Early Winter Update

 Even though the calendar and thermometer are looking more like winter, fall is still hanging on. The oak trees are still holding on to many of their leaves (called marcescent foliage) and are slowly letting them go. This, coupled with the November ice storm cleanup, has gotten us behind on leaf removal. Now that the ice damage is cleared we are all hands, and mowers, on deck for leaf cleanup. There are many areas where the leaves are pilled up so high, and the ground is so wet, that we have to manually remove them instead of chopping them with the mowers. However, we are making progress and, weather permitting, we should have most of the areas cleaned up in the next couple of weeks. Also, the ice storm has left us with a lot of firewood and if anyone is interested, in free firewood, we have it stacked by the grounds building on #18 cart path.

Manual removal of a leaf pile

Oaks with marcescent foliage

Our new Bobcat helping us with debris/leaf removal

Free firewood 

 We were, also, able to get the irrigation system winterized earlier this month. Blowing out the system is a necessity for the winter so that we do not have any pipes that freeze and crack and leave us with a big problem when we need the water in the spring. This was accomplished with the help of Leibold irrigation who hooked up an air compressor to our pump station and we were then able to manually blow out each individual head on the course and winterize the pump station.

Blowing out irrigation heads

  On the equipment side, our head mechanic Jim Hessel and the assistant mechanics, are hard at work beginning to get the annual winter maintenance on all our equipment underway. There is a different degree of maintenance required for different units depending upon their usage. Some of this maintenance includes:

• The grinding/sharpening of all the walking and riding reel mowers
• Rebuilding the bearings and seals on all of the reel mowers
• Grinding of bednives to aid in the reel-to-bednife relationship to achieve optimal mowing results
• Pressure washing of all the grounds equipment
• Greasing of all the mowers
• Oil changes on all riding equipment

All of this winter mechanical maintenance takes the majority of the winter months to accomplish and is a crucial part in maintaining a quality golf course.

Walking greens mower on the Accu-Pro grinding machine

  Once the leaf removal is accomplished we will begin our winter projects such as tree pruning/removal, new landscape bed designs, bunker drainage work, snow removal on the parking lot as needed, and attending horticulture/turf seminars to keep up to date with education credits and the new technology/ideas of industry professionals.

On behalf of everyone on the Grounds Crew, we would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Brad Piecuch

Assistant Superintendent/Horticulturist