Equipment Maintenance & Refurbishing Progress

As the cold and snowy conditions continue, at this point in the winter we have made good progress on both outdoor projects, our equipment maintenance and repair activities,and our course furnishings refurbishment. Over the past month and a half we've spent several days outdoors working on tree management tasks (as mentioned in previous post) but on the many bitter cold days we've all been indoors preparing all of our equipment and furnishings for the season ahead.

Our general servicing tasks for every powered equipment unit includes: oil changes (engine & hydraulic), all filters changed, drive belts/chains adjusted and/or replaced if worn, wheel bearings checked and repacked with grease, electrical wiring & lights checked, brakes serviced and pads replaced if needed, and body components checked, repaired, painted as needed, and finally waxed prior to spring use. Additionally, reel mower units are sharpened (replaced if badly worn) after bearings are checked and replaced if needed, bedknives (the stationary "blade" on a reel mower) are replaced and ground and "trued". Height adjusting rollers are checked, bearings replaced if needed, cutting drive and traction drive belts are checked and also replaced as needed. Also for many reel units (all green, tee, approach, fairway, intermediate, and range tee mowers) an additional attachment is incorporated called a "groomer". It's a spiral vertical blade arrangement used to stand the grass blades up, prior to cutting, similar to as a barber combs one's hair to stand it up before clipping. Groomers require additional bearing, housing, seal, and belt checks and often these precise and high speed rotation components require many part replacement needs.

 Mike, our new ace Equipment Technician, puts the finishing touches on this tee mower, one of nearly 25 such units used on greens, tees, approaches, range greens, chipping areas, and more.

 A few greensmowers (background) and fairway mower cutting units (foreground) ready for spring

Additional equipment servicing includes the traction units of all of the above cutting units, (diesel fairway units, triplex riding units and all other mower and special use powered units such as: Greens Rollers, Rotary Rough Mowers, Mid-sized Utility Vehicles, Fairway & Green Sprayers, Aerators, Topdressing Spreaders, Tractors, Skid-Steer Loaders, Pick-up Truck and Dump Trucks.  There is indeed a significant amount of equipment (valued over 2 million dollars) required to maintain and improve the course and grounds and as well, a significant amount of preventive maintenance and repair required. Keeps us quite busy all year long!

 One of four fairway units serviced, sharpened, and ready for action. Many larger units such as this require significant time and effort during our winter maintenance period.

While all this equipment servicing is in progress, our course furnishings are also being refurbished. Our furnishings include: tee markers, ball washers, flag poles, tee benches, trash receptacles, some tables and chairs (around half way house), flower boxes, and all of our wooden bunker rakes. Cleaning, sanding, and painting or varnishing tasks are performed on all of these items and readied for use in early spring.

 Tee Bench refinishing - completely sanded and a fresh coat of varnish is applied

 Wooden Bunker Rake - Over 150 are hand sanded and a weather sealer stain is applied

So hopefully the above gives a little insight into what we've been up to inside the Grounds Operation Center over the past month and a half or so. We still have plenty to do but we're making very good progress. I'll post again soon about our progress on the Tree Management Activities, mentioned in my previous post.

Hope you are enjoying your winter, wherever you may be!