Happenings lately

The past couple weeks we have been able to get a lot of work done out on the golf course.  We started taking down trees that were scheduled to be removed this winter.  We've been able to get to a few of the trees that were damaged in the storm this summer, taken down a few of the dying Ash trees and the 2 Spruce that were damaged by lightening on #17 have been removed.

The 2 Spruce on both sides of #17 approach.  Both were dying due to a lightening strike a few years ago.

We have also been trimming and limbing up all the trees on the property.  We have trimmed almost half of the trees already and will continued to go around the property looking at every tree.

#16 looks like a war zone right now.  There are a few limbs waiting to be picked up.

Today we topdressed all the greens.  This will give the green a protective blanket over the winter.  The sand will help cover the crown of the plant and aid in preventing winter injury.  In the spring the sand will be dragged into the canopy and will help smooth the green out before we open.

Course closing

Friday, December 14th will be the last that the greens will be open.  With rain scheduled for this coming weekend and the temperature dropping after that - winter is finally approaching.  We will be putting flags out in some of the approaches for the winter.  If the weather does turn and give us some decent playing temperatures over the winter, feel free to grab your clubs and take a walk.  We do ask that you stay off the greens until we open them back up in the Spring.

Firewood

As I have mentioned in the past - a lot of the trees we trim up or remove throughout the year are cut up and split into firewood.  This wood is then sold and delivered to the members that would like to burn wood in their fireplaces over the winter.  I'm sure you have not forgotten the storm on June 29, I haven't.  This storm gave us an ample supply of wood that needed to be split.  I am happy to say, not kidding - I mean Really Happy, that all of the wood we had stacked along #6 is cut and split.  It only took 5 months!

I'll bet this pile will last into next winter.

This is where it came from:

12 Ladies tee

This week we were able to spend some time on 12 ladies tee.  The tee dropped down on the right side which made half of the tee unusable.  We tore off the sod, added soil and layed the sod back down.  Next spring we will topdress it with sand to fill in any cracks and level out any of the imperfections.

Taking the sod off the right side of the tee.

You can see that the turf on the right side of the tee was about 6" lower than it should have been.

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After the sod was laid back down.  It is hard to see on a picture, the right side was raised about 6".

Goose repellent

During the summer we used mono-filament line around to the river to deter geese from coming up the river banks and feeding on the golf course.  This worked very well during the summer months.  Over the course of the fall the geese starting flying over the line.  We took the line down to prevent a big mess in the event we had a flood this winter, so we needed something else to deter the geese.  Enter our 24/7 guard dogs:

I have seen these before and have heard they work if you keep moving them.  This particular brand was brought to my attention by one of our members.  This silhouette will spin and wobble in the wind, tricking the geese into thinking it is a live dog.  If we keep moving them around the area (every 2 days), the geese won't realize that they are not real dogs.  We have put up 3 of them around holes 8 and 9.

Range tee project

Earlier this fall, we tore out the fence between the range tee and the chipping practice area.  Throughout the fall we have been adding soil to the once practice bunker on top of the range tee.  Today we finished adding soil to this area.  We will let this settle out through the winter, regrade it next spring and then seed it into the same grass on the range tee.  This area will be an extension of the range tee and will be most widely used as another hitting location during outings.

Irrigation pumps

Last Monday, we had our irrigation pumps pulled up and sent to Toledo to get one of them rebuilt and the other pump replaced.  The pumps were installed in 2001, one of the pumps was replaced in 2006, the other pump has yet to be rebuilt or replaced.  We were starting to see the effects of the older pump wearing down.  We should be able to pump 1200 GPM, we were only able to pump 900 GPM.  This wear on the pumps is caused by the silt and sand that comes through the pumps.  The rebuilt/replaced pumps will have a dirty water kit on them to help combat excessive wear.

First step was to take the 60hp motors off.

The motors will be stored up on the service path for the winter.

We had a local company do the crane work.  We needed all the length they could get.  This spot on the lawn is the only access point to the pumps via crane.

The motors are 600lbs a piece and the pumps are 1000lbs.  Not that heavy, but still quite a load for the reach that was required.

Pulling the first pump.

They were laid on a trailer to be sent to Toledo.

Pulling the second pump.

The pumps go down twelve feet into a wet well along the river. 

You can see which pump was replaced in 2006, this pump will be rebuilt.  The older pump will be replaced.

Busy morning

What we accomplished today:

Mowing fairways

Hanging Christmas lights

Pulling the irrigation pumps

More on this later....

Range tee landscape bed

Last week we tore out the steps and landscape bed that was between the two driving range tees.  We will sod this area next spring.  It was removed because: 1. It wasn't used  2. It was unsightly.

This will settle over the winter.  Next spring we will level it off with more soil and then sod it.

Frost projects

This morning we had heavy frost again.  Here is what we were able to accomplish:

The hedge row between the range tee and the chipping area needed to be trimmed.

We cut a good 8 feet off the hedge.

After all the debris was cleaned up, it looks great.

Then there is our staple frost job - splitting wood.  We delivered three loads of wood to members yesterday.

Rain day project

This past Monday was another rainy, cold and windy day.  We got .6" here at the course.  As stated in an earlier post, we are now into winter projects and when we can't be outside - we get things done inside. 

Our maintenance building has a room for chemical storage.  It also houses other items such as hoses, paint, rope and stake along with all our course supplies such as flags, flagsticks and tee markers.  This room needs to be kept at or above 40 degrees.  Many of the chemicals that we store can not freeze or they will lose their effectiveness.  We do have a very efficient heater in that room which does a great job at warming up the room, there was only one problem - it never stopped running.  While the walls are insulated around this room, the ceiling was not.  In fact there was not a ceiling, it was wide open up to the metal roof.  All of our heat was escaping very easily out of the building.  The past two days we put up plywood for a ceiling in this chemical room along with insulation on top of the plywood.  I went in the room this morning, usually I would find a drafty room with a the heater running.  Today I found a warm cozy room with no drafts and THE HEATER WASN'T RUNNING!

There was no ceiling, only a metal roof.  Very inefficient.

First thing we had to do was get rid of the junk stored in the rafters.

We then put up plywood and insulation.

We had to rent a lift to get the job done safely and quickly.

Finished job.  I can tell a big difference.

These types of projects are not budgeted.  Throughout the year we have been able to save money and stay under budget.  If I continue to stay under budget over the course of a season I like to tackle projects such as this.  These types of projects might not show immediate returns to the members but in the long run will only benefit the operation.  The cost of this project was relatively low compared to the savings we will see in energy costs.

Parts room

We are getting into the time of year that we are routinely getting days where we cannot perform any maintenance out on the course due to rain, wind and cold temps.  During these days all the part time seasonal help is sent home and it gives the full time employees an opportunity to start working on our typical winter projects.  Over the past few weeks on rainy days we have been spending some time on our parts room.  This little room needed a complete makeover.  We had parts to machines we haven't owned in some time and the shear volume of parts made finding what you were looking for cumbersome and inefficient.  We now have a parts room where we only have on inventory the necessary parts, they are labeled, clean and organized.

First we had to take all the parts out of the room.

It's amazing how much stuff can fit into a 8 X 10 room.

We then put up plywood on all the walls.  It was just open insulation.

Next was a nice looking coat of paint.

We spent a lot of time going through all the parts, categorizing them and throwing away the junk.

We now have a clean, organized parts room.  We can find items efficiently and we no longer have parts on inventory that we don't need.  A clean shop is a happy shop.