New Spray Equipment

It's always nice to be able to have the chance to get new pieces of equipment added to the fleet.  This is our newest piece of turf maintenance equipment.  The Toro Multipro 1750 is a dedicated spray unit that will assist in the many applications of different pesticides we apply to the course every year.

Still a compact design but more room in the cockpit.

175 gallon tank with excellent agitation.

Getting ready to spray #1 green.

A very nice machine.

Hand held sprayer and hose reel is a very important accessory.

Demetrio using the sprayer to treat Hemlock hedge.

Bunker Changes on Hole #12

There has also been a change to first fairway bunker on hole #12.  This bunker was the largest bunker on the golf course.  This change is similar to the change to hole #4 as it still poses a threat to the blue tee player, while becoming more forgiving to the gold/white tee player.

Many truckloads of dirt needed to be hauled in to fill the large bunker.

The new shape is taking form.

This is the back edge before compaction.

This is the back edge after compaction.

5 pallets of sod were used to fill the space.

Demetrio making sure the sod is installed properly.

All sod on the slopes are held in with staples while they grow roots.

The area is complete.  2500 square feet of new sod.

The back edge is looking good.

A view of the new bunker shape.

Bunker Changes on Hole #4

There has been a change to the first fairway bunker on hole #4.  This bunker has been decreased in size to a little under half the size it originally was.  This bunker remains an obstacle for blue tee players, while giving the gold/white tee players a large forgiving grassy area instead of the full size bunker that it used to be.

Sod is removed from around the edges of bunker

Some dirt had to be hauled in, with more added later also.

Mini Excavator regrading the area.

Would love to own one of these for all the tee renovations ahead.

The area is almost ready for sod.

The side of the bunker before compaction.

The side of the bunker after compaction.

Final grade prepped and ready for sod.

Demetrio cutting an edge on the overhanging sod.

Please stay of the sod until it has healed in. Take a free drop for ground under repair.

The finished product.

A view from another angle.

Misc Jobs

During the winter there are always plenty of odd jobs to keep the crew busy on some of the colder days.  This winter was no exception and we had plenty of things to work on.

Many of my staff have acquired plenty of indoor painting experience over the years.  This year we took advantage of the cold and rainy days to repaint many areas around the club.  Fresh coats of paint were applied to the walls in the Fitness Center, Charleston Room, Elevator Hallways, Men and Womens Locker Rooms, and some small touch up inside the Golf Shop.

This winter our staff also had to time to lend its talents to Sam in helping him fix all of the landscape lighting at the front gate.  There is a noticeable difference when entering the club at night.

Clyde Forrest, who is our flower gardener in the summer, takes care of many of the odd jobs in the shop over the winter.

My former assistant Ryan built these water cooler houses in 2005.

We bring them in and clean them up in the winter,

Kitchen doors refinished for Sears Room.

Clyde takes pride in his work here at Kenmure.

Cleaning and repainting trash cans.

Driving Range signs needed some paint.

Wet Weather Spring on #3 Fairway

This area on #3 fairway has been a problem in the past, we have made some temporary fixes but something more effective was needed this winter.  There is a very active spring that making a nice mess in the fairway.

Ditching machine was purchased new by Kenmure in 1984.

It still works great! 

A view of the area getting some attention.

Some old pipe, I would say 100% clogged.

Hopefully my arteries are in slightly better shape!

My men demonstrating how 4 people can get gravel from one truck bed.

Nice job guys!

Bunker Renovation Winter 2016

I recently read an article in an industry magazine about the current DIY movement in Golf Maintenance.  We have been DIY since the beginning.  Constructing tees, building bridges, renovating bunkers, installing miles of drainage, and burying our own 3 phase power cables.  All done in house by our maintenance staff.  We have used outside contractors for some very large jobs, but this is few and far between.  We have a talented staff and if given the time and resources we can achieve most anything one would ever need on a golf course.

In mid February we started the final phase of our bunker renovations here at Kenmure.  We had 20 fairway bunkers left to complete before the regular season started.  The weather cooperated with us and in a few short weeks we managed to complete a ton of work, well to be honest it was more like 500 tons of work.

The crew worked very hard and shoveled many, many tons of sand.  It was nice to complete the final leg of this bunker renovation.

Drainage was enhanced in most of the bunkers we refilled.

This is some drainage on the right fairway bunker on #1

4 to 6 inches of fresh sand was added to all the bunkers.

Some bunker renovations involved some reshaping for surface drainage reasons.

Emma finding some shade on an a nice day in February.

Laying the old sod back on #15.

New sod on a reconstructed #18 bunker edge.

Finished bunkers on hole #13 looking great.

17 truckloads of bunker sand averaging 24 tons per load.

The brown sand is the old sand was removed from the bunkers.

All this sand was removed by hand with shovels.

Defining the edges in a bunker that will soon receive fresh sand. 

Hand removal of the old bunker sand.

  The crew is getting back in shape for the Spring.

A look a 3 fresh bunkers on #8 and #1

Waiting for more manual labor.