Ketchup....Catch up?

.....meaningful titles are sometimes hard to come by.  Anyways, here's what's been happening over the past couple days.  Last weekends forecast was pretty much on the nose regarding snow and cold.  I went out on Sunday and put down the tarps and Enkamat before the weather hit but had to tweak the process a bit.  Like I mentioned before, since we were unable to afford more Enkamat, I had planned to split it up amongst the greens that I think may need it the most.  The new tarp for #15 green scared me because it is so 'impermeable-like" (remember anoixia? go HERE) so I used the Enkamat to cover close to 80% of the green to maintain an air gap before rolling out the new tarp.  The remaining Enkamat was only able to cover a little less than 2/3's of #7 green (which is where the other impermeable tarp is located).  So, obviously, the upper putting green, the back of #9 green and the lower tier of #6 green do not have any Enkamat.  This is too bad since the condition of these surfaces in the spring were pretty good and  I think that was partly due to the Enkamat.

The one unfortunate part with the arrival of winter at the beginning of the week was the wind that preceded the system.  I staple the tarps to the ground and generally add extra on the side of any edge facing the prevailing wind.  The wind last Sunday night was the dreaded "backwards wind" which meant it blew completely opposite to the way it normals comes.  The end result was the semi-permeable tarp on #9 blew off.  I've decided not to remove the snow from the green and expose it to all the predicted cold temperatures.  I'll try to fix the tarp later.

I've mostly been inside during the mornings either reviewing expenses or looking into ideas I've had during the summer but didn't have time to investigate (for example, I think I've found a way to use my phones GPS and Google Maps to record and store in the "cloud" the fertilizer and/or chemical applications we make during the season.  With that information we can be somewhat more accurate with our record keeping...something that may be a requirement in the ever changing "landscape" of pesticide regulations.)  The rest of the day I continue to prepare equipment or areas of the golf course for winter.

One more thing.   During the summer when I received positive comments about the condition of the course I would, at some point during the conversation, say something like "it's been a good year to grow grass" or something along that line.   I wasn't trying to be modest but I was instead making an observation.  An article written by an agronomist from the USGA Green Section comments on course conditions as they relate to weather.  To be fair the article seems more to be referencing an apparent habit of players to equate good conditions with good weather while ignoring the importance of a superintendent and blaming the superintendent entirely for poor conditions while completely disregarding the impact of bad weather.  Thankfully, to this point in time, that has never been a huge problem at this club for me.  What I like about the article is the last two paragraphs which have a simple math equation that can be used to sum up course conditions in a succinct manner.  Again, the gist of the article isn't overly applicable to our/my situation but it is some food for thought.  Take a look HERE to read it.

The New Carts Have Arrived.

Preparing to unload carts

Its still early but some things are happening in preparation for the golf season. Earlier this week we received the new carts which are all equipped with GPS. Not everyone knows that each time we get new carts they have to come from Georgia (the state not the country). The trucks left on a Wednesday and arrived early on a Monday. Each truck carries 28 carts (we needed 3 trucks for the 66 carts delivered) in a "double-decker" style trailer. The roofs, windshields, etc. are loaded in compartments located under the trailer. If you double click the following picture you can see how little room there is for the top row of carts. Driving them out is fairly straight forward but backing them up can be challenging. Luckily, the dudes from Georgia do it all and we just watch.

Ramp leading to upper row

Most the old carts were loaded and at least one truck and trailer returned those carts to the U.S. I am not sure about the rest but usually they are taken to Calgary and Club Car in Calgary sells them.

Truck in the fore ground is loading old
carts while the other unloads new carts

Now that all the carts are equipped with the Visage (or the GPS system to keep it simple) we now have the option to use all the features that are available with such a system. Aside from the obvious tracking time and movement of the carts, we will be able to control the area carts are allowed to travel. For instance, but placing an "electronic fence" around the golf course perimeter no cart will be able to leave the property since the new carts will automatically shut down once they reach the perimeter. No more going to the Marysville pub for beers! Even better, from a selfish stand point, is the ability to limit traffic in excessively wet areas after monsoons without stringing out miles of rope. Also, we can limit traffic on the steep banks located on the back nine roughs. We can control the speed of the carts around the clubhouse and on steep cart paths to help limit the possibility of roll overs and crashes. As with all things there will be tweaking to get it all finessed properly for KGC.

At the end of this week I'll do another post on course conditions and where we are headed but as it stands now it is still wintry and not a whole lot has changed.