Grounds Crew Winter Update

Time to ramp up the blog again as my weekly newsletter post has ended for the year. Our turf is mostly covered throughout the golf course, equipment is coming in the warm shop for service, and preparations for the 2022 golf season have begun. In early November right after the course closed, we were able to rent a boom for three days to limb up trees around the property. Most of the limbing occured on 4,6,9,13, and 14. We hauled many loads and created new golf shots out on the course. We removed a few ash trees that were either in the wrong location, had many broken limbs, or were growing into another healthy tree. We do have a few more to remove that we will wrap up this winter or in the spring. Tran and I also spent a few days in December limbing trees between holes 1 and 2.

During the same time, Gowan Construction completed a repair on the bank on the left side of #3 tee box. This bank has been a concern for a few years after the past two spring floods. We were about a foot away from losing the entire front part of the tee box. Gowan came in and removed the topsoil from the area, pushed up all of the slipped soil from down below to the top of the bank and packed it in a few directions. They then put the topsoil back down over top. We will be working with a few agencies this spring about what types of plants to put in this area to hopefully create a more sturdy bank.

Our new mechanic, Obie, has gotten a good start on equipment this month. He has serviced our small utility gators, Bobcat tractor, Kubota skid steer and tractor, our large utility gators, and our newer Toro large area rough mower. Most of these require us to change the oil and filter, hydraulic oil and filter, air filters, fuel filters, spark plugs, and fuel/water separators. Obie also goes through the entire machine checking for loose or broken parts and bearings, worn belts, and tightening any loose lug nuts or bolts. He inspects brake pads or drums, hydraulic hoses, and cleans out any radiators. All of these services help keep our equipment running longer and in the shop less during the golf season. Our new smaller utility Toro carts should be arriving in January or February. Tran and I have been busy in the maintenance shop cleaning and organizing from a long golf season that we just wrapped up. We are always trying to find ways to organize our tools, grounds equipment tools, and equipment parts in a better way with the size of our shop. For example, our chainsaws have been sitting on a bench taking up unnecessary space, so we used some old 2x4's and a few brackets and got them off of a bench and on the wall. We also have spent some time refinishing the floors in our breakroom and bathroom. The old stick on tiles had seen their better days, so we pulled those up and completed an epoxy garage-type flooring in these rooms.

We have also started to refinish many of our course accessories. We will sand, stain, paint, and poly all of our course accessories so that they last another golf season. Lastly, I went out for a walk earlier this week to check the status of our snow cover and our turfgrass. I was pleased that on most greens, we have 3-4" of snow cover, and most importantly, no ice. Some greens have drifts of 1-2 feet, and there are very few areas of bare turf. Hopefully we receive a few more snow falls here before the real cold sets in so that all of our turf is covered and insulated for the winter months ahead. I also spent some time trimming the bushes along holes 4 and 12.

Stay warm and enjoy the holidays!

Mid-winter golf course and equipment update

Tran and I have been busy in the shop this winter preparing all of our equipment for this upcoming golf season. We have roughly 35 pieces of equipment to go through during this time. Each piece gets looked over thoroughly so that we minimize equipment break downs during the golf season. We will change all fluids, filters, grease every movable part and replace any broken or worn out parts. If we can catch worn out parts now before they start to wear out more or wreck other parts, we are time and money ahead. 

 

This winter we spent an extra amount of time going through our flood fighting machine. This is the Yamaha Rhino that we acquired last season. This UTV has tracks that allow us to drive on fairway and rough turfgrass without tearing it up. It has a snow pushing blade out front that pushes all of the left behind silt from the river floods. Even though tracks are built for snow, water, and mud, they still take a beating from these adventures and require a lot of maintenance. We took each of the four tracks apart in the shop and replaced all 46 wheel bearings. All 46 wheels are essential to the movement of the actual track. We then tensioned each track properly. I have a lot of confidence that this machine will not need to be used this upcoming spring, but we are ready.

One of the four tracks removed from the machine.

Here is a track with just one wheel remaining.

This picture shows the bearings inside each of the 46 wheels.

Finished product of a maintained Yamaha Rhino Flood Fighting Machine.

The maintenance on our fairway, greens, tees, and rough mowers has mostly been normal compared to most winters. Last winter we tore down the decks on our large area rough mower to the bare metal. That procedure proved to be effective as the decks still function and look as great as they did last spring after we put it all back together. We pulled out all of the radiators on these machines and had them pressure washed and pressure tested to make sure they are performing at their best for next season. We changed all of the hydraulic fluids and filters and put a sharp edge on all of the cutting units. 

Lastec rough mower radiator before cleaning.

Same radiator after steam cleaned, resoldered, and painted.

Here is the radiator put back into our Lastec rough mower. These machines run much better when they can breathe. 

 

We will spend most of February refurbishing all of our tee markers and range accessories. We will also be designing and building new garbage cans for the golf course. 

New range ball holders

I have been able to walk the course at least one day a week for the past month or so and am pleased with the weather that we’ve had so far this winter. The greens only have 4-6” of snow on most of them, with a few having some 12" drifts, but we have only had about one week of frigid below zero temperatures. There also isn’t any ice accumulation on the greens, which is also a positive note. The NWS just came out with the first flood forecast for this spring and it looks great. With very dry conditions this fall and so far little snow this winter, the chances for major flooding is well below 50%. We will continue to monitor the forecast and hope for a year off of any spring flooding.

12 Green fully covered with snow with larger drifts in back from the snowfence

13 Green covered with about 4" of snow