Monday, December 29, 2014

A Christmas Update

4 Fairway looking towards 8 Fairway
 
     As you can see, almost all of the snow has melted off and we are just getting into the coldest part of the winter months.  Now, this is definitely not ideal because we welcome a thick blanket of snow to help insulate the turf from the winds and cold temperatures we receive from December until March.    November 5th we saw a healthy blanket of snow as you can see below.  This was a little early for my liking, and I am very glad that it all melted off and we were able to get some more work done on the course.
A view from behind 9 green


This was after we sprayed all of our snow mold and all of our Fall fertilization was complete, but before we were able to get the greens covers down on 9,12 and 13 greens.  It took a few days to melt this off, but it did melt off and we were able to get some added protection to our most stressed greens coming out of last winter. 

      Now that it's just me in the shop until the growing season starts back up, it's time to focus on equipment maintenance.  This year, our main focus is repairing all the cutting units for our triplex mowers to ensure a high quality of cut each time they go out the door.  We are replacing all bearings that are associated with the cutting units themselves, all grease seals, and any parts that have been worn over the last few years.  When you think about it, these mowers are usually mowing 7 days a week from April until late October, with an average run time per day of 4 hours.  That is 213 days at 4 hours average per day ( some days we double mow, some days we just roll and don't mow )  That means we are putting around 850 hours a year on these mowers and cutting units. We are on a schedule of switching out the cutting units every 2 to 3 weeks during the growing season.  This means we have  "back up " reels, all sharpened and adjusted, to be put on at a moments notice to continue the daily routine.  this year, we are replacing some of the older reels with new parts to have even more spare reels, so I can spend less time in the grinding room and more time out on the course.  If all goes according to plan, we will have :
                                                            1 set of verticutter reels (3 reels per set)
                                                            1 set of groomer reels    ( 3 reels per set)
                                                            4 sets of greens reels for every day use.
                                                            1 set of light rollers        (3 rollers per set)
Having this many reel sets ensures that we will be able to replace any cutting unit that may get damaged by a ball mark coin left on the green, a rock that the operator didn't see in their initial walk around the green, or any miscellaneous debris that may cause damage to the reel.  If we were to change out the reels on a bi-weekly basis, this would make it possible for me to only have to sharpen in the winter and one time during the season, as opposed to once a month like I had to in 2014. 
        The engine and hydraulic systems of these mowers are designed to run at maximum throttle while cutting, so you can imagine the wear that not only the cutting reel and bed knife are subject too, but the bearings that maintain the high quality of cut are put through. 
     We believe that preventative maintenance is the key to our operation. I always had this vision for Wildflower, and now that I have a winter under my belt, I understand the amount of work it takes for preventative maintenance on all of our equipment to reduce the amount of down time in the summer.  Granted, you will never have an entire season without any problems that you could have avoided with PM, but it makes life a whole lot easier with a system of replacement in place so you aren't trying to hurry and get things together during the growing season.  2014 was a learning year for me in regards to maintaining a fleet of golf course machinery, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work through the obstacles and learn from what happened. 
     We also have organized our parts ordering system in the shop and detailed what parts are needed for what operations and they are now all in one location as opposed to how they were in years before.  Having to search for parts, not find them, then order new parts only to find 6 of that part stowed away somewhere was frustrating this summer, but I am glad that Ty, our mechanic during the summer, took the time to dig deep in our parts room and find parts that we needed. 
I'll keep researching and educating myself or equipment maintenance so you golfers out there can enjoy the fruits of our labor!

Think warm thoughts, and have a great last few days of 2014!!
Aaron

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