Course Report – August

Course Update

Another month has flown by which means we are another month closer to some much nicer weather. The course isn’t holding up too bad and although we hate having the ropes in place they are doing the job and keeping traffic off the usual wet area’s. We do remind players in carts to be mindful of where they are driving and avoid wet areas through out the course.

Although the weather hasn’t been favourable out on the course and the growth rate is basically non existent, we have still kept busy with plenty of workshop related projects and organising. When we moved into the new shed in December we simply didn’t have the time to properly set things up and get organised.  Ryan has been busy in the workshop putting his fabricating skills to the test with a fuel storage shed currently being erected to keep our fuel bowsers out of the elements. Our new fertiliser storage has also been completed on the site of our old lunchroom. Previously our fertiliser storage was in a bare earthed shed and when it rained the water funnelled down the driveway and directly into it. Although the fertiliser was stacked on pellets off the ground the shed would stay cold and damp for quite some time – in summer it would be extremely dusty and dirty. A big thank you must go out to the special project committee for the completion of this project –  Warren Mezger, Jim Weston, Gary Pritchard, Bruce Clapp and Alan Grist. Next on the agenda is the upgrade of our Pesticide storage which is required to be compliant with environmental and industry standards.

 

As of the 1^st of July we have also gone “live” with our integrated management program. Plenty of data has been collected and inputted into the program which will give better business oversight and insight to all facets of the operation which includes:

• Calculate staff hours and assign these hours into area’s of the golf course.
• Chemical & fertiliser applications and costs associated.
• Stock management and data recording.
• Logging machinery hours and the cost of running eg: fuel usage, servicing etc

 

A little insight to a few tasks completed from the 1^st of July to 31^st of July  

Greens preparation weekdays – Mowing, rolling, changing holes, dusting etc (Weekends recorded under weekend prep)

• 123.75hrs – that’s the equivilant of 1 staff member doing that task full time for 3.24 weeks
• $4060 includes machinery fuel, wages etc

 

Bunker management –raking, repairing faces etc. Does not include weekend raking (recorded under weekend prep)

• 22.5 hours – 1 staff member full time for 5 days.
• Volunteer rake hours 9
• $421 – bunker generally raked by a junior employee.

 

Cleaning of irrigation dams

• 34 hours – 1 staff member 4.2 days
• $1200 – wages, pumps etc

 

Snaphot of staff allocation (hours and % of time)

 

 

 

As we go further into the year and collect more data this will give us a better understanding of the operations of the golf course and facility.  We will publish reports, graphs etc as the year goes on in a way of educating our members into what is involved and the costs associated with managing a golf course. Additional volunteer hours will also be recorded and catergorised into seperate tasks.

So although the weather has been far from ideal out on the course we have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes and setting up our workplace to not only run more efficiently but to run it professionally within our new facilities.

 

So until next time, stay warm and dry and enjoy your golf

Dave Brennan

Golf Course Superintendent.