Frost Damage

From fall well into spring, golfers may experience frost delays in the morning.  For those that question how much harm can occur by walking on frosty greens, just take a look at the picture of #18 green below.

Currently, deer tracks can be found on several greens.  Yes, while we can restrict human traffic during periods of frost, sometimes it is a bit more challenging to keep the local residents off the turf.

Critical Winter Work

One of the most important activities that takes place during the winter months, is readying our fleet of equipment for the upcoming season.  Often times, this is the only opportunity during the year that we will have to break things down, give every machine a through inspection, and make needed repairs.

The check list varies from one piece of equipment to another, but typically includes grinding reels, replacing blades, checking hydraulic motors, hoses, tires, bushings and bearings. For some machines, the needs will be limited to nothing more than what amounts to a "tune-up."  However, with other pieces of equipment, "overhaul" could be a more appropriate term.

Once spring arrives, it will be go-time with the fleet out on the course.  As temperatures are slowly beginning to rise, we are all looking forward to the smell of freshly mown grass!

GIS 2019

The annual Golf Industry Show took place this past week and, as always, provided a great opportunity to learn from the best in the business.  Educational sessions filled the first two days, with topics ranging from growth regulators to employee retention.

Wednesday marked the opening of the trade show, where all of the latest and greatest gadgets and gizmos were on display.  A comfortable pair of walking shoes is a must, when spending the day taking all of this in.

The variety of goods on display is wide-ranging.  For example, if you have some really big plants that need a home, they've got you covered.

As in every part of our lives, technology is rapidly evolving in the golf industry.  Drones can now fly the course, and interface with the irrigation system to assist in determining watering needs for different areas of the golf course.

GPS sprayers with accuracy to 2" are now becoming the norm instead of the exception.  Just as the concept of self-driving cars is being realized, so too is self-driving golf course maintenance equipment.

One other thing the show provides is an opportunity to catch up with our peers, and share thoughts and ideas to help improve our operations.  No doubt that the common theme among anyone in the northeast was what a terrible weather year 2018 was--and 2019 isn't starting out much better...

As the saying goes...

...One man's trash, is another man's treasure.  This statement was confirmed once again when we found some irrigation repair couplings for sale on Turfnet at a bargain price.  The club selling these is having their irrigation system replaced, and no longer has use for them.

We now have a wide selection of main line repair couplings, ranging in size from 3" to 8".  (If the leak is on a pipe larger than 8", we're turning around and going home...)  Truth be told, nobody will shed a tear if we never have to use these fittings.  However, based on history, it's likely we will be needing them at some point in the future.

Not having to run around and try to find some at a local distributor will be one less thing to worry about when we find ourselves standing at the bottom of a deep, muddy hole!

Laurel Creek Article

In case you missed it, Laurel Creek was featured in this month's issue of Club & Resort Business magazine:

How Laurel Creek CC Keeps Running Strong

What do you do in the winter?

Without fail, we are asked this question every year.  There is actually a long list of projects we tackle when the grass isn't growing.  Often this includes pruning the wetlands crossings, bridge maintenance, drainage installation, sodding, irrigation repair, and myriad other tasks.

This "off-season" we have a number of maintenance items we will be working on involving the tennis courts.  Over the years, clay from the courts builds up around the perimeter, impeding proper drainage.  Recently, the guys worked on the river stone beds between courts #1 and 2.  The river stone was raked up, hauled away, and washed.  Excess material was then removed to lower the grade, and allow the water to run freely off the courts.  Lastly, the stone was replaced.

No doubt this is hard work, but it will keep you warm on a cold winter day.

Drum roll, please...

We finally had a chance to tally the precipitation for 2018, and the total was 70.55".  Yes, that's a whole lot of water, but how does it compare to an average year?  The chart below shows what we typically receive per month, which adds up to 48.3" for the year.  So we were a whopping 46% over the long-term average for an entire year!

If you are still unimpressed by a number like 70.55", let's take a quick look at how many gallons of water came through the golf course last year.  While the course property itself is 237 acres, most of the surrounding development drains onto the course, for a total of around 490 acres.

So here's the math:
70.55" (precipitation) x 27,154 (gallons of water per acre inch) x 490 (acres) = 938,700,203 gallons

Sorry if you're disappointed that we didn't quite hit one billion gallons of water flowing through the property, but we sure came close.

 To look at this amount of water in a final way, consider that on average, for each and every one of the 365 days in 2018, over 2.5 million gallons of water came onto and through the golf course.  Well, at least that explains why the range picker got stuck so often...