3-26-17

The time has come and the golf course has opened for the season.  Only to have Mother Nature switch up the weather forecast.  Temperatures predicted to be in the low 50’s ended up quite shy of that goal.  There were a few golfers this weekend and people were able to start paying fees.  So, I will still call it a positive start to the golf season.

Part time staff is beginning to enter the work schedule and I am continuing to receive a lot of new applicants.  I think the clubhouse will be in very good shape as far as quality employees go.  I plan on handling the managerial duties in the clubhouse and setting the work schedule each week.

The golf course has changed the procedure for making deposits each night.  I have been working with staff to make the transition successful.  The golf course will also be switching to a POS (point of sale) system in the next two weeks.  This will allow inventory and sales to be documented at a higher level.

I am almost finished creating a spreadsheet of pricing for every detail in the clubhouse.  This has been time consuming and is the most tedious part to the POS transition.  I will email this information today or tomorrow and the company will start things on their end.

The golf course pays a monthly fee for the system.  In return we have 24 hour seven day a week customer support and higher success rate of revenue tracking.  It should be up and running in a couple of weeks.

SMGC has successfully received two tree grants for the spring of 2017.  The first is through Trees Forever and the second the Iowa DNR Trees for Kids grant.  I have been working with Delray on both of these grants and I appreciate his help in making these a success.  I will need volunteers for both dates.

Trees Forever is funded through Black Hills Energy and SMU.  There will be a short presentation during this event and we will plant approximately 50 trees.  I am working on this flier right now with the help of Delray’s past success.  It will most likely be at the end of April to support Earth Day.

Trees for Kids will add 44 trees to the golf course property.  This will also include a presentation by the Iowa DNR and needs to include youth volunteers to honor the grant.  This coming week I will reach out to the athletic director to see if there are approximately 50 high school athletes that could help, in early May, with the tree planting.  The youth volunteers are critical in meeting the criteria of this grant.

The weather looks like it is on the upswing starting tomorrow.  This will bring more traffic to the golf course and really get things moving for us.  I am excited to see people out golfing again and working toward another successful year at the golf course.

Last week the condition of the SE shelter was brought to my attention.  I have inquired if there is any interest from the Boy Scouts to complete an Eagle Scout project to replace the current shelter.  There is repair work that needs to be completed early this spring.

The current shelter does lean to the east slightly and needs a few boards replaced.  The integrity of the shelter is still strong.  The wet soil has caused the concrete foundation to shift over the years.  I will address any work to be completed very soon.

3-19-17

Hopefully this past week is the end of the winter weather.  The golf course looks great and once things dry out a bit we will be ready to go golfing.  The clubhouse will be open later in the upcoming week.  The parking lot needs to dry out some before we open the doors to customers.

I have continued to work on refurbishing the aluminum cups and working on equipment.  I finished sharpening one of the fairway units and making repairs to the rollers.  Several bearings were replaced and some other small details completed.  Equipment maintenance is a constant process.  Proper maintenance programs will focus on preventative maintenance and not just corrective.

There has been a lot of painting completed in the clubhouse.  This process consists of touch up painting to keep everything fresh and new in appearance.  Obviously we have a beautiful clubhouse and my goal is to always keep it that way.

A lot of the part time staff have completed their paperwork and all other necessary steps are being covered in preparation of opening.  There will be new staff training in the clubhouse this upcoming week.  A few new faces will be in the clubhouse along with the majority of past staff.  I am excited to get things rolling!

3-12-17

We have moved on from sunshine and warm weather to a final touch of winter.  The golf season will be here before long and patience will be the best medicine.  I am just excited for the golf season as everyone else.  Spring is always an exciting time but there is always the threat of Mother Nature zapping us with some winter reminders.

I attended the South Dakota GCSAA annual turf conference, in South Dakota, this past week.  There was some excellent speakers available to share some of the latest information.  The main focus was wetting agents, aerification, and managing bentgrass in severe conditions.

It was a great opportunity to freshen up on some education and do some networking with a bunch of fellow golf course professionals.  Sometimes sharing personal experiences with fellow comrades is the best type of education available.

I started working on refurbishing our aluminum cups to the original form.  The golf course has 45 aluminum cups that are roughly 20+ years old.  There is a lot of paint accumulated over the years and it all needs to be removed to get a clean fresh paint established.

There has also been a lot of work done preparing all the computer documents and paperwork for the start of the season.  All types of fees and payments are tracked by paper copy and on a Google Drive.  This allows me to keep a precise updated list available at the front desk or on any web based device.

This also includes updating gift certificates, punch cards, tri fold advertising fliers, and tournament mailings.  All of these have been updated or are in the process of going to print.

Also, clubhouse inventory is starting to arrive.  Our liquor license started on March 10, so there will be beverages in the clubhouse early this coming week.  I will also be opening the clubhouse in the near future for limited hours.

This coming week I will be finishing the reel sharpening process.  I have three fairway units and two tee units left to sharpen the bed knives.  The bed knife is mounted on the bottom of the frame.  The reel spins against the bed knife to complete the cutting process.  These two parts need to remain in proper cutting condition to make a clean cut.

If the mower does not perform a clean cut, it results in more of a tearing process.  This leaves the turf in a stressful state and can open the door to disease pressure.  It also makes for an unhealthy turf exerting a lot of energy to repair the stressed area.  No matter what kind of turf you are mowing, a sharp blade performs best.

3-5-17

We have entered the month of March and the opening of the golf season, historically speaking, will happen sooner than later.  The warm weekend temperatures have removed the majority of the snow cover and all the moisture is soaking into the ground.  This is all positive for the health of the course.  Overall, the course looks great right now.

I spent the past week working on quite a few amenity items for the course.  First, our tee markers are 17 years old and have accumulated a lot of paint over the years.  I used a cleaner product, to soak the markers over 24 hours, and was able to remove all the old paint.  This process left the tee markers back in the original recycled ABS plastic form.

Next, the tee markers were lightly sanded and rinsed.  Lastly, a light coat of spray paint finished the process of returning the tee markers to original form.  They look great and I have also moved on with this cleaning process to aluminum cups, flag sticks, and driving range tee markers.  It is time consuming but the result is amazing.

The flagsticks will all be cleaned with this product in order to give the fiberglass shafts a cleaner appearance.  I replaced 15 ferrules on our flagsticks to let them set in the cup properly.  The ferrules, bottom piece of the stick, are what hold the flag in the cup tightly.  We have 45 flagsticks for the golf course.

I have updated all of the job description titles for the golf course.  these include clubhouse part time, maintenance part time, and grounds part time, along with my description.  The maintenance part time and grounds part time differ only in the fact that grounds part time is almost exclusively a mowing position.

I spent a lot of time working on clubhouse documents.  All of our forms, certificates, rain checks, Safety Data Sheets, safety training programs, etc. have been updated and are ready for the season.  There is a paper copy and an electronic copy of all records in the clubhouse.

The ordering process also began for all of our clubhouse inventory, in preparation of opening.  Coke products, cleaning supplies, snacks, have all arrived and been sorted.  The upcoming week I will be preparing alcohol orders for the start of our liquor license March 11.

It has been a very busy week and also an exciting one.  The start of the season is getting very close and that always brings a fire underneath of my seat.  I cannot wait for each golf season to begin, and I love love love seeing the faces at the golf course.