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