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Kinipela GC is the name I came up with for the backyard putting green. I wanted to involve my wife, but she doesn't golf and could care less about turf. After 6 months of coming up with nothing, I remember what Jennifer's name was in Hawaiian - Kinipela. We had a great time when we were there and it seem to fit the turf project at home.

When I first came out of my turf program from college and started working at Olympic View GC the golfers were complaining about conditions after we aerated our greens, yet it was very important for the health of the green that we punch. When the golfer is yapping away about the bumpy putting surface after we punch, it was hard at that point to tell them the benefits of what were doing to the greens. I often thought that there had to be a better way of communicating to the golfing public. A website was the way to go, people could surf the site at home to get a better understanding of putting green construction. I didn't want to charge people for the info, chase them away - no good. I thought what do guys like (among other things) free stuff and lots of pictures of construction. At the time I couldn't find complete info on green construction on the web unless you sent money in for their manual.

So that's how the website was born, it has two main functions, # 1 - To show how to build a green, tee, and sod wall bunker to the people that want to build. # 2 - To create a better understanding for the golfer or green committee person of what's involved. Open their eyes to our responsibility, passion and level of care. I keep saying that turf is a living breathing plant, you just don't throw a little fert, water and then cut and that's it, there is much more.

For the most part the message is getting out, Kinipela GC has been in a few turf magazines and that helps to spread the word. The RCGA and the USGA have given thumbs up on what I have done. I'm just about finished adding a new thread to the site. "Turfgrass Cultural Practices". Lots more pictures with writing to create a clear understanding of what a aerator, deep tine, verti - groomer, topdressing, ect are.

We get our share of rain in the wintertime, but it's not as bad as everyone says. Last summer we went 2.5 months with no rain, and in that stretch we had 3 weeks of temp's in the 30c. It's hard to keep turf looking healthy and not stressed when that happens. It seems that the last few years our climate is changing here in Victoria, less rain, longer periods of hot temps in the summertime. Even our winters are getting more mild, today was 13c with a light drizzle. It's been like that for most of Nov & Dec, we rarely get snow.