Tree Finally Arrived For #6

Today was the day we finally were able to transplant the new tree to #6. The weather cooperated and we took advantage of it. The tree is roughly 7" around and about 30' tall and is cross between a silver maple and red maple. The spade used to move it was 90" across and weighed roughly 54,000 lbs empty before it was loaded with the tree. It was a big chore, but with the help of Will Manda from Rosehill, Eric from Instant Shade, and my staff we were able to complete the work without any major problems.


Spade truck has arrived!!




Picture of the crew working hard moving the plywood.



Picture of the 90" spade that was used.



Hole is dug and ready for the tree.



Tree in transit to it's new home.



Tree has arrived at the hole!



Moments before spade is removed from the tree.



Tree is finally in the ground!!

Icy and Cold

High temperatures continue to hover around the upper 20's to low 30's and now we are blessed to have a sheet of ice and a little snow on top. Man what a winter it has turned out to be. All the experts are saying we are going to set records for the number of inches of snowfall and the number of snow events we have had. Needless to say my staff has been relegated back to the shop for the last couple of days. Everyone is getting a little bit of "Cabin Fever" and are ready for the spring time to be here. It looks like depending on who you listen to that we might get some temperatures in the upper 30's or low 40's by the weekend. However as I was watching the weather last night they think we might have a chance of a late week storm or it might wait and get here around the beginning of next week. So if we do get a break it is looking like it is going to be a short one. We are still holding out hope that with the cold temperatures we will be able to get the new tree installed on #6. We have to wait on the ground to freeze or dry out and all the snow and ice to be gone to allow the spade truck to come onto the golf course. Unfortunately we have had the ground frozen, but it has been covered in snow or ice. I will keep everyone up to date when the time comes.

Winter Continues

Just when I thought we might be getting a little break from winter, another storm front moves in. As I am sitting here writing this I have heard a couple of rumbles of thunder. Who would have thought it would be 30 degrees snowing and thundering. It sounds and looks like even "Mother Nature" might be a little confused on what to do. My staff was able to get out on the golf course yesterday and enjoy the 45 degree weather. We removed some more underbrush on #12 and removed some old piles of white sand that were stashed around on the golf course from my staff removing it out of the bunkers in the spring. We are also continuing to work on our goose control. The coyotes have been moved around into different locations in an attempt to continue to make the geese feel uneasy and not want to be in those areas. We have some areas that we have had to go to using rope to deter the geese from being there. Geese will not walk under any type of rope or fishing line, so we use that to our advantage in some isolated areas. I hope everyone has had a great week. Stay safe and warm and hopefully spring is just around the corner.

Back From Sunny San Diego

I was fortunate to spend the last 12 days in sunny California. Four days in Palm Springs and six days in San Diego at the annual GCSAA Golf Industry Show. My golf game in Palm Springs had a little bit to be desired, but I had a great time meeting some new superintendents from around the world. In San Diego I took part in some educational seminars and was able to walk the trade show and see the latest and greatest that our vendors had to offer. This is such a great and rewarding time for us superintendents as it is a way to learn from some of the best education seminars in the world, networking opportunities that are unmatched in any industry, and be able to stay up on all the latest trends in golf course management. My staff has been rather slow as the weather has continued to be snowy and cold. We have continued to work on some painting and cleaning around the shop. We will continue to work on repainting our utility carts and re-staining our bird houses. I have started to make preparations for the planting of our new tree on #6. Hopefully as soon as the weather cooperates and the ground conditions are either dry or frozen we can proceed. I hope everyone had a great week. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Ground Hog Day!!

Well everyone has probably heard by now that the ground hog saw his shadow, which means we are suppose to be in store for six more weeks of winter. Whether you believe in this or not is up to you. However six more weeks of this winter is going to test my patience with all the snow we have had and some of the extreme cold temperatures. This week is looking like a pretty decent week weather wise. Who would have ever thought I would be saying that with high 30's and low 40's as highs? Unfortunately this is where we are at now, but I will take weather like this any day over the extreme cold. My staff has been staying busy the last couple of days working on the drainage on #14 fairway, repairing goose damage on greens, and installing rock along cart paths as weather permits. The drainage on #14 is going to be a big addition for the playing conditions on this hole. The right side of the fairway has always held water and moisture and we had to replace sod here last year and had poor playing conditions during the wet periods. Installing these lines are going to improve the drainage on this fairway tremendously and will improve playing conditions drastically. Most of our holes we have been able to keep the geese at bay with our cardboard coyote cutouts. However the geese over on #7 must be a little smarter then the ones everywhere else. We are going to try some other deterrents on #7 green and tee and see if we can keep them at bay. We are going to be out repairing some more areas on the green this morning, but hopefully we will get them under control. As weather has permitted we have continued to install the rock along the cart paths in the high traffic areas. Unfortunately when the ground starts to thaw out we have to stop working on this cause it just becomes a muddy mess. I will be taking a 10 day hiatus here starting on Thursday. I am going to be heading out to Sunny San Diego and Palm Springs California for our annual GCSAA education conference and our golf championship. I hope everyone has a great week and I will be in touch when I return on February 13th.