The Change of Seasons

Lately we've been on a bit of a roller coaster with Mother Nature.  She continues to scatter in some gorgeous days but also some ugly ones.  Yesterday it was definately a late fall day as the air temperature was below 50 and the winds were above 30mph.  I was happy to see the high winds though as a great deal of trees are still holding leaves on tight.  I think the leaves are still holding on so well since we really haven't had that heavy, heavy frost to get them to detach from the branch.  Next week will be a busy week full of leaf blowing and mulching, weeks prior we haven't really had many to take care of. 

15 Green.  Bunkers completed with the approach and green looking tremendous

Our crew continues to get small as guys are laid off for winter.  By the end of this month we will be down to our winter staff.  This winter we'll keep 7 guys on including myself, Moe, and Nathan.  We have a great deal of equipment work to take care of as the last few seasons have been tough on the machinery.  A thorough inspection will be done each to piece to help prevent any major issues next season but also give us an idea of what pieces are needing to be replaced.  3 seasons ago we did a big equipment purchase which involved machines for mowing rough but then mostly cultural practice equipment like, aerifiers, topdressers, and groomers.  This next purchase we will be looking to replace some specialty equipment like, sprayers, rollers, trenchers, as well as some of our high use equipment like fairway mowers.  It's a vicious cycle to replace equipment but it needs done as the equipment is put through some significant wear and tear.  Other winter tasks needing done are the refinishing of all course accessories like benches, trash cans, ball washers, tee marks, etc...  Since joining Briarwood we've been slowly replacing these accessories with new more easily maintained materials.  I don't foresee these taking a whole lot of time but that is good as we do have a good deal of outside work to accomplish over the winter when we can get outside.  Other than those labor tasks, winter is a big time of season for furthering education seminars and trade shows.  Our local association offers different workshops and education events to keep us up to date on new research as well as new products. 

We continue to progress with work outside on the golf course.  The bunker project has now wrapped up with just some cleanup to still take place.  I'm very thankful for getting started when we did as I don't think we would have been able to finish if we had waited till mid September as we had first discussed.  They have performed tremendously in all the rains we've received.  Very minimal amounts of sand have washed, most of these areas are from surface drainage entering the bunker.  These spots will be fixed by altering around the area of the bunker to force water around instead of inside the bunkers.  Greens continue to push along.  We've been utilizing covers off and on during spells of cold air.  Continued monitoring of the extended forecast is done, if we see good growing days ahead we'll utilize covers to keep the plant active.  Looking this morning though, after covers are removed on Monday they will remain off as the temperatures look to be falling and this will help harden the plant off prior to winter.  As I've said before I'm happy with where we stand.  There is still some growth to take place to get things completely 100% but we are very close.  The time we have in the spring will be ample enough to address any areas needing special attention and have great putting surfaces come that Memorial Day weekend.