In the last three weeks, the golf course has experienced two Monday snowfalls and two record high temperature days of 84 and 88 degrees. Thirty to forty degree temperature swings have been the norm with the winds racing across Kansas City at 20 to 40 mph from a different direction almost daily. The effect on the golf course has been positive with the soil temperatures steadily increasing and pushing the various grass types to green-up and start growing.
The week of April fourth has been a busy chaotic week for the maintenance team. Twelve seasonal employees arrived on Monday ready to work another seven month stint at Shadow Glen. Seven guys are returning employees with five new bodies to train. We are trying to implement a new maintenance strategy which will require a week or two to workout the bugs as we strive to improve our efficiency over an eight hour day by creating maintenance zones. By keeping groups of workers in smaller sections fo the golf course I hope the reduced travel time will result in better time efficiency with the ultimate goal of providing better course conditioning day to day.
The verticutting of the greens on Monday went smoothly followed by a light sand topdressing and fertilization. Also, a rusted leaking forty-five degree steel elbow fitting on the four inch irrigation main line under the cart path at #6 tee was removed and replaced with ductile iron fittings and a concrete thrust block was poured for support while the course was closed on Monday. In the next couple of weeks, we need to return the cart path back to 100 percent. Cudos are due the crew as they endured a 20 to 40 mph north wind with temperatures hovering in the low 40's and the wind chill below freezing most of the day. Welcome back.... Oh yes, I forgot to mention that a strong storm with hail and high winds ripped through the golf course on Sunday night leaving the course littered with tons of tree limbs to pick-up before any mowing could be accomplished. Fortunately, the course suffered minimal damage with the bunkers absorbing the hail quite well.
Tuesday added to the chaos as a healthy frost delay stalled the course from opening on time while the assistants tried to keep twenty-two guys busy for three hours until the frost cleared. Our library of training videos came in pretty handy for this type of scenario.
Wednesday was a beautiful day and the work effort flowed more smoothly. We mowed fairways on hole #13 though 17. The mowers firmed up the fairways, spread some earthworm castings and created a nice visual with the return of the mower stripes. Ahh, the future looks good and the fairways are providing a good playing surface as they green-up.
The rest of the week looks promising with the potential of severe storms over the weekend. Most of the time I hate when it rains on weekends but over the next ten days, it can't rain next Monday or Tuesday! Our greens aerification is planned for those two days and I need to get this done in this window for everyone's sanity!
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