Naperville Country Club Green Department: winter work

Showing posts with label winter work. Show all posts

While we were under snow in the first week of March, we went inside the Clubhouse for one last winter project. Here is the blog post about that ("One More Winter Project"). Yesterday, the other half of that project was completed. There was much anticipation for the new TV, but most did not know what was actually going in. This will likely turn out to be a popular place to watch the games. There is a good chance hockey fans will be watching the Blackhawks on Thursday.

We always get the "What do you do in the winter time" question. Here is your answer, move golf carts to the Ballroom.

Obviously, this is not all we do, but was one project for today. If you are wondering why we are putting golf carts in the Ballroom, come to Casino Night tomorrow night to find out!

It took a while, but winter has finally come. The biggest snow of the season has come and gone and left plenty of opportunities to enjoy the snow. Sledding, snowshoeing, and cross country skiing will be wonderful this week.

Another chance for an early golf season seems to have been blanketed by the snow. A stark contrast from last season. A year ago today was almost 70 degrees! Those warm temperatures continued through March including the unprecedented 8 straight days of 80 degrees that started March 14th. This return of more normal seasonal weather has allowed us time for one more project in the clubhouse.

This last project involves modifying the cabinet in the Member's Grill to accomodate a larger television in the future. This series of cabinets was installed several years ago and has been modified as television technology has changed. This project is just the next progression, for the next television.

We cut our the upper cabinets and will refinish the wall, hide the cable, and put a top on the lower cabinets. Some additional sanding and staining will have it finished.

Now that we are almost through January, it is time to get the blog going for the year. Most of the activity taking place now has been in the clubhouse. Several small projects have been taking place and they will be wrapping up very soon. New ceiling tile was installed in the hallways near the locker rooms and in the ladies locker room. Our staff did this work again this year. Over the past 3 winters, Mario, Emilio and Torres have replaced all the ceiling tile in the clubhouse.

The fireplace needed some attention after a few bricks fell out of place on the back side. New brick has been installed and the fireplace is back together.

The pro shop has a new look for the coming year. New paint has been put on the walls.

After the ceiling tiles were completed new carpet was installed in the hallways near the locker rooms and in the Member's Grill.

New carpet and new paint is happening now in the business offices. Until that is finished, those managers have been forced to pass the time at the main bar.

No on-course projects have been planned for this winter. The course is making it through winter with no problems to this point. This pictures show our biggest snow of the season from last night. I recorded this snow as our first snow cover because the snow on 12/28 did not cover all areas. I can already tell this batch of snow is beginning to melt and does not look like it will last long. Another unusual winter.

The other big project for the winter months involves maintenance on the equipment. With the equipment not being used on a daily basis, it gives our mechanic, Greg, time to perform a more thorough inspection of all the moving parts. Greg also spends time sharpening all of the cutting units on all equipment. Our equipment fleet is new within the last 4 years, so much of the maintenance is still preventative.

Having equipment that is sharp for cutting the grass is very important for maintaining the highest quality turf. Through the winter Greg spends most of his time in our grinding room making sure all of the cutting units are ready to go for the spring. This picture shows one of our two grinders used for sharpening reels. At this point in the winter, all of the green, tee and fairway mowers have been sharpened and are ready to go for the spring.

The main objective of our crew members through the winter months is cleaning repairing and refinishing the course products. This included all benches, ball washers, trash cans and tee markers on the tees; the wooden bag stands around the clubhouse, cooler boxes, flag sticks, and cups, etc.

The process involves cleaning the surface, sanding, repairing anything that may be broken and putting on a finish. We paint the ball washers and trash cans to match. We use an oil to refinish the wood products-benches, flag sticks, and some trash cans. We are behind this year with these jobs as a result of the projects that were done in the clubhouse. While our crew is working on the course products, the mechanic is doing the same thing with our equipment. More on this later in the week...

There are many projects happening at the clubhouse this week in an effort to be ready for regular business soon. All these pictures were taken today.

The remaining HVAC units are going on top of the clubhouse.

Painting has started on the new ceiling in the Pump Room.

New carpet is going down in the fireplace room.

New carpet is down in the Grill on the Green.

New hardwood is going down in Club 21 by the doors, but I did not get a picture.

Our guys are taking a break from refinishing course supplies to polish the floors in the kitchen.

I will have some video up soon of the projects being done.

The crew spent this morning cleaning the parking lots and sidewalks of the biggest snow of the season. We received about 5-6". There was wind with the storm that created some deeper drifts. This storm also brought with it the coldest temperatures of the season, with near 0 degree F expected for tonight.

The ice rink will not be ready again this weekend. It is still not frozen through. Once it is frozen through, we will need a day to groom the ice smooth to be ready to skate on. The freeze and thaw and snow, has created a bumpy surface. We are not able to walk across the ice yet. Rain and mid 40s is forecasted for Monday, which could delay us more.

The ceilings in the hallway and fireplace room have been completed. You can watch two short videos of the work on those ceilings on YouTube:

Removing fireplace room ceiling

Replacing fireplace room ceiling

The ceiling in the Pump room is in the process of being torn out.

New drywall will be put up and painted in place of the old tile ceiling.

Watch for updates next week on the ceiling in the Pump room. New heating units will be installed on the roof next week also. The units will be disconnected on Monday. A crane will be here Tuesday to remove the old ones from the roof and put the new ones on.

The new ceiling tiles are being put in place in the fireplace room and the hallway. The cutouts for the lights were made first so we would be able to get lights back on in the room, then the full tiles were put in place. The pieces that need to be trimmed will be done this week.

A few other projects are being done while the ceiling tiles were down. The track the ceiling tile sits in was painted, and a few lights were moved around. Also, some changes are being made to the music system, which won't be noticeable, but should make it easier to use. We hope to be done with this as soon as possible. A contractor will be in to renovate the ceiling in the Pump room, then new carpets will be put down in the fireplace room, Grill on the Green, and hallways.

We will be working on a few projects in the clubhouse over the coming weeks. Changing out ceiling tile like we did last year is the first project being tackled. This will be done in the room with the fireplace, and in the front hallway. The ceiling in the Pump room will be done by a contractor later this month. After the ceilings are completed new carpets will be installed by the fireplace, in the Grill on the Green and the from hallway.

The Ballroom is being used as a cache for all of the furniture from the rooms that are having work done to them.

Here is a quick video of Torres, Emilio and Mario taking down the ceiling by the fireplace.

Our annual equipment maintenance has been underway for a few weeks now. We started with a thorough cleaning after the equipment is done with its work on the golf course. Once that is completed we bring it inside for greasing, cleaning and changing of filters and fluids, then sharpening the blades. All of the equipment has been cleaned and we are moving on to the detailed maintenance for each piece of equipment. Here, Mario is removing the blades from one of the Sidewinders that we use to mow around the fairway and between the tee and fairway.

Here are a few of our reel cutting units that have been removed and are ready for Greg to rebuild and sharpen for next year.

Even though the winter involves much less work on the course, as evidenced by my lack of turf related posts, our concerns of the turf's well being is not lessened. There are several maledies that can compromise the turf's health through the winter and into the spring transition. Some of those include winter dessication, ice cover, freezing damage and disease. I have touched on the diseases that can damage turf in the winter (November 20), but will go into some more detail here.

ICE COVER

I will start with ice cover because that is what promted this post. There are several areas on the course that have had sustained ice cover for about the last 30 days, and the ice is still fairly thick. Some of those areas are 14 fairway just over the hill, the start of 11 fairway and 5 green. These areas have not become a concern yet, and likely will not, but we will keep our eye on them.

ice cover on 5 green

Ice cover becomes a problem after extended periods of time by preventing the turf's ability to properly exchange air. Even in the winter, turf is still relying on air exchange to continue necessary processes while dormant. If a cover of ice is in place, it prevents that necessary exchange of air. As a result the air under the ice cover developes excessive supplies of carbon dioxide and the turf begins to sufficate. It's the same reason you were told as a kid not to put a plastic bag over your head! If turf is covered in ice long enough, it will die from suffication.

Ice cover would become a concern if annual bluegrass or kentucky bluegrass are covered for 60 days, and if creeping bentgrass is covered for 120 days. We may consider removing the ice if it is still in place after 60 days, but even then just breaking the ice to allow sufficient air exchange will prevent damage. Some ideas for removing ice include topdressing with sand, or a dark material to aid in the melting process; or mechanically removing the ice with through aerification.

Here are some links with additional information:

Winter Injury: Freeze Smothering - Karl Danneberger, Ph.D, The Ohio State Univeristy (Video)
Ice Cover and the Role in Freezing Injury - Karl Danneberger

I will continue in the successive days with information on winter dessication, freezing damage and disease.

Though my efforts to update the blog have been slow, it does not mean the work has been. The benches and divot boxes are ready for a coat of sealer for the coming year, and the trash cans and ball washers will be receiving a touch-up of paint soon to ready them for the warm weather as well.

This week Torres and Emilio have been in the process of sanding and refinishing the banquet tables and banquet carts for the clubhouse. The first round of tables and all of the carts are ready to be refinished. We plan to have the second set of tables in the shop next week for the same treatment.

Greg is continuing his path through the equipment. The walk mowers have been completed and are ready to go. Greg has moved on to our riding mowers now.

With the sanding on the tables taking place inside, Greg has been forced to share the shop with his messier counterparts. He doesn't let them forget where they are!

My work with the clubs history is ongoing. I am in the process of returning to writing a short club history after taking a few days to work on other tasks.

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