Winter Tasks

As we enter into the Holiday season the winter work continues.  Weather has been somewhat mild throughout December as well as through November, quite unusual for the Chicagoland area.  Usually by this time of year we've had some substantial snows as well as some very cool days.  Turf seems to be dormant but these warmer days have me wondering what the turf physiology is doing, if it's thinking that wake up should be initiated or stay asleep.  Mr. Strauss called me the other day and asked what the mild weathers impact was on the course, good or bad.  As I told him my concern would be if the turf actually did start to initiate wake up and then we were hit with freezing cold temperatures that would create some shock.  This time of year we usually have frost in the ground and soil temperatures are quite low, yesterday I measured temperatures under the covers on the greens and we still had soil temps in the mid 40's.  My hope is that we'll get a bit of a blanket of snow down on the ground before we get into the single digit temperatures so there is more of an insulation over the golf course before a hard freeze.

Anyway, as the weather continues so does our work.  We have been outside doing some work as the temperatures have been mild.  The last few days we've been out doing some drainage work as we had some areas holding water and not draining through the tile that was there.  Using our root rodder we pulled a great deal of roots from the pipes we ran it through, again one complication trees create on a golf course.  We continue to find more and more pipe that is damaged or compromised by roots from trees thus inhibiting the drainage that should be taking place.  Maintenance on equipment continues and is moving along.  Haven't gotten into to big of jobs yet but we have some ahead of us.  We recently just went through our small greens sprayer and revamped it to hopefully get it through this season before a new one is requested.  This is probably one the most important pieces of equipment in our fleet which is now 10 years old.  Each piece of equipment has been washed and soon to be detailed as we wrap up the tee and green accessory refinishing.  Refinishing tasks are going great.  Our hopes of reducing the amount of detail and time has panned out.  Prior years a great deal of time was placed painting the wooden yardage and maps for the holes, benches, ballwashers, trash cans, and tee markers.  Since my arrival we've replaced alot of the accesorries that are made from a type of durable material call Rinowood.  So far we've replaced the wood on the benches, tee markers, and trash cans with this material and it has cut the time needed to refinish substantially.  All that is needed now is a quick sanding and then wipe with some oil/varnish to protect and make look good.  They also give a more natural look.  We've also replaced the old wooden hole markers with the bronze plaques that are placed in the tees and those take little to no time at all to refinish. 
Guys are taking the earned and much needed vacations.  Over the winter we keep 7 guys on staff including myself, Moe, and Nathan.  We all pitch in to get all winter tasks complete but also with snow removal at the clubhouse.  At all times we have 2 bodies available for snow detail if needed, and so far that has been very limited this winter.  I'm sure at some point we'll have to make up for that.  We'll continue to push along through our winter maintenance tasks but also get some work done outside on days that allow.  Hope everyone is well and enjoying the winter.  Here are some photos of some work that was being done today:

Moe doing maintenance on one of the utility carts.  Normal maintenance includes changing all filters, lubricants, and greasing moving parts.  We've also been checking all bolts etc... as BCC has some rough terrain and things get shaken loose or broken over the years and some of these carts are pushing 8-10 years old.

Cuco and Nathan refinishing tee markers.  First they have been lightly sanding them down, painting the tee color designation, then a quick application of oil/varnish.

Photo shows in the foreground a tee marker after it has been sanded lightly and in the background ones that have been oiled/varnished.

Tee markers having the color designation painted on them.