Bunker Project and Spring Cleanup

I would like to thank Guy Liptack for helping fix the Purple Martin House that is on hole number 11.

He also helped with clean up of branches that Mike Ogorek got from the lake.

It's starting to look like a golf course again.  With the warm weather, we have really greened up.  I've had to spray earlier than normal.  Keeping track of soil temperatures is very important at this time of year.

Jose was incharge of installing the pipe, backfilling, replacing sod.  We now have access to a sod cutter, thanks to Rich Tabloff.  This will make drainage jobs earier and cleaner.

Rich Tabloff trenched a line for drainage in the bunker on hole #7.  We will continue next week when we'll have access to a bobcat to clean out the bunker.

The blue line indicates where the drainage line is going. The orange line shows where irrigation is located. We'll have to hand dig there.

Getting Started Early

The unseasonal warm temperatures are nice, but I've had to call in help earlier than planned.  Here, Juan is cleaning up willow branches that fell over the winter.  Juan has worked at Lansing since 2008.

Here is Mike Ogorek doing his annual lake clean up.  He makes piles that my staff will remove this week.

Here I'm checking to make sure all sprinklers are working.  I normally turn on the irrigation system around April 1.  I've already watered greens and tees and will water fairways later this week if we don't get rain.  This year we had 2 sprinkler that needed to be fixed.  The system is now 10 years old and we should expect to see more problems.  Jose is very good at fixing any sprinkler issues.

First Cut of the Year

March 13, 2012.  This is the earliest I've ever mowed greens.  Last year we started on March 17.  We are going to let carts out on Thursday if we don't get rain.  Let's hope for continued good weather for the scramble scheduled for Saturday.

The greens are still a little soft, but should start to firm up with sun and wind.

Course Preparation

This week Jose blew off and rolled the green.  I changed cups for the first time.  Next week, I'm bringing back Jesus to help prepare the course.  We plan on mowing greens next week.  With warmth and a little rain, the color should start to improve.  We'll start putting out tee markers and ball washersout  in the next couple of weeks.  The course is open for play.  I'm working with Scott to decide on carts.  We are still wet, but hopefully we can let carts out next weekend.

This is Butch.  He's finishing mounting the hitches that attaches to the range picker.  He had do a little welding to make it work.

Last week, Jose and I finished fixing an irrigation problem from last Fall.