Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Demo's, Wentworth update


 
This is our John Deere rough mower.  It's 13 years old and starting to be a maintenance problem.  It's been down several times this summer and fall.  It's main job is mulching leaves this time of year.
 
Below is a demo unit.  We are getting to try several different machines from various vendors and hopefully we will be able to upgrade by next spring

 
This pictures work being done on Wentworth.  Along with paving, the county is installing curbs and sewer.  There will be two inlets and a new outlet.  The outlet will have a valve that will be used to control lake levels.  The inlet side has three pits the collect sediment before it reaches our lake.
 
On Thursday November 8th, we will be blowing out our irrigation system.  Jose and I can usually finish in one day.  Also, we are pulling the port a johns on the first Thursday in November.  As the season wraps up, Jose and I have only 2 seasonal workers left.  Please be patient as the 4 of us try and get everything done.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Greens Aerification, Drought, Leaf Season

Aerification of greens was completed on Wednesday.  Our 1991 model year aerifier broke down, but Butch got it fixed.  This put us a week behind schedule.  All greens, tees and fairways were fertilized in the last couple of weeks.  Tee aerification will start next week and should take about 3 days.  We will also do small fairways if we have time.
 
 
 
This pictures shows that our pond is at its lowest level in many years.  Our irrigation system has now pumped 14.8 million gallons in 2012.  2011 was  6 million, 2010 was 7.8 million while 2009 was 7.5 million.  We have had only 1 month this season above normal.  That was August.  September we only received 1.15 inches at Lansing CC.  We will need many steady rains to start filling up the lake.  The dry condition have let us skip a fungicide application this fall which saved some money.

 
It's now leaf season.  Be patient, as we try and keep up with this.  It's a team effort as we blow leaves to the rough and mulch with another machine.  We've had a couple of breakdowns with mulching machine, but Butch always seems to keep it running.  The next couple of weeks are probably going to be the worst.  As one variety of tree finishes dropping leaves, another one is just starting.
 
If you haven't noticed, our crew is getting smaller.  Jose and I now have only 3 seasonal workers.  With the cooler temps and shorter days we start our Fall schedule.  Everything will be cut back.  We will now cut tees and fairways twice a week instead of 3.  Greens mowing will go to 4 times a week instead of 7.  The course is actually in really good shape.  A couple of good soaking rains will set us up nicely for Winter.  My biggest concern is if it stays dry, we'll have to keep the irrigation system on longer.