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!

December 4 Update

I'm sorry that it has been a few weeks since my last update. Since my last update, here is what has been finished.
1. #12 green and irrigation have been completed. Below is a picture of #12 green.

2. #10 green has also been completed. Kris' crew worked on Thanksgiving to get the green sodded due to the fact that we had rain earlier in the week. Below are some of the process pictures and the finished product.

Despite the fact that we have had a great, warm fall to work on our project, we all know that cold weather is just around the corner. We have decided to stop working on greens at this point to limit our risk with the sod going into winter. We will complete our final 2 greens (#11 and #13) in the spring when weather permits. This decision was made the week before Thanksgiving. I'm glad that we made that choice because we had our first snowfall of the year earlier this week! If there is one thing I have learned in my 4 years here at Roaring Gap, it is that we always seem to get snowfall before December 15.

In an effort to continue to be productive, Kris' crew has begun working on the drainage project on #7 fairway. This was originally planned for the spring but we decided to move forward while the weather was cooperating. It won't be completed until the spring, but it does give us a head start which is always beneficial.

                                                      Drainage in front of #7 Green.

Above is a picture of the gravel bed over the drain tiles. This is installed over the whole drainage area to accommodate the springs that occur on this hole. Over time, springs may move where they rise to the surface. By placing the gravel bed, if a spring moves, the water will rise to the gravel and move to the drain tiles instead of rising completely to the surface. This will provide a firmer playing surface which is much needed on this hole.

                                                    Low spot on the left of #7 fairway.
Below is a picture of the old terra cotta drain pipes that have caused some of the problems on #7. Over time the original tar paper that was used to hold the sections of pipe together has degraded. This has caused a separation between the tiles which is one of the primary causes of the sinkholes in the fairway. Part of the work being done is to remove the terra cotta pipes that are found to try to fix this problem. Some of the sinkholes are also caused by springs, so our hope is that by performing all of this work, we can remedy a great deal of our problems on #7.

Most of our work for the fall will be wrapping up within the next two weeks. I will try to post one more time to let you know when the work will be stopping before picking back up in the spring.

November 13 Update

Once again the weather this week has cooperated nicely. The irrigation crew had a busy week working on hole #1 and the driving range. #1 took some extra work due to the fact that they had to install the main line to attach to the pump station along with the lines which contain the sprinkler heads.

                                           The wider trench on the right is the main line.

                                    Main line and necessary valves at the pump station connection.

                                                   Irrigation lines on the driving range.
Kris' crew continued working hard on the green project as well. The back tee on #3 has not been finished because the soil is still drying and settling. It is important to let it dry out and compact so that it is firm after completion. The rest of #2 surround has been sodded. I think everybody will be pleased with the tie-in, especially behind the green leading to #3 tee. As you can see in the picture below, it flows together nicely.

After the sod work at #2 and #3, Kris' crew moved over to work on #10 and #12 greens. Both greens are in various stages of completion. #12 green has been cored out, drained, and the mix has been installed. The irrigation was looped around the green on Saturday. This green still needs the final float to be completed, but I anticipate that they will be sodding the green by Tuesday or Wednesday if the weather cooperates.

                                                                      #12 Drainage

                                                              Adding green mix to #12.

In the picture above, you can see #10 green being cored out. You can also see the left edge of the green as it is being rebuilt in comparison to where the existing green is located. The gray looking area is where the sod was removed from.

We applied a heavy topdressing to greens 14-18 this week. This topdressing serves a few purposes. First it will help to smooth out the sod as the grass grows through it in the spring. Secondly it helps to protect the grass plants by covering the main growing points (crowns) heading into winter. Covering the crowns helps to protect the plant from drying winds during the winter.

                                                       Dragging in the sand topdressing.

Busy Week

We have had another incredibly productive week here at the club. Our new pump stations arrived on Monday. The main pump was placed in the pumphouse at the lake and the booster was placed in the building on #1.

                                                      Unloading the pump stations.

                                                      New pump station at the lake.

                                                      Installing the booster station at #1.
Along with the pump stations being installed, we completed two big road crossings for the irrigation system. The irrigation line crosses from #1 tees over toward #9 green and also from #1 green over to #2 tees. Both of these crossings required an outside boring contractor to come in to complete the work due to the size of the sleeve. Below is a picture of the process going from #2 tee to #1 green.

While all of the irrigation work was going on, Kris' crew was hard at work on #2 green and #3 tee complex. #2 green has been completed and sodded. The tees for #3 require a bit more work as do the surrounds to make everything blend in together but it should all be completed within the next few days.

Below is a picture of #3 tee. If you look behind the tee, you can see the shape of the new back tee that has been added. It's hard to show because of the shade but I assure you it's there!Stay tuned for additional pictures as they finish the tee and surround.