Week of January 10th

This week started off cold and windy.  We have had a little warming late in the week but the course has remained closed due to snow cover.  Your RRGC maintenance team has been staying very productive even with the sub-freezing temps.  

Here are a couple pictures of the current snow cover around the course as of Thursday morning.

Hole 5 and #6 tee complex which are some of the last areas to melt.  The cart paths on these two areas are still extremely icy and dangerous to pass with golf carts.  

The tee complex on hole 17 and the green side of the creek on hole 16.  Snow lingering around due to tree shade.

While we wait for the sun to come up and the temperatures to rise a bit, the crew has been starting their mornings inside.  We have started the process of prepping and refurbishing all course accessories.  This includes all tee markers, cart directional signs, flag sticks, bunker rakes, water cooler houses, yardage posts, trash cans and so much more.

This week we have continued with our winter tree program.  This has been a hot topic as of late.  We have heard a lot of  question and comments about this year's winter tree program.  When we went through the master plan process in the winter of 2019 that was approved and adopted, a tree removal program was included in the master plan.  This plan did not only include trees that are safety hazards, but also trees that are causing turf issues as well as trees that will enhance our historic beauty and views around the property.  Here is a link to help understand tree removal on older golf courses: https://www.linksmagazine.com/gil-hanses-architecture-101-the-trouble-with-trees/

If you have any further questions about our tree program please don't hesitate to reach out.  

The crew has also continued paver work this week.  Here is Matt leading the crew (or just getting in their way as Fernando would say) on holes 2 and 4.  They have also completed work around the 4th tee complex this week.   

The winter months also allow us to prepare all of our equipment for the upcoming season.  Here is Brian, our Equipment Manager who is heading into his 18th season at the Road, grinding reels on one of the fairway mowers.  Brian has implemented a preventive maintenance plan on all equipment that ensures less down time during the growing season.

Also we have continued progress on #6 pump station.  Here is the new electrical cabinet that holds the computer that controls the water pumped to the course.  The bitter cold early in the week has put us a little behind on this project. We hope to have the welder come out early next week to connect  the pipes which is the last phase of this project.  

   

Lastly, the late week warm up has given us hope that the course will re-open soon.  Starting Thursday afternoon the crew has been out prepping the course so when we feel it is safe to get carts and walkers around the course we are ready.  When the course re-opens, we will have our winter tees out and double cups in the greens.  Please remember, we would appreciate that you only tee off from the areas with the winter tee markers.  We have 2 sets of markers out: red and white.  This we help keep the traffic in these areas, so we will come out of winter with less traffic issues.  Also, when you are done putting out please remember to put the flag stick back in the cup you did not put into.  

Thanks for reading.