What The Heck Do You Do All Winter???

What do you do in the winter is a common question for golf course employees and the simple answer is "work" the joking answer is "play cards" and the proper answer is "a variety of things."

First of all we are often working outside to Thanksgiving putting the course to sleep, applying sand topdressing to greens and tees, cutting down dead or dangerous trees, winterizing the buildings and irrigation system along with putting everything away and getting ready for winter maintenance.

We use up some vacation around Christmas and starting the first of January really get into equipment breakdown. The first part of my winter is spent in the office making sure parts and supplies are in order along with finishing record keeping from the previous year.

Records for weather, maintenance practices, purchases and time sheets of work done to the golf course are kept to provide a historical comparison. Some recordkeeping is mandated by state and federal rules. Some of those include our fertilization plans and records, chemical applications and storm water run off inspections and training to reduce suspended solids in the water ways.

Other work includes placing orders for this year and a big part of that is comparing specifications and obtaining quotes to ensure we get a good product at the best price.

Office work is a necessary evil both in ant out of season.

Winter is also a great time for education to learn new technologies or methods along with new products and laws or rules that may be coming our way. Some educational sessions we attend in person but more and more great sessions are offered via webcast either live or by recording. It is a another great benefit of membership in trade groups such as the Wisconsin Golf Course Superintendents Association, Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, Wisconsin Turfgrass Association and Turfnet.

Continuing education sessions provide new and renewed ideas while the
breaks provide for networking with others in the industry.

Our main winter activities include equipment and building maintenance. In the clubhouse Jeremiah touched up the paint and layout of the golf shop while Tiffany spruced up the Bar and Grill with a fresh coat of paint. In maintenance we painted the concrete floor in the heated shop. We also made a cover for our air compressor. In the past we couldn't talk to each other while it was running due to the noise.

Equipment maintenance is a big part of winter. We use reel type mowers on greens, tees and fairways. Reel mowers give a better cut at lower heights but they also have a increased level of maintenance. Each year every reel is ground to the proper angle and the bedknive is replaced or ground to the proper angle. This grind allows the blades to cut the grass cleanly providing for a healthier plant and better playing surface.

The equipment hoist is key to proper inspection and maintenance.

After maintenance a wash and wax has this 14 year
old mower looking new and ready for the season. 

This year it is time to take the 20 fairway mower reels (4 mowers - 5 reels each) fully apart and paint them, replace the bearings and seals. This is a time consuming process and makes mess in the shop with parts in piles all over the place. But in the end it is the best way to get a long life from the units. We do one type of reels each year and after three years we will be back to the fairway reels again.

One of our first jobs each winter is to put up our temporary paint booth so we can paint without fumes or overspray all over the building.

Our off season preparation allow us provide a quality product during the season.  Feel free to contact us by person, phone or email if you have any questions about what we do in or out of the golf season.