It looks like we might have survived the cold stretch from Mother Nature. The coming week is returning to great golf temperatures. Bring on the golfers!
The parking lot is still a mess. We have set up a safe route for people to come in and then leave through the north maintenance parking lot. It’s working well. Mark White and street division staff have all agreed any attempt to grade it will only make it worse. We have to be patient and wait for the frost to leave. Then hopefully somebody comes up with some magic money to pave have if it this fall. And the other half next year.
This past week allowed us to get a lot of indoor work accomplished. We did a ton of spring cleaning in the clubhouse and redecorating. We added a ceiling net to the simulator and opened up a lot of space in that room. Most of the plants have been moved around the building to bring out a little touch on indoor nature.
The coolest thing I am excited to showcase is a couple pieces of old tile from the old golf course. One piece is concrete and 6″ while the other is 4″ clay tile. These are both old pieces of farm tile that run through the golf course and were salvaged during repair processes. I thought it would be cool to build a shelf and add some literature in the clubhouse.
We also cleaned and organized the office area and started hanging wall art and advertising pieces. The pool cue holder has been hung next to the table and looks great. I am still waiting on a few more signs but the clubhouse looks a lot more welcoming to the eye.
We hosted our first private event last night in the clubhouse. It was a birthday party and it went very well. I think I was finished with cleaning by 1:00 AM. Today we’re back to normal and ready for some golfers. I’m trying to open and close a little bit more to save some labor hours.
The maintenance facility has received the same level of TLC. All of our scrap metal was rounded up and hauled to the bin at the Street Division. We tore apart all of our old reels and salvaged all the useable parts. The rest was sent for recycling.
Next, all of our garbage was hauled out and sent to sanitation. Things really accumulate over the years and this year we are cleaning house. I always stress to my guys that the appearance of the maintenance building is the first impression that a new visitor takes away from that stop. Let’s it clean and organized leaving a great impression on how we run our ship at Spencer Muni.
Equipment repairs were also a big part of the week. I repaired at least a dozen rollers for different reels. It’s a lengthy process but goes pretty smooth once you get in the flow. For $40 a roller can be rebuilt and almost as good as new. A new roller is in the range of $200-$300. We still have a few new rollers in our inventory but will also have quite a few rebuilt spares.
Our first tournament was on April 7. This tournament is scheduled every year and weather allows us to have it about every four years. There were 80 golfers for the day and everyone had a good time. It was nice to get that first tournament under our belt. The next event is April 28th. It will be a four person best shot with two holes on every green.
Every year we get stray cats that have babies in our maintenance facility. Normally they run off soon after birth an we never see them again. Last fall we had one kitten that stuck around and we kind of took her under our wing by feeding her and giving her warmth through the winter. She is free to come and go in the maintenance facility. I took her to the vet and had them give her a rabies shot just to be safe. Her name is Caddy and I have no idea how long she will stick around before she moves on down the road.
Lastly, I hope everyone knows how passionate I am about my job. It started at a very young age chasing my dad around the Country Club as early as I can remember. I always knew I wanted to be in the golf industry. Here is a picture from August 1976 that hopefully lets you know about my love of this golf course:
This is my brother Mark and I going to work with Dad to help get some work done.
Everyone have a great remainder to the weekend and keep smiling. It’s a beautiful world out there if you look at it the right way!
Spencer Municipal Golf Course 