One More Week

On the eve of this year's NJCAA Championship, I feel as I always do, "One more week."  One more week to get all the little things done to provide these fine young men, and occasional young lady, with the golf course they deserve for their championship.

The reality of it is that everything will be playing just fine come tomorrow morning and usually the little things are the odd tree that was missed by the trimming crew or the flower garden that didn't get edged or weeded again last week.  But this year is different, the little things are a little bigger with our drainage project still being in the repair stage.  The course will still play as well as it ever has for the tournament, just with a little more white paint for ground under repair, and the "one more week" would have only provided a more finished look as these areas would still need to be played as ground under repair since it would not be fully healed yet.

So, as we embark on another week of the NJCAA Championship, I would like to wish all competitors a sincere good luck and hope you enjoy your experience here at Chautauqua Golf Club.

ROAR!!!

And we're back to lion status with the weather.  28*F and a good covering of snow this morning.

 Fortunately, this hasn't slowed progress of the drainage contractor.  He is currently working on #16 Lake and will be heading to #14 Lake and #9 Lake respectively after that.

Lots of flow in the trench yesterday.  It will have even more after the laterals are installed today.  Looking forward to drier conditions on these holes.

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb?

As March begins we had a nice freezing rain yesterday afternoon and overnight.  Crummy weather to be sure, but at least that means our temps are warmer than they have been.  I'm not sure if this qualifies as "in like a lion", maybe more like "in like a bobcat".  The forecast looks promising with a slight warming trend at the end of the 15 day outlook.  If nothing else, there is room for optimism that perhaps this eternal winter may indeed end some time in 2015, preferably "out like a lamb" and sooner than later.

In case you may have forgotten, this is what summer looks like.

February Update

Bill and Dan have already breezed through winter maintenance of our four fairway mowers and are half way through our eight green and tee mowers.  So far there have been no unexpected repairs and our main mowers look like they will be in good shape heading into the 2015 season.  

This is in large part due to our increased capital budget over the last few years.  We have made a commitment to upgrading our replacement schedule and it has shown.  This doesn't necessarily mean that we have a greatly increased capital budget.  We have been strategically mixing new with used, buying fairway and trim mowers just coming off a three year lease when we can find them.  Yes, we'd ideally prefer all new equipment, but in today's economy that's not an option.  This year we are considering a new greens mower, a used trim mower, a used sprayer, with the possibility of a used greens mower if the chips fall right.  All things considered, not a bad year.

We are also committing a portion of our capital budget to tackle the drainage issues on #9,14 and 16 on the Lake Course by bringing in a contractor to complete the project quickly and completely. Currently we have bids from two reputable companies and are considering the pro's and con's of each.  This is scheduled to be completed in late April to early May in order to have the fairways healed before the NJCAA tournament in June.

January Update

As we head into mid January, we find ourselves right on schedule with our winter equipment maintenance.  Bill and Dan have completed our roughly 140 golf carts and are now on to our mowing and maintenance equipment.

Each machine is given a thorough inspection with special attention given to parts that receive high amounts of wear, such as reel and roller bearings and pivot points of cutting unit lift arms.  All reels are inspected, repaired and sharpened while the machines themselves have all oils and filters replaced.  This is time consuming and relatively expensive, but it ensures a smoothly running fleet of high quality mowers and greatly extends the overall life of each respective machine.

In Bill and Dan we have two excellent mechanics, and this shows in the improvement and reliability of our maintenance fleet over the last several years.  This allows us to keep the course in the great condition in which you have become accustomed.