Great Weather = Great Progress

With the great weather that we have been having we have also made great progress. This past week the irrigation crew completed a significant amount of difficult work. They completed irrigating hole #5. They also completed 2 road crossings. The first crossing was from #4 green to the circle outside the entrance to the Inn where the flagpole stands and the second was from the Inn entrance over to the croquet court. That completes all of the road crossings needed for the irrigation project. The irrigation crew also tied into the old pump station at #5 tee. Below is a picture of the crew making the connection with the old pump station.

The Spence Golf crew also made significant progress. #11 green was stripped, cored, drained, and mixed. The crew began sodding the green on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately rain and incoming storms prevented them from finishing but the sod work is 75% complete and will be finished on Monday.

Our crew has also been extremely busy. The past few weeks we have been working hard at repairing the irrigation trenches. We rake the trench to prepare the soil for seeding, then seed and cover them with mulch mat to enhance germination. This process is quite time consuming but worth the effort in the long run. We also aerified all of our greens and tees this week. We began topdressing all of the aerified areas and will complete this task next week.

 As you can see we have all been extremely busy. This coming week the irrigation crew will be working on hole #4. The Spence crew will finish #11 green and then move over to #7 to complete the drainage work and #3 to finish the back tee.

#13 Green Complete

Despite some rainy weather toward the end of the week, the Spence crew has completed #13 green. Thursday and Friday were especially difficult with some on and off showers to finish things up. On a positive note, the showers have been good for keeping the sod moist in these warmer temperatures.

#13 Drainage Installation

#13 Greensmix Installation

#13 Green Sodded

The irrigation crew has also made nice progress despite the rain. Hole #6 is completed and they are currently working on #5. They completed the road crossing from #5 Tee to #4 Green.

If weather cooperates, both crews should only require another 2-3 weeks of work before they are complete. The Spence crew will be working on #11 green this week and then they will finish the drainage work on #7. The irrigation crew will be working on finishing #5, the Inn front entrance, the croquet court and the road crossings required for those areas. After that they will have holes #4 and #3 to complete their installation. After that they will finish wiring all of the satellite boxes and making all final adjustments to the sprinklers.









#9 Green Complete

We have had some great weather so far this spring for our project. The irrigation crew has three more holes to complete (#3, #4, and #5 along with the croquet court.) The Spence crew is currently working on #13 green. I will keep you posted on progress there. After #13, we will rebuild #11 and that will be all of the greens that we take on this spring, leaving 7 greens to complete next fall. #9 green was sodded on Saturday afternoon. Below are some pictures of the process on #9.

Winter Work

In the past I have been asked the question, "What exactly is it that you do in the middle of winter?" While our members may not see the work being done, there is usually quite a bit that gets accomplished in the winter months. Most of my crew only works from March through November. During the months of December, January, and February there are only 5 full-time golf course maintenance employees, myself included. During these months we stay pretty busy.

The first thing that we work on is all of the course accessories. All of the natural wooden items such as divot boxes and flagsticks are all sanded and restained. The green wooden items such as coolers and trash cans are cleaned and restained with a special green stain. All other items such as benches, ballwashers, tee markers, buckets, and hazard stakes are sanded and repainted to look new every year.

The other important project that we take on is equipment maintenance. This not only includes golf course maintenance equipment but also grounds maintenance equipment and club vehicles as well. The 14 club vehicles all get serviced with oil changes, new air filters, tire rotations, and any other repairs that are needed. The golf and grounds equipment starts off by being pressure washed and then gets a thorough inspection and preventative maintenance such as oil and filter changes, hydraulic oil and filter changes, air filter inspections, greasing, and any other required repairs.

The cutting units go through a time consuming process called grinding. The process of grinding is what sharpens the blades of the cutting units, both the reels and the bedknives. With five individual cutting units per fairway mower, three per triplex mower, and all of our walking mowers we have quite a bit of work to do. In total we have 41 individual cutting units to grind!

As you can see, a lot of behind the scenes work is done before and after the season. I hope this helps you to know what we do in the winter!

On another note, Kris Spence's crew returned this past week and began working on completing the greens that are scheduled for this phase of our restoration process. Now that things are gearing up again, I will update more frequently. Stay tuned for updates!