As we head towards the winter solstice and the official start of winter on Sunday we wave goodbye to some seriously cold temps. The next two weeks will see above normal temperatures which mean highs into the 60's and more limited frost in the mornings. January also looks about normal which is a welcome change compared to the last two weeks of fairly cold weather. Sunlight hours will be back on the rise starting next week!
The forecast did not fluctuate much last week and the 16 degree low on Sunday night into Monday morning held true. The decision to cover the greens was made Thursday night to cover the greens Sunday to keep the frigid temps from freezing the bermudagrass profile.
The gusty winds that were bringing the cold temps in were not exactly helpful on Sunday afternoon but 15 dedicated team members wrestled the tarps across the greens and put the greens to sleep for Sunday night. Monday morning was certainly cold but the greens remained at about 34 degrees in the top inch compared to the South greens at 27 degrees and frozen solid. This won't be the last time these North greens are covered but the forecast does not show any below 20 or even 25 degree nights for a while.
With the north closed and cold weather here a hefty amount of staff joined our newly arrived mini-excavator on the left side of the stream on 7 North. All of the brush and sucker trees along the bank were cleared and chipped up in order to improve the view up the 7th hole. That is your North course super Eric Downs with the waders on in 30 degree water making it happen.
The brush up top was hacked down and run through the chipper making it easy to haul off to the debris pile left of 11.
The view up 7 is now restored, showcasing the entire fairway and even getting a peak at the front of the green now.
At the same time we had another crew working on the 4 remaining gum trees between 13 and 16 North. As we talked about last week, these gums were over grown, not in healthy condition and blocking sunlight from reaching the willow oaks that were planted as their replacement.
The gums have been retired now and the willow oaks will be able to fill in nicely to maintain separation between 13 and 16.
The stump grinder contractor was out quickly on Wednesday to keep us caught up. This $100k machine is one of the few that we will like to contract out as it makes quick work of larger stumps and is just not worth having one of our own.
The much more versatile piece of equipment that we now own is this Takeuchi TB240 mini excavator. This machine was put immediately to work this week pulling brush and trees out of 7 stream and cleaning up stump grindings. The list of work for this unit is long and a much welcomed addition as our 20 year old backhoe with 7000 hours on it can now just live at the shop and push down the dumpster every once in a while. This excavator is a wonderful capital purchase and will certainly help our staff increase productivity throughout the entire year.
Another productive week is in the books and the Blog is signing off for 2025. We could not be more excited for 2026 and what Mother Nature will bring us. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and we will see you in the New Year!
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