Thoughts from the Floor

Now that winter is really here, it is time to start the winter maintenance schedule. Even though the wood cutting crew is off for Thanksgiving Week(aka deer hunting), my work load is focused on servicing the 50 golf cars we lease. It turns into an assembly line of work which isn't necessarily a bad thing as I get to do some thinking as I lie on the floor dropping the oil into a pan. Each car gets washed, inspected for any damage and worn parts, new filter and oil, fuel stabilizer added, inspect and adjust the belts and battery, and finally air up the tires and driven to the Lion's Shelter for storage. I repeat this in groups of 5 as this is all the space the shop allows.

The other thing that I am doing is assessing the quality of each of our cars. Our lease is up at the end of 2015 and we may want to consider purchasing some.This would reduce the number of cars we need to lease and help in our cash flow as we service our customer.                                                               The good thing about assembly line work, it allows me to think about the upcoming year. There are more than a few areas that I would like to improve not only the quality of playing surfaces but the presentation too. Yes, ultimately it comes down what we can afford to spend. But that is the opportunity I enjoy to work on. The areas the come to mind while I lay on the floor(no I'm not sleeping/dreaming) include stepping up the greens maintenance with topdressing and verticutting, applying some timely fairway products to improve the infiltration and appearance, and some more detail work on bunkers and cart paths.

Everyone, have a great Thanksgiving!

T-I-M-B-E-R

The trees are finally coming down. The tree crew started on Monday near the 5th green and began removing the red marked trees. The process is to cut the tree down, cut it in 8' lengths for firewood, stack it to be removed later, and then stack the tops for burning.

The brush pile is already burning and we will try to keep up with the cutters. We also have our brush pile by 9 tee to burn. The cutters will work through Thursday. They should be able to remove the 96 trees from 5 green back to the tee. Remember, most of these trees are small in nature and effecting the growth of others in addition to any shade issues, play ability concerns, or for tree health. If the weather holds, we may be able to start the area between holes 4 & 6. Next week is deer hunting so no cutting. Work will resume again the first week of December.

90 people reached

Two More Things

Late last week while we were able to get around, the staff completed 2 more items. The first was to take the trencher and do some "root pruning" along the right side of the 5th hole. The root encroachment takes away the ability of the turf to take in proper nutrients and water. By severing the roots, this will allow the turf a chance to adapt in this environment. There is still a major shade issue that will be addressed in the near future.

The second area was to clean up the blue trap rock to the left of the 7th fairway above the 14th green. We removed the rock and added a catch basin. This will allow any surface water to enter freely and the ability to mow over this area without hindrance

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At it Again

Now that the season is officially over, I can get caught up on a few blogs that need to be sent out. Before the snow began falling, the staff was once again able to install some more drainage. We were able to complete the area on top of 15 fairway adjacent to the foreword tee. As we were installing the system, it was evident of the several different layers that were holding the water in the upper profile. With the drain tile added, we are now able to divert a lot of surface water from this area away from the 14th fairway.

The other area we were able to complete was the 9th fairway. Last year, we only were able to add a catch basin the very lowest part of the fairway. This year, we continued across the fairway to the other side, At that area, we installed another catch basin and then proceeded to install a tile up toward the tee and also a tile around the left and behind of the green. This will enable to catch a lot of surface water before it gets to the fairway.

WOW It Happens

On Wednesday evening, a storm blew through Luck and unfortunately, we lost some trees. My last count was 43. We are still assessing the tree damage as there may be a few more that need to come down. Clean up began on Thursday and we were able to once again get some "Senior Muscle" to help. We rented a wood chipper and have begun the brush removal. There is still some scattered branches that will be eventually removed. The mess delayed mowing for the weekend so the fairways and roughs will be a tad long. The good news is that no playing surfaces were hit. By this time next week, we should be all done cleaning up and beginning to prepare for the onslaught of winter.

Unfortunately, this old pine by 12 green will have to go.

The Good, Bad, and Ugly

Boy, it's been awhile since I last posted. A lot of things have happened since early July which are good, bad, ugly.

The good is that the drainage project is just about wrapped up. The picture the area between 4 and 5 where we tied the tiles from 6 and 4 together and ended them out at a drain basin. The washout area was filled in and reseeded so next year we will be able to mow this area. We took out 4 trees here to complete the process. This is a sign of things to come as we will embark on a tree removal program late this fall.

The bad was this bear that kept visiting our dumpster in July. He was pretty much a nuisance by scattering the garbage bags below the dumpster and feeding to his hearts content. We finally called the DNR to move the animal and after a few nights of using their bait without success, we switched to Van Meters' brats and hot dogs and within a few hours, we got him. He was moved to an undisclosed location(near the Minnesota border) and everyone is happy.

The ugly just occurred this week.Whenever power equipment is used to maintain fine turf, the inevitable is bound to happen. Hydraulic hoses will eventually fail and sometimes not noticed right away. There is some damage on greens 4, 6, and 14. How much? Hard to tell yet. Some of it may grow out, other areas may we have to plug in new sod. Not a fun chore but it happens and we will take care of it.

Final Push

Once again, "Senior Muscle" to the rescue! On Thursday of this past week, my staff and the dozen or so volunteers laid 900 yards of sod of bluegrass sod in all of the areas outside of the fairways. Sod was delivered the day before and by 9:30 the next morning is was all down.

Last week I mentioned we moved sod from 15 fairway to all the drainage areas in all the other fairways. We then had to remove sod from 10 to fill in the low areas on 15.

We are still a few pallets short of completing the project. The plan is to get it completed this week. There are a few minor blemishes to correct on the fairways and connecting 2 tile lines together between 4 and 5. With that done, discussions are already underway for what's next.