Well here we are April 13th, 2013 and it is Masters Saturday

Last Year we were preparing the Heritage for Saturday morning golfers, this year my full crew has not started yet and I am still plowing snow.   

Marc is holding his annual Spring Masters sale in the Clubhouse this weekend.  Forget about the snow and come on in to check out the new golf equipment for the 2013 season.  You can watch the Masters (to see some green turf) on our new 50" TV's.  The Bar will be open and select food items will be available in the Kitchen.  

I feel the need to snowshoe today.

 We dug the snow out to the barn doors this week.  We can start charging batteries and airing up tires on the equipment stored in these buildings.  As you can see the snow is still deep!

The deer above found the only open area on the course (the knob right of #16 Green).  They are looking for anything to eat.

Spring Yet?

                                          March 16th 2012

                                          March 22nd 2013

                                          Still plowing!

We had to dig over 4 feet of snow out from the back door of the shop in order to tow a JD2500 over to the heated mechanics bay for an engine replacement.

What a difference a year makes.  Last years freakish early warm-up (when we were open this week) to this years late arrival of winter; which has us under many feet of snow and weeks away from an opener.
Last year we were caught off guard because the early melt-down this year we will be very prepared!  Bring on the sun and warmer temperatures!

We are using a wonderful product call Vinyl-Guard to protect our bunker rake handles this season.  The product comes in a roll and can be cut to size.  You then spray the surface with a stick spray, slide the Vinyl-Guard  tube over and shrink wrap it on with a heat gun.  I hope this will protect the sticks for several years to eliminate the need for annual sanding and staining and provide more strength to the sticks.  

How Many of you are looking forward to this again!  

Well we are still in heavy preparation mode and the count down is on until opening day!

The Heritage shop has been very loud with the sound of grinders at work as we tear down and grind each reel in preparation for the 2013 golfing season.  Seals, bearings and other parts are replaces if needed and the reels are reconditioned as if they were new from the factory.  We use 100 reels to maintain the 36 holes here at MGC with the primary reels being serviced during the off-season.  This process takes loads of time and must be completed properly to achieve top quality turfgrass conditions.  

 Reel set-up on the Grinder

 Accuracy with-in one-thousandth of an inch 

 Reel spin grinding

 Relief grinding a reel

 Grinding of the Bedknives

 Reassembly of the Reel 

Putting the Reels back on the Tractor Unit

Equipment tires should never be left flat for extended periods of time or damage will occur to the sidewalls.  We air up any flat or low tires every two weeks in both shops and take note of those tires so they can be monitored more closely in the spring.

                                         Small Ice Pockets on Heritage #17 Green

                                         Over all picture of Heritage #17 Green

                                         Very Thick Ice (2-4") on Greywalls #2 Green

                                         Greywalls #4 Green - ouch

                                         Greywalls #5 Green

This winter (or lack there of) has put our turf in a very vulnerable position.  The open areas are now susceptible to winter desiccation while the low pockets on the greens have ice accumulations from last weeks meltdown.
We need more snow cover very soon to insulate the exposed areas and then we will need an early spring melt to help reduce the severity of ice damage.