What Happens During Winter?

So what does the Grounds Department do all winter?  That’s often a question we field on a yearly basis.  I think a lot of people feel, since there is nothing to do on the course we are out of work.  That is far from reality, winter is just about as busy for us as during in season.  Over winter, staff is reduced to 7; each staff member holds certain responsibilities.  Winter responsibilities include; equipment maintenance, course accessory refinishing, snow clearing, outdoor work when necessary, planning, and education.

Mathew Cass our Equipment Manager, by far has the most important job of all.  Over winter, Matt inspects each piece of equipment.  Thorough inspections address necessary repairs, adjustments.  Grinding of all mowing equipment is the final maintenance practice complete, making them ready to go for next season.  Along with repairs, each piece of equipment is cleaned and detail thoroughly, making it look like new for the upcoming season.  We’ve been fortunate to update a great amount of our fleet over the last several years, but yearly maintenance helps keep the equipment reliable and on the golf course where it should be, rather than the shop. 

Refinishing course accessories is always a time consuming job for Jorge, Refugio, and Antonio.  Each guy gets a list of accessories he’s responsible for.  Course accessories include; trash cans, tee markers, yardage plates, traffic and hazard stakes, ball washers, greens cups, practice green sticks, along with going through all bunker rakes.  Most of all these items are refinished by sanding, staining, and painting.  Other items like bunker rakes and ball washers are looked over and repaired as needed.  Ball washers were completely refinished last season requiring less maintenance this season.  One of the biggest tasks of this winter was completely taking apart all trash cans and refurbishing metal brackets and bolts.  This is done every 3 years, this allows us to refurbish all metal pieces.

Snow duties vary from year to year; this year has not as bad as last, knock on wood.  Increased responsibility was taken on a few years ago when the paddle facility was constructed.  Snow duty used to be a weekday task, making the clubhouse accessible for staff.  Now with weekend paddle play we make sure the facility is clean for participants.  Each staff member is responsible for a weekend with 1 or 2 people on call if necessary.  Updating equipment for snow removal has been a big help over the last few years.

Lastly, a big task for management is preparation and planning.  Each year we review what has worked and what hasn’t.  Constant review of our programs allows us to build for the future.  When we plan, we have to maintain flexibility, as we never know what type of season we may encounter.  Being able to adjust our scheduling on a days, minutes, or seconds notice is always a must.  Having qualified individuals to make such decisions is key, we work together developing and discussing scenarios over winter as we plan ahead.  Along with the planning comes education.  Over winter, numerous education events are offered throughout the Chicagoland area as well as our National Convention and Tradeshow.  Each year new products and information come into the industry.  Large companies provide great support in getting that information to our minds and fingertips, only helping us make our facilities better.  This winter we will be attending the Illinois Turf Conference which is held every other year along with our National Golf Course Superintendents Association event in San Antonio, Texas. 

As one can see, the winter is not all so easy for us.  We are here all year long always preparing for the next season or event.  We’ve developed a great staff which takes great pride in their work and Briarwood Country Club, always wanting to improve on what we have.  Using winter as a time to thoroughly evaluate our equipment, accessories, planning, programs, and knowledge help keep us successful.  We hope everyone is having a good winter and now that we are in 2015 we are excited for the season to come.