repeat. Don't let the band pull your hips or shoulders away from facing forward.

What it does: Teaches you to keep your hips and torso strong and stable while practicing a rotational motion that is beneficial to golfers.

 

2. Side Plank with Reach

What you need: Yourself and a space on the floor.

What to do: Start in a side plank wth your elbow flat on the ground. Don't forget to try and maintain a straight line all the way from your ears to your toes. With your opposite arm reach all the way up to the ceiling--this is your starting position. From here reach your extended arm all the way infront of you and underneath your body as far as you can go while twisting your torso as demonstrated in the video and then return to the starting position. Repeat on the other side.

What it does: Teaches you to stabalize your trunck, torso, and hips against the rotational motions you encoutner in a golf swing.

 

3. Quadruped Extensions

What you need: A broomstick handle or similar.

What to do: Starting on your hands and knees balance the broomstick handle along with your back. Take your opposite arm and leg and extend them all the way out trying to get them nice and straight. From there slowly return back to the starting position and repeat on the opposite side. The broomstick will make you aware of the position of your back and help you keep it flat.

What it does: Challenges your coordination and body control. It also helps you learn to keep your back straight and flat throughout a range of movements which is integral for a good golf swing.

 

Now you have three golf exercises for core stability that help you protect your back, play better and have less soreness during and after your first few rounds of the season! If you want more stretches that go hand-in-hand with the ones you just saw go to LangleyGolfFitness.ca to download a free 4-minute stretching routine. 

 

Golfers want to shoot the best round of their life TODAY! However, it’s surprising how many golfers show up 10 minutes before their tee time, check in at the golf shop, load their clubs onto the back of the cart and then expect to rip their first tee shot right down the middle of the first fairway. How did that work out for you last time? Not well?

We asked our golf professionals at the Fletcher Cameron Golf Academy why it’s difficult to simply show up and have a fantastic first hole and they both said the same thing: warm up matters! Just a quick warm up before your round can dramatically improve your game starting right at the first tee. Golf Professional Scott Cameron says: “I have a minimum 20-minute warm-up that I do before every round of golf. Whether it’s just a round with my buddies or a tournament round, the warm-up principles remain the same.”

Here is Scott’s 20 minutes warm-up routine that he uses before playing a round of golf with his buddies:

Driving Range:

• 10 x full swing sand wedges
• 5 x three-quarter swing pitching wedges
• 5 x full swing eight irons
• 5 x full swing hybrid/five irons
• 5 x drives

Putting Green:

• 3 x 20ft putts
• 3 x 5ft putts

So next time you play the Redwoods, aim to arrive an extra 20 minutes before your round so you can test out Scott's warm up at our driving range and putting greens. Don't forget to tell us how it works for you!

The success of any restaurant starts with the people running the show, day in and day out. The Restaurant Management team here at Redwoods is an enthusiastic group of industry veterans that have a true passion for hospitality. With exactly 75 Years of restaurant experience between the 4 of them—25 of those years collectively at The Redwoods—you can quickly see why we have become known for our ability to successfully host top-notch events!

It all starts with our Executive Chef, Shane Driediger. Shane got his start washing dishes in a kitchen up in 100 Mile when he was just 13 years old. He eagerly looked forward to the chance to get on to the cooking line and start creating delicious food. At 15, he got that opportunity and proceeded to work at various casual dining restaurants and pubs around the lower mainland while in school working to earn his Red Seal as a Chef. Shane also spent some time travelling and working in places like Club Med in the Bahamas and he even appeared in a cooking show segment on the Outdoor Life Network. Eventually, Shane returned and set down some roots in Langley with a growing catering company and then he finally found his way to Redwoods in 2007. After just one season working at Redwoods, he was promoted to Executive Chef and the rest is history! He is now married, has two awesome kids and is excited to be starting his 10th season at Redwoods!

 

Even the greatest Chefs can't do it all on their own though. That's where our Sous Chef, Matt Gemmell, steps in. Matt is another industry veteran having worked in kitchens since the day he turned 15 (which was half a lifetime ago for him!). Matt has worked on everything from fast food, to casual dining, to fine dining. All of his experiences helped prepare him for the multiple areas of kitchen service at Redwoods. We offer concession food such as hot dogs and smokies, a full restaurant menu with house made burgers and other casual favourites, and we also host fully catered banquet events with items like Carved AAA Prime Rib, Chicken Marsala and Australian Lamb in a rosemary cabernet demi-glace for upwards of 200 guests. Matt is now in his 3rd season with us at Redwoods, his second as Sous Chef.

 

So we have the kitchen taken care of, but who is holding down the fort out front? Well, that would be our towering Restaurant Manager, Tim LaHay, who at 6'5", can always be spotted amongst the crowd. Tim got his start in the industry where so many other restaurant folks do: McDonald's! He got his job at a McDonalds in Aldergrove on the day he turned 15 and has spent his entire 26-year restaurant career working diligently to become a customer service specialist. Having spent time as a manager at a popular Lower Mainland steakhouse, and having played a key role in the evolution of a local start-up casual dining concept as a regional manager, Tim brings a lighthearted but professional approach to ensuring every guest has a memorable time while here for whatever experience brought them through our front doors. 2016 will be Tim's 9th season at Redwoods.

 

Filling out the management team is Laura Armstrong, our new Assistant Restaurant Manager. Laura isn’t new to Redwoods, however; she is rejoining the team after venturing off to get some experience in other areas of the industry. She started with us here in 2010 as a quiet young lady that worked in our snack shack at the 10^th tee. After 4 seasons with us, she had not only learned all of the other positions in the restaurant but she also grew into a super cheerful, confident and outgoing customer service rock star! This will be Laura’s 5th season with us and her first as a full-time manager.

There you have it. The next time you drop into the Redwoods for lunch, dinner or whatever event brings you here, come say hi to our team! They would love to meet you!

  

Western Canada Turfgrass Association demonstrates First Green "Links As Labs" program at Redwoods Golf Course.

First Green is an innovative environmental outreach program using golf courses as environmental learning labs, allowing students to perform hands-on experiments and tests, all within the focus of their school's environmental science curriculum. 

Read the full article.