Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Not Exactly Routine

Previous to last week I was trying to get a few unusual tasks out of my hair so I could focus on more traditional spring maintenance. With winter winding down we needed to get a pumper truck and rubber tire back hoe out on the course before the ground got too soft from all the melting snow. Back in the beginning of February I ploughed a road to the restroom on #7 as well as to the snack shack. With the ground being unfrozen under the snow this year I needed to expose areas so they could freeze and handle the weight of the equipment I needed to bring on the golf course

Driver weaving the "Honey Wagon" through the trees

All restrooms located on the golf course are on septic and of the 3 tanks only one had been pumped in my time there.

Sucking out the tank
During the process we discovered a problem in one of the tanks.  A root ball had grown inside the tank at the snack shack and had broken off.  Potentially, the "floater" could plug the inlet or discharge side of the tank so we made the choice to dig up the septic tank lid and remove the root ball (it was too big to fit through the access port).

Betcha' didn't know that is where the septic is!
Goo and Root
Removing root ball...carefully!
The snow was too deep to get to #12 but with cart paths on either side of that particular restroom we should be able pump out that septic most any time.  That same week we began limbing the tree that blew over on 6 fwy and I cut off the root ball had a back hoe come in and haul it off the course.
Knocking of excess before hauling it away

By the end of week we'd finished most of the bull work with minimal disruption from either the pumper truck or either back hoes and I began to remove snow off #7 and #15 greens. I needed to knock down the snow on #15 with black sand to make removing the snow more manageable. It's still a work in progress but I was able to clear #7 and remove the tarp. Much to my dismay there was disease under tarp, again! It's no where near as bad as last year but it's far from perfect. The worst part is as I began to see other greens open up I saw more signs of disease so I've spent the last 5 days removing snow from all greens in a hope to lessen the severity of the disease. I'll keep you informed once I get all greens cleared and things dry out.