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.