Reel to Reel

#16 fairway We accumulated .25" of rain late yesterday afternoon.  The rain mixed with the snow on the ground to form a frozen slush over the turf.  Last night's snowfall left a total of 4.5" of wet heavy snow over the layer of frozen slush.  These photos are from this morning. #2 green   a look across #5 green   #12 woods    

The golf course is back under snow cover with the accumulation of 2" of snow yesterday.  It does not look like it will last long, as temperatures next week are supposed to reach the low 40's with rain predicted.  The weather this winter has been extremely unpredictable.  We have already experienced four different freeze/thaw cycles.  Conditions look favorable for yet another snow meltdown next week, I will keep you posted.   #5 fairway

The combination of this week's 1/4" of rain and temperatures reaching the low 40's, melted a good amount of snow.  Snow cover is spotty and ground conditions remain frozen.  Below are a few pictures I took this morning.  #2 fairway   #3 fairway #5 green   #7 fairway  

It has been a busy off season inside the maintenance facility.  Our focus the last couple of weeks has been sharpening the cutting units of the greens, tees and fairway mowers. Unlike traditional rotary mowers, the cutting units are made up of reels and bedknives.  The reels consist of helix shaped blades.  The blades spin rapidly to cut the grass against a bedknife that is mounted below. reel preparation before it is ground (sharpened) Every winter, reels and bedknives are ground with specialized equipment that renew the cutting surface and remove any coning that occurs from regular use.  We rely on 42 of these cutting units to mow greens, tees and fairways. Mike placing a reel in the reel grinder   a reel inside the grinder being sharpened   Mike setting up the bedknife grinder a bedknife inside the grinder being sharpened  As you can see, the process is pretty specialized.  We are ...

Ground conditions have finally firmed up enough this week to get our tree company out on the course to do some much needed pruning.  They will be focused on the removal of dead wood and hanging branches.  This damage is the result of the severe storm from last July.     We'll continue our tree maintenance throughout the month as long as ground conditions cooperate.