Monday, December 23, 2013

Chipping

We also have been chipping debris around the course the past few weeks. It's amazing to me how much growth tends to grow over the course in a short amount of time.


Rainfall stats

Well it looks like the last week of the year is going to be cold and dry. The forecast through New Year's Day looks dry, so I'll recap this years rainfall. Year to date we have had 98" or 8' of rain. This past weekend we ended up with 5.2" and a total for the month of December of 13". The wettest months were January at 15.2",April at 10.1" July at 19.1" and December at 13". It rained 19 days in July . The driest months were May/September both at 3.6" and October at only 2". A drive around the course today greeted me with an abundance of raging water at our waterfalls. Also, a flock of turkey's were on the 14th approach.






Friday, December 20, 2013

Waxing the last piece

Our topdresser was the last piece of equipment to be waxed before winter. Over the next few months, we will be painting our Massey ferguson tractor and updating some much needed parts. More on that later.

Dead oak

This big oak had died over the summer and was a concern of mine that it might fall during golfing season. The entire center was hollow. If any one is interested in fire wood for the season, we have some for sale. This money will be used to buy the crew lunches.



Club house work

This week we have been painting the trim on the club house. This is a huge savings to the club as we are using the golf maintenance staff. Also, we received a truck load of new trees to be installed around the club house grounds. These should all be installed by next week.




Wednesday, December 11, 2013

New native area

We are prepping this area to the right of #5 green for next spring. With some brush cutting and bush hogging, next spring this will become a native grass area. Before it was just a bunch of briars.


Tree work continues

Today we finished limbing up the pines on #10 and some lower branches on #16. John has been getting a work out the last month climbing trees. Just 2 more weeks and then we can take a few days off to enjoy the holidays.




Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Rainfall

We had 5" of rain last week putting us over 90" for the year. The water falls are bursting around the course.

Weekly update

Last week we were able to mow greens, tees and some fairways before the rain came. We also pressure washed the shop floor and the rest of the turf equipment. We also took down the dead oak on #1.

Winter repair of equipment

We have started to change all the oil in the mowers as well as grinding of reels and bed knives. This will keep Irvin busy through the winter and allowing us to be ready to mow come spring time.

This week on the course

We have been removing leaves around the course as well as cutting some dead trees. We have also started to limb up the pines on the right of #10 fairway.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Carolina's superintendents conference

This week I attended the conference in myrtle beach for education and trade show. Check the picture out below of the goosinator. Asking price, $3500.00. I think we will continue with the permits .

Topdressing tees

We have started to put sand down on all of the tees. Topdressing is very beneficial to diluting organic material as well as firming the surface. In a couple of weeks we will repeat this process.


Bedtime

This week we have been pressure washing and waxing all of out turf equipment, getting it ready for a long winters nap. We take great pride in our mowers and want them to last a long time. Come spring time they are ready to mow grass. In the next few months we will be doing all oil changes as well as grinding the reels. More on that later.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Dead trees

This week on the course we are taking a few pine trees down that died over the summer. We will also be taking down a few oaks that died as well over the winter.


Stump removal

We have rented a stump grinder this week to grind up 12 stumps on the course. This is part of our detail list of things to get done over the winter .

Cold weather

We have a few nights of cold air upon us. The whether today greeted us with an amazing sunset.