Disappointed, Cart Etiquette or Lack Thereof

I was having a great morning mowing fairways this morning until I came upon Hole 3 and saw the remnants of a cart driver with poor cart etiquette and lack of concern regarding the rules for the day.
A majority of people who play at this club follow the rules and do what is asked in regards to the etiquette golfers should use in playing the course. I'm very lenient and prefer to side on the let's play normal than forcing cart path issues all the time but when we have rain for a couple of days straight the expectation should be that we will be on paths. I'll let the video explain it all. By the way, I left this video with a comedy label. I had a few other choice words I could use but I will leave that up to your imagination!

https://youtu.be/5p0GKlWo0Z4

Sod work today

The staff did some early morning jobs today getting course prepared for play but the rest of the day was spent laying about 300 yards of Fescue sod in a number of areas.  The largest area was the repair of the area behind 15 green which had two trees removed.  The grinding of the stump areas plus bare and or weakened turf area covered approximately 165 sq yards which is approximately 1500 square feet.  Surface roots were removed, old sod remnants were stripped up and the soil was graded and moved around where needed.  Big roll fescue sod was laid and it was watered and roped off. All newly sodded areas should be played as ground under repair over the next few weeks until the sod fully heals.

Skip and Jason loading the old sod remnants from behind the 15th green that were stripped up by Randy with a sod cutter.

The area graded smooth and ready for sod. 

The area was fertilized and then sod laid with big rolls of Fescue/bluegrass. The staff pulls the sod lines together by hand which improves healing time.  The big roll is 40" wide and approximately 95 feet long for a total of 315 square feet.  Big roll sod can allow you to open the area for play much quicker than regular pieces of  sod. There are less seams which shortens the healing and growth time. 

The area completed behind #15.

View fro #13 tee.  The sod is still a little off color but should begin to green up pretty quickly in the next week.  As you can see from the mid ground to the foreground, a lot of Bermuda grass contamination all around this area.

The staff also worked on a number of other ground stump areas which required some extra soil and were then sodded.  Also the drain project from late last fall was repaired as well on #12.  We still have a pallet of sod which will be used for additional repairs that were not completed today.

We also installed the remaining 4 trees that were purchased last week for planting.  I will have pictures and profiles of the trees in the next couple of days when I can get their pictures taken.

Leaf Patrol, Bridge work and foot prints in bunkers

After mowing greens this morning, part of the staff spent the rest of the day clearing a large amount of leaves that accumulate over the winter along our fence lines.  They hand rake and use backpacks to blow the leaves in rows so that another staff member with a tractor and vacuum can then come by and pick them up and haul them to our dump area.  They were able to get a large portion of #4 completed and started on part of #3 because the winds changed direction.  This normally takes 3-4 days to complete the entire perimeter of the fence line of the property.  If the leaves are not picked up, they will kill grass along the fence rows, make it difficult to locate a stray golf ball and can also be blown back into play areas when  the wind blows in the right direction.

Jason picking up the rows of leaves along 3 that Jeff, Randy, and Sam blew away from the fence.

Skip, Russ and Tom worked on the 15 bridge/spillway project today.  A couple of portable mixer loads of concrete were placed underneath the 15 bridge spillway to shore it up and stop the scouring of gravel from underneath the structure.  The guys mortared some cracks in the upper part of the spillway to reduce leakage underneath the structure.  We plan to place a new concrete roadway on the bridge, preferably a Monday in the next couple of weeks. Still have to talk with Skip about the concrete flume work that I originally had discussed.

Skip, Russ and Tom pouring the concrete through the hole cut in the lower spillway. You can see the boards in the foreground and background that were used to prevent the concrete from coming out from underneath the structure.

I sprayed greens today with our seed head suppression product that I discussed a couple of weeks ago.  The requirements of the application are that you spray it no later than 21 days after the first application.  I was 1 day on the back 9 and 2 days early on the front 9 but early is better than late. I was concerned with a potential report of rain overnight and with Men's Opening Day on Saturday, did not want to be late with the application.  It appears our application is working but we still have not reached the peak flush for seed heads which should occur in the next few weeks and last for at least a couple of weeks depending upon the weather.

During the spraying today, 17 green was one of my last greens to spray. I took a picture below of a bunker that was not raked.  What was most surprising to me was that all three bunkers appeared to be not raked and all had foot prints in them.  Please be aware that bunkers are not raked every day and if you leave your foot prints in a bunker, players behind you are potentially left with a difficult shot if their ball would fall into a foot print.  Please be considerate and rake the bunkers after you use them.  Interesting, a majority of the other bunkers were raked properly.

The right bunker on #17 that was not raked after balls were hit from it by what it appears to be at least two different foot prints.

Major Cart Maintenance

Our carts are entering their 6 season as I am and they need a little rejuvenation just as yours truly. I get some rest in the winter and they see very little use themselves but this winter was very difficult for a little over 1/3 of our fleet. 

Last season, we replaced 30 carts' batteries. I expected we would have to replace the rest of the batteries sometime this season since they had survived past their normal life.  With negative double digit temperatures, excessively aged batteries, and an unheated cart facility, many of the oldest batteries froze.  Today, our staff had to replace 24 carts' batteries. We have 6 carts with a few very old batteries that are still holding charge, and some newer 2-3 year old batteries that were strong enough to survive the winter.

The staff spent the day replacing the batteries that were depleted,  cleaning terminals on the year old batteries and checking/filling water levels to insure they will continue to operate efficiently this season. 

Our mechanic Dave is responsible for the main maintenance of our 60 carts and their chargers. He's improved the overall maintenance of the carts since he has arrived last May. The rest of our staff including Barrett and the pro shop staff have also assisted in keeping the fleet in good shape. David has spent the last week checking tire pressure, steering, brake systems while removing, testing, and attempting to revive the units that were repaired today.

During the season, please inform Barrett and Abby if you experience any issues with a cart so it may be written up and checked by Dave. 

Pallet of batteries waiting to be installed.

The staff loading batteries into carts and installing hold downs and battery cables. Our work was interrupted by mucho rain, lightning and hail on multiple occasions. We were ultimately forced into the maintenance building to complete the work.