Monday,February 21st, 2011

Course Conditions
Here is the February forecast for the Northwest according to the Farmers Almanac:
February 2011
16th-19th. Clearing but turning chilly.
20th-23rd. Snow or rain.
24th-28th. Milder, with stormy weather.

Either Fox 12 Weather has given up on forecasting and has gone with the Almanac or we have a pretty good coincidence here. According to Fox 12, they are predicting snow Wednesday through Saturday. That is only a half a week off from the Almanac's prediction, interesting...Stay tuned.

John Hasler, Western Equipment

I have had several comments about our self induced ice storm a couple weeks ago. Somebody tell me this has happened to them as well. The one thing I know for sure is, "**it Happens"! It's all good. Although I must report that I caught the culprit red handed after I returned from Orlando. Upon returning to my desk Monday I surprised John Hasler, my trusty Toro irrigation technician hard at it again! All kidding aside, John has been a wonderful resource for us in trouble shooting irrigation problems. John is just like one of the crew, just a phone call away and he's there to help us get through any issue that may arise. Each year John services every satellite on the course as well as go through our computer system to make sure all the connections are tight, the cobwebs are cleaned out and all the vital components are tested. Just like the service that Paul Garska provides us with the pump station, it insures that we don't run into any unforeseen problems in the midst of the irrigation season. In the photo above John was actually setting up the software for a couple demonstration turf sensors. Toro is allowing us to experiment with them, monitoring our moisture, temperature and salinity levels under the nursery green. We feel that this technology will allow us to monitor soil moisture more closely and help us to better manage our turf.

In last weeks post I failed to mention that when I returned I found the course in amazing condition. Mike has a keen eye for the details and see's that everything is attended to that needs to be done. I say it over and over but can never say enough about the crew. They continue to work hard each day and put their very best into everything they do. Many times the details that you see on the course are not a result of Mikes or my direction, but rather an idea that was brought up in our morning meeting. They have developed a true sense of ownership. This is truly a team effort from all of us.

 Here is a small detail that Zeferino and Jorge did last week to accommodate the restroom service truck. He had been cutting corners and making ruts, so we simply graveled a path to enable him to navigate more easily.
In the near future you will be seeing Zeferino taking care of a few of his projects on the eleventh hole. He brought to my attention that with very little expense he can improve the drainage in certain areas thus greatly improving the playability of the hole.

On the equipment side of things Steve has been working on the 3100 Sidewinders and finally managed to get the brake drums loose. His suspicions were true once he got them off. Rust had totally taken over the entire inside of the drum. Luckily he thinks he can clean the rust up pretty good and replace the brake parts and they will be back on the course. Just a heads up to anyone that may have one of these. Do an inspection regularly, it is hard to clean this spot and clippings will accumulate and this is what you will end up with!