Maintenance Facility Improvements

It has been a long six months since my last posting and there is no better time to catch up when the outside temperature is 3 degrees.

For more than 2 1/2 years we have been working towards major Maintenance Facility improvements and today we have finally received our building permit. The process included numerous meetings with County Officials, Fire Marshals, Architects, Contractors, Neighbors  and more than twenty building design iterations before coming up with one that will work for everybody.

Every step of the way we seemed to run into a new challenge in the process, many were anticipated and several were not.  After this long process I am looking forward to finally after 18 years of working out of a dirt/mud parking lot having a quality facility to protect the substantial investment of our equipment fleet.

Currently we have only 6000 sqft of enclosed building space, this also includes office and equipment repair areas that cuts into the overall square footage.  The new building will be and additional 8000 sqft that will allow us to get our entire fleet inside and out of the elements. With more than $1.5 Million dollars invested in our equipment fleet this new building will go along way to maximize the life of our equipment.

Throughout the construction process I will once again post regularly with progress, here's to normal weather conditions over the next several months.

Below are some current pictures that show our yard area that most of the equipment sits outside and the renderings of what will be.

New Year and New Equipment

Today we began receiving some of the new equipment that was was approved in the 2010 budget. The new equipment will be delivered over the next several days due to the number of pieces that are coming in.

Every year we either add or replace equipment to our fleet so that we can better maintain the golf course for the upcoming season. The extreme terrain that is found on the Country Club property is very hard on the equipment that is used to maintain it. With more than six miles of cart paths and over 600 feet of elevation change on the course we tend to go through wear items like; tires, brakes, clutches and transmissions at a faster pace than most golf courses.


We will be receiving the following items:
(10) Toro Workman MDX Workman MDX Specs
(1) Toro GM3150 Fairway Mower GM3150 Specs
(1) Toro Groundsmaster 4500 Rough Mower Groundsmaster 4500 Specs

The Down Side of Too Much Rain

The month of July brought us nearly 3.5" of rain which was great, except for the problems that come with too much of anything.

Mowing has become even more of a challenge than normal due to the fact that the steeps slopes have remained wet causing traction issues with the mowing equipment. Traction is questionable on most of the course when things are dry let alone wet. There is nothing flat about this golf course which makes it interesting from an aesthetic and playability standpoint. Maintaining it is a whole different story.

Another issue that has developed from the excessive rainfall has been numerous drainage system failures. We have been spending a lot of time repairing drain tile that has not truly been tested in many years.

Greens Mowers

Our new mowers have arrived. This year, we have cut back the amount of money being spent on replacing equipment to our maintenance fleet. The two main factors behind the reduction would be the economy and the current irrigation renovation project.

This year our Capital equipment budget was reduced by nearly two thirds of our typical spending. Some of the pieces of equipment that were eliminated were a triplex mower, fairway aerifier and reel grinding equipment.

We have had great success in managing the equipment fleet by replacing most of the heavy use equipment in three to five year cycles. The severe terrain found on the golf course really takes its toll on the wear items of the equipment and ultimately reduces the overall life expectancy.

The equipment purchases that have been eliminated for this year are not permanent and will need to be made up at some point in the future. When better economic times return, hopefully then we will be able to once again replace the next items in the cycle. By doing so, will ensure that we have the best tools available to maintain the golf course to the level that is known and expected.