The easy answer to the common question "what do you do in the winter" is long lunches and card games but nothing is further from the truth. It takes quite a bit of time and work to prepare the course for winter and bring in the golf course equipment. Then the equipment and building maintenance work begins.
The first step is renting a hot water pressure washer and thoroughly clean the grime, grass and grease off the outside, inside and underbody of the mowers. The shields are removed to allow access to all the nooks and crannies. Then we remove the reels off of the reel mowers and store everything for easy access.
James grinds the 50+ reels we have by disassembling them, installing new bedknives and using the reel and bedknive grinders to provide a long lasting cutting surface. Each year we grind all the reels while completely disassembling and rebuilding 1/3 of the reels with new bearings, seals, bushings while painting the frames and housings.
My work includes changing oil and fluids, filters as needed, repacking axle bearings, checking electrical connections, brakes, bearings, clutches, blades, cables, safety switches and hydraulic lines. Golf course equipment takes a beating from working in wet conditions so often so preventative maintenance is key to making it through the season.
The hustle of the golf season makes it difficult to use any vacation so we take some much deserved time off in December and work a normal a 40 hour week the rest of the winter unless we have to plow on a weekend.
Winter is a great time to catch up on a education and we sit in on a couple opportunities through the Wisconsin Turfgrass Association or Wisconsin Golf Course Superintendents Association.\
If you ever want to see hands on what we do feel free to stop in and say hi. Our normal winter hours are 6:00 to 2:30.
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