Stump Grinding

We were able to get all 45 or so stumps ground this last week with a rental from Vermeer.  The grinder was a SC652 that was a beast.  All stumps were done in about a day and a half.  We purchased the stump grinder rental at the 2015 HAGCSA Scholarship and Research Tournament back in June.  Not only was it a great deal for us, but we were able to contribute to local scholarships and research at Kansas State University and the University of Missouri.

We had to take down a few remaining stumps.  Most were not quite this big

Here is the stump grinder at work up by the clubhouse.

We'll spend the rest of the week picking up the debris, and will soon back fill with topsoil and sod.

Native Area Burning

We were able to get most of our natives burned with the assistance of the Kansas City Parks burn crew.  The areas on 12, 17, 14, and 15 where we battled weeds last year are all completed.  We still have some smaller areas to finish, but have gotten off to a great start.  This is the first time in 8 years we've been able to get the burn accomplished.

Area between 17 tees and fairway.

Another view of the area in front of 17 tees and the right side of 12.

Area between 14 tees and 15 green.

This area that is between 12 and 17 is a ball magnet.

Tree Trimming

The following pictures are a snapshot of some tree trimming we did earlier this winter to help with line of sight problems and shade issues around greens and tees.  In all, we completed trimming on holes 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 18.  The following pictures are from 6 tee box where we removed some tree limbs that were beginning to creep into the line of sight from the back tee box.

This is a zoomed in view from the blue tee.

Here is the view after we did some major work.

This is the 34 foot towable boom lift we rented for the week.

Tree Removal

We had to remove this dead elm tree behind 16 green.

This is a tree on number 1 that was clearly ready to be taken out.

Winter Refurbishing

We have been spending the bulk of our time the last couple of months inside the shop doing our normal winter work.  That's right, I do me work.  Just because I have not made a post since November does not mean we were taking all of that time off.  The winter time is admittedly slower paced, but lots of projects are still being accomplished.   This includes lots of sanding, staining, spray painting, and reorganizing.  We have 24 benches that sit on every hole with some having two that we sand and re-stain.  We also have ball washers and trash cans on every hole that we sand and repaint.  Winter is also a good time to bring in all of our 150 yard poles and repaint them.  The few days that we have been able to get outside we spent cleaning up limbs from the heavy winds we have had.  Last year, the weather allowed us to get many trees limned up.  Fortunately, we finished about two-thirds of the course during the winter.  We have not been as lucky this year with brutally cold temperatures, and now a heavy snow cover.  I still have confidence that we will be able to get through a lot of the remaining trees.  

Here is one of the 24 benches that we refurbish.

All of the 150 yard poles repainted.  We also made six extras for replacement throughout the year.

A look from the clubhouse down #1 fairway after nearly a foot of snow.

Our assistant superintendent Nick Bishop has moved on from Swope Memorial to be the assistant at Crestwood Country Club in Pittsburg, KS.  He is now closer to family and has fishing and hunting right out of his backdoor.  I'm a little jealous of the second part since being in the city makes good fishing spots are hard to find.  Nick was a huge part of our team the last two years, and we wish him the best.

We have since hired Josh Linn as assistant superintendent.  Josh is originally from Smith Center, Kansas and is a recent graduate of the University of Arizona.  He brings a wide range of experiences from different golf courses including working at Dove Mountain where the PGA's Match Play Championship has been held the last few years.  We look forward to what Josh brings to the team.