Hey! Ding-Dong! Read This.

Don't take offense to the title of this post since it is really meant as a message to my future self but feel free to read on.  I've spent the last 4 or 5 work days compiling information and trying to look for trends or ideas that allow me to be more exacting in budgeting.  Although I can go back over ten years with respect to how many hours we spend performing all the maintenance on the the course, I only really began tracking fuel and equipment cost within the last 4 years so any conclusion I arrive at obviously require more than a bit of "extrapolation/interpretation".  That being said there is still some useful info.

Hours spend working on the course (not including me or the mechanic) are entered daily by staff into a spreadsheet.  Of the total hours entered 56% can be attributed to 7 routine tasks: daily set-up of the course, bunkers, mowing fwys, mowing G's, rolling G's, mowing tees and collars, and mowing rough.  In the following chart the big piece of pie represents the seven jobs while the rest of the pieces show how the remaining 44% of the staffs time is divided up.

 All the goofy little labels in the legend at the bottom of the chart are some of the job categories staff use when assigning hours they work.  When I am trying to glean information, any information, I focus on the categories that make up the large piece of the pie.  Here's what I've learned:

• Fairways:  We have 2 machines and in 2010 we ran both about 46% of the time and one machine 54%.  On average, staff spent 5 hours/day mowing. In 2013 we ran 2 machines 27% of the time and one machine 63% and spent 4.5 hours/day mowing.  The obvious trend here is less mowing which translates into less money spend on staffing and fuel (with less operating time it should mean less repairs but that's not necessarily true because of the mowers age) 
• Tees and Collars:  In 2010 staff spent an average of 4.43 hours per day mowing T&C for a total of 237 hours.  In 2013 it took an average of 2.95 hours per day for a total of 192 hours over the entire season.  Again, a declining trend.  Instead of mowing both tees and collars 3 days a week we only mow collars 3 times and tees 2 times which saved slightly on both fuel and staffing
• Rough:  In 2010 the average hours per day spent mowing rough was 5.43 while in 2013 the average was 3.98.  Unfortunately, a slight labour savings (and maybe repair costs) was offset by the increased fuel costs (we used the bigger machine more this year and it cost more to run) and the fact we mowed rough 20 more days in 2013 than 2010.  The more days mowed relates to the amount of grass this year and also to the extra cut we brought in this year to lower the rough around the greens.  Although the trend was for less hours mowing per day the cost of rough mowing actually is on the rise.
• Greens Rolling:  Greens were rolled 50% more this year than in past years.  In general, with respect to the greens we did nothing different compared to last year but there were fewer speed complaints so from an anecdotal stand point rolling may have had a benefit on playing conditions.  Obviously, the trend here is increasing in labour, fuel, and maintenance.
• Greens: Not much change here over the past 4 years with a slight increase in costs due to labour.  Long ago we began making use of the triplex as a cost savings measure with the greens being mowed about 50% of the time with triplex and 50% with walkers.  In the future the only savings here would be to go to 100% triplex.  However, we would have to take a close look since we only have one triplex mower and going that route would require purchasing a second mower.  That initial capital cost may take some time to be offset by labour savings.
• Bunkers: The total hours spent raking bunkers in 2010 was 902 and on average staff spent 2.5 hours/day raking all the bunkers.  We use to hand rake with 3 people and 25% of the time 1 guy would just touch up bunkers.  In 2013 we still hand rake and spend 2.3 hours per day for a total of 519 hours but now 67% of the time one guy does all the raking.  For the past couple years now we've only hand raked half the bunkers each day and touched up the rest.  Bunkers are expensive and aside from free labour or completely eliminating the bunkers I don't see any practical way to save more money.
• Daily Set Up: This is another job that has seen only a slight increase in cost and most of that is labour related.  The importance of this job is to not only create variety in how the course plays but also to distribute wear which is extremely important.  This is another job where I don't see any practical way to save money.

Who cares how long each job takes and how much it costs?  Mostly me, I guess, but as things remain competitive in the golf market we are going to have to keep trying different ways of doing things.  I think its a Jimmy Pattison quote that says something like there isn't a business that can't find a 3 to 5% efficiency (or something like that) but, and I mentioned this during the September Special Meeting, I am starting to think that the efficiencies are getting harder to find and any we are able to exploit may yield less than desirable results.

My Vote for an Eleven Month Calendar...

November, Ugh!  I lamented about this month last year and nothings changed.  It's not like I can go away and come back and completely miss it either since I have to be here to "manage" any situation that may develop.  But even in that regard I feel slightly neutered because I am really at the mercy of the weather.

All but two of the greens (#14 and #11) have lost their snow cover and the front nine fairways are basically without snow.  I decided to spray the exposed greens one more time since they did see a fair amount of moisture (8mm rain, 12 cm snow that melted, 3 cm snow that melted, 11 mm rain) as well as being exposed to mild temperatures and sun light -- all factors which act to affect fungicide efficacy.  As usual, I left areas untreated to see if the spray was warranted but I'll have to wait until spring to see.

The last couple days have seen lows of -18 Celsius and high of only -12.  Obviously with those temperatures combined with moisture at the beginning of the week the ground is setting up like concrete.  Not a bad thing disease wise but not a good thing if we get any rain since we would be guaranteed ice.  I've talked about winter damage to turf before but if you are interested you could go HERE for a quick read / refresher.

Cold temperatures are keeping me inside compiling numbers, reviewing, and planning.  The planning part is kind of a drag since next year will be status quo but the looking back at staff hours and fuel usage is interesting and lets me know if any of my goofy ideas worked out and where I can still make changes.  I keep threatening to talk about KGC's "maintenance metrics" so maybe if things stay the same I'll do that next time out.

Keeps me out of the bar....

I suspect my contemporaries would probably shake their head and call me an idiot if I were to tell them about my last two days.  I really thought the snow would melt but it is starting to add up and more (hopefully) in store for the weekend.  I ended up blowing the snow off #7 green and the front half of #6 and put down what Enkamat we had before it got any more "winterish" than it already is.  Like I said before, it's not a big deal but still working an hour or two in the dusk/dark on Friday p.m. might have been easier than the 7 hours of blowing snow/moving tarps/rolling out the Enkamat/re-tarping the greens.  But at least I know it can be done and how long it may take for future reference.....sounds sort of like a justification, no?

Almost 90% of #7 was covered with Enkamat and just a small portion of the front of #6 (for more of an experiment than anything else).

#6 Green with Enkamat and Tarp

Go here for a short explanation of tarps.  For the most part the things referenced in that post are still true.  When we messed around with the Enkamat last year I saw some things that made we want to use it again for this winter.  It seems when we remove the tarps in the spring the turf is sort of squished (not very technical but a good visual).  The Enkamat under the tarp not only appeared to act as a cushion from the weight of the snow pack but also an insulation between the turf leaf blades and ice that formed on top of the tarp.  The result is what you see in the pictures of #7 from March 2013 post (go here).  My hope is by placing the Enkamat under the semi-permeable tarp on #6 it will give this green a bit of help through the winter and maybe a better start next spring.

Mixed Feelings.....

Looking Toward 3 Tee

I am really happy with the 30 cm of snow at my place and the alleged 40 cm at the base of the ski hill but not too sure how I feel about the 12 cm at the course.  If it stays that would be mostly OK.  However, if it leaves that much snow melting will force my hand with respect to the applying my "panic spray".  I guess, based on the last post, my faith regarding all the sprays up to now will be really tested since unfrozen ground under snow for 5 months is pretty good breeding ground for disease if there is any type of surface moisture.

Like I mentioned before, we only have to put down the Enkamat on #7 which means I may have to blow it if the snow does stay.  Not a real big deal.  If you're wondering about the bears; they are still out....

My size 10/bears foot/my hand

Counting Down to Winter

We've pretty much completed all the preparations for winter.  Last week saw the last fairway get its treatment and up to now the weather has been cooperating.  The funny thing about spraying fairways is timing.  It is not possible to treat the areas we spray in a timely fashion because of size and weather (as I referenced in the last post) so we are somewhat forced to be done by the end of October.  Although it's nice to be done the trade off can be the length the treatments are left exposed.  We use a product with three different fungicides mixed together.  The mode of action for 2 of the 3 occurs within the plant (i.e. has to be taken up by the plant) while the third chemical is a contact.  Because of this mixture we obviously have to spray before the plant goes dormant.  It could happen that if you spray too early and the fall is unusually mild the efficacy of the spray declines (if you're a "techno geek"go here for extra info).  With respect to the greens the timing is just as important but even more so since disease pressure is higher due to density, species, health, and the low HOC.  The longer I do this the more trusting I become of the chemical even when the weather is less than perfect.  I will always keep a spray handy as a back up and if I don't need it I know it will be used the following season.

The forecast for the next couple days is for sort of rain/snow so we put out all the tarps on Friday (last years post, here, covers all the basics if you itching for more info).  My plan was to purchase a new impermeable for #7 as well as more of the Enkamat to be used under both #7 and #15 tarps but weak numbers for September put the brakes on purchasing.  I did get two roll of Enkamat to use on #7 but had to stick with the ripped up tarp.  We didn't roll out the Enkamat mostly because of time constraints but I am pretty sure we'll have time since there is a history of the first snow fall usually melting.  With no Enkamat available for #15 we'll go with what we've always done (a single impermeable tarp) and hope for the best.  One more point about #15 green.  It is kind of unique because of the large hill along the right side of the green.  During spring melt and even ill timed rain events during the winter water will run on the green from the hill.  We cut one edge of the tarp into the hillside to prevent moisture from running under the tarp and creating an ice layer directly in the surface.  We've done this for years and seldom has ice of any amount developed on the green surface.

The slope is huge PITA when we blow snow because we have to blow the snow in one direction and because of the size of the green we usually end up blowing 1/2 the snow twice, if you follow me.  I am getting ahead of myself so I'll wrap up with a video of the cutting the beetle tree down on the right of 9 green.