Winter Work

Wild Horse received a nice blanket of snow in early December and it has remained on the ground covering the entire course up until now.  We feel like if we get one month of snow cover during the entire winter, our turf survival is much greater.  Snow has been on the ground for two weeks now so we are off to a great start.

Late fall had us busy with cart paths but that got cut short by some cold temps in November and ultimately this last snow. We will be back at it in the spring.  Our focus is on smoothing the transitions from path to fairways to avoid that annoying "BUMP" you receive as you travel over.  These areas are in need of constant attention as erosion continues its timeless work on unturfed areas.  Also we will be building up some paths around tee boxes that have lost lots of material to wind or water erosion.  Hopefully this will make the access to these boxes (4 and 13 in particular) a bit easier.  Nearly 2 feet of material has blown away in the last 20 years-a slow but constant change that needs to be addressed this spring.

Once the weather turned cold we have moved inside for our work.  Our most important task is to service our mowers and sharpen reels.  Reel and bedknife grinding is the cornerstone to good quality cutting units so we are diligent in making sure each reel is ready to perform come spring.  I enjoy grinding reels so that is my task while mechanic Todd disassembles and reassembles them and replaces bearings and seals as needed.  Here's a short video of the grinding process.

We also go through all accessories like rakes, trash cans, signs, tee markers, etc and repair and paint those.  Not all that interesting but necessary. 

Hoping you all have a great holiday season and Santa leaves you a new putter in your stocking!