On The Course November 18th

It has been an up and down week with temperatures on the course.  Yesterday morning the temp was 14 degrees and this morning it is 37.  The low morning and evening temps have allowed the ground to begin freezing and have also helped the ponds to begin freezing over which has been nice for goose control.  The dogs have been working hard this last week keeping the large flocks of geese passing threw off the course, there favorite landing spot is 7 pond.  We are expecting some sort of precipitation this weekend with the weather front moving in, we have heard everything from rain and sleet to 2 to 6 inches of snow.  Our snow removal equipment is ready for any sort of snow fall we may see.

The snowshoe and cross country ski trail has been marked again with 6 foot fence posts. We will be marking the post tips with blaze orange paint to better help guide the trail users this winter.  We will open the trail as soon as there is enough snow on the ground to groom and maintain it.

We have installed a snow fence behind the black tee on #14 to keep out snowmobiles this winter, there are a few other locations that we will be adding fence to also.  Last winter we had a small issue with snowmobiles getting onto the course from the woods on 14.  Hopefully this winter with the addition of the fences and no trespassing signs we can keep them off the course.

On The Course November 11th

Today will be the last day for our seasonal staff. They have done a great job getting the course closed for the winter and have done an even better job throughout the summer maintaining the golf course. We will be having our end of season appreciation for the crew on Tuesday, November 15th with a little Go Karting and Lunch. The crew had a blast last year driving around the ProKart track in Maple Grove we thought it would be a good idea to take them again.

Today we will be working on blowing some leaves and cleaning some equipment. The Executive coure remains open for play through the weekend. The golf course will be marked for the snow shoe and crosscountry ski trail next week and we are hoping for another snowy winter. I will be doing blog postings throughout the winter on a limited basis.

Please feel free to contact me at anytime over the winter either by email or on my cell phone.

Thanks for a great season!!

On The Course November 9th

The frost is a little thick on the course this morning and we have missed out on most of the snow that was forecasted. Southeastern Minnesota and Central Wisconsin could see 3-5 inches of snow today. The wind is coming in after this storm system and we could see gusts up to 40 MPH later today. Clearing skies tonight is going to leave us very cold for tomorrow.

We are working on winterizing the golf cart fleet this morning and will get back out on the course later today. We have a few areas to check staples and make sure the covers are buttoned down good. Most of the leaves are down but a few of the Silver Maples and Oaks are still hanging on to their leaves. We will continue to work on leaves but I think we need a good rain or snow to really help bring the rest of them down.

On The Course November 8th

The crew worked quickly yesterday and were able to get almost all of the mats down on the front nine greens. We have a little work left today and a lot of stapling to finish before we are completely done with the mats. We will be working back through the back nine and button up any mats that blew up from the heavy winds over the weekend. Overall the Excelsior mats are in good shape for the third season of use. This next spring when we pull the covers the mats that are looking thin and have holes will be marked and rotated into our tee cover pile. We will be looking at ordering some new mats going into next winter and start a rotation of ordering a few every year to replace the bad ones. The barn has been a great place to store the mats and keep them out of the elements for the summer. The hauling and handling causes some of the materil to fall out of the mats and overtime (3-5 years) need to be replaced.

We are working on cleaning up the barn this morning during the frost delay. The barn is used in the winter to store some equipment and give us additional space in our main shop for winter projects. the rest of the week will be spent cleaning and storing equipment as well as trying to keep the leaves cleaned up on the course. The cleaner the course is going into winter the easier it will be to open it up in the spring.

Carlos making sure the mats are going in a straight line.

Fernando, Rubiel and Jose working on covering the Putting Green.

On The Course November 7th

Today we are going to be out covering the front nine greens and the putting green before the weather that is forecasted for tomorrow and Wednesday moves in.  Right now it looks like a weak system but we will be watching it to see if anything changes, the rest of the week into next week is looking like low temperatures in the 20's and highs in the mid 40's.  The short course will remain open until the weather no longer permits it so come out and play the E9.  Just a reminder that the Pro Shop will be closed today.

On The Course November 5th

It is going to be a windy day with forecasted gusts into the 40 MPH Range.  The guys will be out preparing the course for play this morning, blowing leaves off of playing surfaces and cutting cups for the weekend.  We were able to cover the Chipping Green yesterday but will be leaving the Putting Green open for the weekend.

We put out some of our temperature data loggers yesterday.  They will be in various places on the golf course to take data on temperature swings under the soil, under the greens covers, and on the surface of the turf this winter.  They are a great tool we can utilize in the winter months to see large fluctuations in temperature.

Jason and Amani hauling mats to the Chipping Green.

On The Course November 4th

Frost on #9 Green in the shadow of the tree.

We are starting this morning with a temp. of 23 degrees on the course, it will be a while again this morning before the frost lifts.  Once it does lift we will be out preparing the front nine for play.  With the high winds forecasted for the weekend we will not be hauling mats out until Monday morning. With winds forecasted to gust into the 40 MPH range we do not want mats blowing all over the golf course.  If need be we will possibly start hauling sunday afternoon.  We will be splitting up the crew Monday, one crew for hauling and one crew for covering, it will be a very busy day.  We were able to finish up covering the back nine greens and putting green #10 yesterday. The weather is changing with a possibility of snow on Tuesday and into Wednesday. It is looking like a weak system but we will be covering the front greens on Monday.

Sunrise blowing the irrigation out.

The irrigation systems is blown out and ready for winter. We have some minor work left to do inside the pumpstations to winterize. We will be working on blowing leaves and changing cups today on the front nine. The Executive Course will open for play as long as we do not have snow or frost on the ground. If the weather allows please enjoy playing the Executive course.

Sunset on #8 Green.

On The Course November 3rd

Very cold this morning with a temp of 24 degrees. It will be some time before we are able to get out on the course. We are planning on finishing up covering the back nine greens today. We were able to get 14 through 18 done yesterday. It is a very slow and tedious process and we want to make sure all of the mats get put down and stapled correctly with minimal overlap. The back nine greens usually go a little quicker than the front. We have more green surface on the front nine and a few are wider than the Excelsior mats are long. We should be able to finish up 10 through 13 today and still leave the front nine open through the weekend.

Troy and Fernando were able to get all of the sod cut for the runoff areas and pull most of the drainage hole plugs. Jason and Cristian were able to get through all of the quick coupler valves on the course and we ran back through most of the irrigaiton heads. We will continue to finish up blowing the irrigation system out today. We will be blowing leaves and preparing the course for play as soon as we can get on the course.

On The Course November 2nd

Troy and the crew unloading Excelsior mats on #16 Green

 We made some very good progress yesterday with the golf course. We hauled excelsior mats out to the back nine and will begin covering later this morning or early afternoon. Tonight is supposed to clear of and get colder so we are probably looking at significant frost for tomorrow. We are hopeful to get the rest of the back nine finished tomorrow and leave the front nine greens open for the weekend. Saturday looks to be pretty good but a chance of rain/snow showers for Sunday. I am leary of the next system coming out of Colorado that could bring a better chance of moisture if the cold front stays to the north. Weather.com has the high temperatures next week in the low 40's and that should give us just enough time to finish covering the front nine next week.

Jason and Cristian are out blowing out quick coupler valves this morning and we will be working on our second run through on irrigation heads this afternoon. If you were out yesterday we were making a lot of noise with the air compressor blowing the water out of the system. We should have the irrigation system blown out tonight and do a quick run through Thursday morning.

We will be changing pin locations Friday on the front nine and blowing leaves. There are still a lot of leaves that have to drop before we can put the blowers away for the season. The oaks and silver maples are still hanging on but we will continue through next week blowing leaves as long as we do not have frozen ground or frost.

Started irrigation blowout yesterday and it looked pretty cool with the new fountain in the background.

Justin hauling mats with the other part of the crew.

On The Course November 1st

We are really busy right now wrapping the course up and getting things set for covering. Our compressor for blowing the irrigation system showed up today and Jason already has it hooked up. We have finished spraying all of our snow mold preventative for the season and will start to haul excelsior mats out to the greens. Course accessories are off the course except for a few benches and some flagsticks.

Current weather forecast looks pretty good going into the begining of next week but a possible system moving in for this weekend. Saturday looks pretty good but we have a 50% chance of Rain/Snow showers on Sunday with a high temperature of 42 degrees (weather.com). Next week is looking to be a little colder than this week and according to Ian Leonard last night a "change is coming". I am taking in a lot of different sources for weather right now and planning accordingly.

I still think we are going to cover the back nine greens Wednesday and Thurday this week and leave the front nine greens open for the weekend. We should have enough decent weather next week to finish covering greens and close the golf course.

Justin sprayed all of the fairways on Monday and Tuesday with Snow Mold Protection.

Troy hauling mats out to the back nine.