6-11-17

Another week is in the books at the golf course.  Time is going by so quickly.  A person always needs to remember to slow down and enjoy what is around them each day.  I can tell you that I totally enjoy the early mornings and late evenings at the golf course.  The sun coming or going on the horizon, the sounds of nature, the peacefulness in the air….it all brings a calming sensation.  I love the golf course.

We are slowly getting through our list of problems and projects.  The biggest issue is still the tile situation on #16.  We will begin working on this area early this coming week.  The first step will be to start filling the tire tracks with topsoil.  Second step, remove the damaged cart path and add crushed concrete.

The retention pond, east of the golf course, is set to begin Monday.  The topsoil and fill materials will be stockpiled on the south end of the golf course.  This will give us the ability to raise this out of play area back to proper grade and use the topsoil to repair the tire ruts on #16.

In the next few weeks, we will start working on building the berms in five and eleven fairways.  These are part of the water quality plan that ties into the retention pond east of the golf course.  It will take us some time, but doing this in house will help eliminate more damage to the course.

Some of the fill material will be used to construct a small dike along the stream of number ten.  There are several areas where the overflow washes onto the golf course and creates a problem.  By establishing this small dike it will keep the water in the stream and allow us to maintain the area more effectively.

The pond on number ten is starting to fill with algae.  This is an annual problem once we get into the summer months.  I will be treating this area with copper sulphate to eliminate the algae presence.  It will take a couple of applications but will definitely take care of the issue.

Lastly, our budget is coming to a close here in a few weeks.  It has been a challenge this spring.  Obviously our golf season was shortened by the poor weather in March and April.  Currently, I am trying to collect all fees that are not paid in full by our golfers.  This will be essential to operating at a profit for this current budget.

6-4-17

What a beautiful day for some golf.  We have over 120 golfers playing today in a tournament.  This is a very important event for the golf course from a financial standpoint.  We generate a lot of money from beverages sold and cart rentals.

Speaking of financials, here is an update where are budget stands through the month of May.  Revenues are $344,706 and the expenses total $324,966.  These compare to 2016 revenues of $367,552 and expenses of $330,832.

The main reason for the decrease in revenue is the poor spring weather we had this year.  Last year we opened March 11 and this season it was much later and April was not the best.  When the course opens later, we always see a decrease in season pass and green fee totals.

I still feel like we are doing pretty well financially.  The month of June is always a busy one and hopefully the weather is beautiful.  We still have quite a few cart storage fees due but our season pass dollars are down about 10% in comparison to last year.  I will keep you posted.

The tile area on #16 is starting to dry up rather nicely.  There will be a lot of cleanup to complete in this area.  This coming week we will start hauling material to fill the tire ruts.  The tile areas will continue to dry and eventually be repaired.  I have also repaired the two irrigation lines that were torn out during the process.

We started repairing the sand traps on both sides of #16 green this weekend.  There is still a little water that accumulates after irrigating but it is disappearing.  We should be able to mow the majority of this area early in the week.  Progress is beginning.

I continue to battle irrigation repairs and the dandelion population.  I only have two holes left to spray for dandelions and the irrigation repairs are decreasing.  Slowly but surely the work list is getting shorter.  Overall, I am happy with the condition of the golf course and the progress we are making.

6-1-17

It has been a long day, but I want to give everyone an update on the tile situation while it is still fresh in my mind.

Matt Hagedorn was on site early this morning.  They discovered a clay tile, on the golf course property, just north of Stoney Brook.  The water pressure was very strong without touching the clay tile.

We tried to locate the tile further north and dug a trench between 16 green and 17 tees.  There was no sign of the tile.  Next, they dug along an existing plastic tile from west to east.  We discovered a clay tile near the property line heading toward the condos south of Golf View.  There was no other tile discovered all the way to the cart path.

Next, we decided it was necessary to have the Street Division vac truck on site.  The next step was to open the tile in the original hole.  The vac truck would be used to vacuum the water from the hole and then run the jet down the tile line and trace it to the damaged area.

We traced the tile 184 feet north and hit a tee.  This area was then excavated and the tile was exposed.  A trench was run from the existing plastic tile to the exposed tile.  We tied the clay tile into the plastic tile in order to alleviate all the water in the surrounding area.  This process has helped draw the water table down around 16 green.

The next step was to expose the clay tile near the property line going to the west.  The vac truck again ran the jet and it stopped at 136 feet.  We traced the line to the foundation of the condos just south of Golf View.  It appears when the house was built, the tile was destroyed at the foundation.  We are still working on the next step in this area.

There also still appears to be an issue with the tile running east and west on the Stone Brook property.  The crew only conducted a visual inspection of this area since the golf course problem was our priority.

The area to the south of 16 green is starting to dry out as the water is pulled through the new tile.  The sand trap water level dropped 4″ in about 45 minutes.  So, I am hopeful to see improvement in the coming days.

There was quite a bit of damage bringing the truck onto the golf course.  It was necessary and will be repaired in the near future.  A section of cart path is destroyed and there are plenty of tire ruts to repair.  Along with the areas affected by the backhoe, we have a lot of work to do to get the area back to normal.

I was well aware of the damage that would occur during this process.  It was absolutely necessary to create a mess in order to fix the current mess.  I feel pretty good about the progress for the day.  Tomorrow we will start filling in some of the tire ruts and repairing two irrigation lines that were destroyed.

In the end, it will be a small price to pay in order to have the project done correctly.  I just cannot wait until the end….