Seeing Daylight

I pray its not a train...

In my last post in May I mentioned our staffing levels of three techs each at the Maintenance One and Maintenance Two facilities, plus my rock steady guy out at the Estates shop. Shortly after that post we had several techs leave for various reasons, and we have been running for several months at 50% capacity while suitable replacements could be hired. Fleet maintenance has taken a hit while we kept our focus on keeping cutting units sharp and repairing equipment as needed.

In August I hired a tech who turned out to have stage four cancer, so we are allowing him to work when he feels up to it between treatments. This month I was able to finally hire two more techs and begin the training process.

Maybe I can take Christmas day off this year after all...

Regards,

Ready to Rock

It's hard to believe that our "Maintenance 2" facility (M2) has been closed for over 10 years. The original developer deferred cleanup of arsenic contamination to the new owners, as nobody wanted to expend the effort or expense to clean up the soil contamination properly. The cleanup effort took several years working with government authorities and local environmental groups.

The original design of the layout was for two 36 hole facilities but we have been running golf maintenance out of one facility for many years.

The photo at top is of our new Peerless 7000 reel grinder and Ideal 6000 bed knife grinder which have just been installed and calibrated. I use and recommend Peerless and Ideal grinders because they simply blow the competition away. Nobody else can come close to the speed and accuracy of these grinders. In fact, we have been maintaining over 160 cutting units for 72 holes of golf, with one set of grinders, for over four years with no issues.

Being able to maintain two smaller fleets of equipment is going to be very beneficial to the property in terms of efficiency. We are already seeing the benefits of efficiency by running the crews for two golf courses out of this facility. Eventually each facility will be staffed with three technicians, and I will "float" between the facilities as needed.

JP

'Tis the Season...

The guys in the shop of been going through the aerators getting them ready for the seasons rounds. 

This has been an especially busy year of rebuilds; all three 648 units and both 880s have been completely rebuilt with all new bearings. Our first of 13 rounds is April 28th and once we start we don't have a break all summer. Each of the courses has a 10 day closing to accomplish all aerification and verticutting (with the exception of the Champion, which closes for re-grassing fairways this summer) so we need to be sure the machines will have 100% up-time. 

Oh the joys of Florida turfgrass management!

JP