February Update

Wow, February has come to a close and for many of us Wisconsin-ites it's time for a change.  The BUCKS are the #1 team in the NBA (that will not change).  March historically, for me, is the start of the season as temperatures and day length improves with more days filled with daylight and generally warmer temperatures.  Today, listening to the news, March rarely has days below zero as only 2 days since year 2000 have been recorded as below zero days.  Thank goodness! 

Ahead of what's coming for our Greens and Grounds Team.  March will be an important month for us to finish the approved sunshine enhancement program list and hopefully begin cleaning up the property from the winter season.  For trees, there maybe a few that we will not get to which will stay on a list to remove.  Overall, our team was making great progress in January with the removals and then the month we all want to forget came, February...   February was filled with some regular snow storms with 5-6"+ each time.  The team definitely got some wear and tear from the snow removal and shoveling around the Club and parking lots.  Then unfortunately the first week of February had a celebrity siting...  Elsa from the movie Frozen visited the state and gave us an ice storm which set us back on the course. 

Overall, the ice storm should have little effect to the course itself as I believe the turfgrasses will be able to withstand the ice impact that blanketed the 150 acre property.  Generally speaking, turf under ice has around a 60-90 day shelf life of survival.  The predominantly bentgrass course is closer to the 90 day life so with ice in early February, I hope we don't have ice towards the end of April (then I'll start worrying more).  What affected us the most was the inability to go out on the course to work on more tree removals and potentially start stump grinding the tree bases.  The ice on the course proved to be very dangerous and impossible to travel on the hilly terrain.  Unfortunately, with the abundant snow cover and ice still below the snow, it may be difficult for us to finish our goals for the tree removals and stump grinding.  In any event, we will figure out how to complete these two items with minimal impact to the members once we can in fact work back on the course.

This winter, the Greens and Grounds Department has been fortunate to upgrade some key equipment.  Each piece of equipment will be fully utilized.  Inside the turfgrass facility this past month, we have also been detailing the course accessories like those benches, ball washers, waste baskets, tee markers, cart signs, course plaques and more.  The team of Eric, Smokey, and Mike have been great!  As they say pictures are worth 1000 words...  Let's hope for a better March than February!

Turf vehicle for crew use

Heavy duty workman for course projects

Clipping trailer for clipping disposal - sorry no sweet aromas from #15 green anymore

5hp Pump to go onto Pumpstation Pumps by #13 pond

Flymo mower trims around bunker slopes

Refurbishing cart signs

Refurbishing Tee Markers

Golf Industry Show

Golf Industry Show 2019 - San Diego Convention Center

Last week, the Golf Course Superintendents National Golf Industry Show was in San Diego.  This event runs almost a full week with hundreds of educational seminars available, and a massive trade show showcasing the latest equipment, products, and accessories for golf course maintenance.  The time spent down there was a real benefit to the Club as I heard talks about clipping recording, nutrient balancing, bunker renovating, preparing for natural disasters, tree care programs, managing monarch butterfly populations, labor concerns, water shortages, assessing course infrastructure lifespans, and introduction to the new USGA rule changes in 2019 and much more.  The trade show itself was a two day commitment to walk through all of the equipment manufacturers and product and accessory companies booths. 
   

Overall, the Golf Industry Show proved to be another great year and venue to see the commitments from companies and peers to the Golf Industry.  It was also nice to end the show with a well-known comedian Sinbad, who gave us superintendents a fun evening with his comedic responses to golf course problems and views.  

Get to Know the Team - Mike Zarate

Mike “Chippy” Zarate

What is your title?  Assistant Mechanic In Training – Full Time Laborer

How long have you worked here?  3 years

Why did you get into working on a golf course?  Love working outside, did landscaping for 2 years.

What is your favorite Hole on the Course?  16, 12, 6

What is your favorite job task at OGC?  Mowing the Fairways

Do you play golf, If so, what is your golf handicap?  Love to golf, no idea

What are your hobbies?  Cars; Fishing; Gaming

Any favorite quotes?  Life can only be understood backward.  It’s why it must be lived forward.

What is your favorite meal?  Fish Fry

What is on your bucket list?  Drive a Supercar

Get to Know the Team - Eric Schmitt

Eric "P Sizzle" Schmitt

What is your title?  Assistant Golf Course Superintendent

How long have you worked at OGC?  3 years

What is your favorite Hole on the Course?  #12

Why did you get into working on a golf course?  I love the aesthetics of a golf course

What are your favorite job tasks at OGC?  Training team members

Do you play golf, what is your golf handicap?  once or twice, happy to break 100

What are your hobbies? working on my 53 Mercury, attending car shows, "saving the world" via gaming

Mentors in the Industry?   Jake Renner, Logan Spurlock, Dustin Riley  

What is your favorite meal?  Seafood and/or Steak

What is on your bucket list? Vacation in an Indonesian Island  

Get to Know the Team - Smokey "Todd" Aartsen

Todd “Smokey” Aartsen

What is your title?  Shop and Equipment Manager

How long have you worked at OGC?  14 years

What is your favorite Hole on the Course?  #13

Why did you get into working on a golf course?   Grew up on one

What are your favorite job tasks at OGC?  Wildlife management; Diving - #13 pond (repairing underwater intakes)

Do you play golf, what is your golf handicap?  Very little, N/A

What are your hobbies? Flying aircrafts; Diving; Hunting/Shooting

Favorite quote?  Extremely difficult gets done immediately, impossible one second later

What is your favorite meal?  Seafood

What is on your bucket list?   Fly a Jet

Get to Know the Team - Steve Houlihan

Steve “Houli” Houlihan

What is your title? Golf Course Superintendent

How long have you worked here?  2 months

Why did you get into working on a golf course?  4 Uncles WI Golf Superintendents; Caddied 11 years at Merrill Hills CC; Received Evans Scholarship; BS and MS at UW-Madison – Soil Sciences

What is your favorite Hole on the course? 8, 9, 12, 13, 18

What is your favorite job task working on the Course?   Growing up I loved mowing greens.  Now it’s seeing the end product each day from our Teams’ accomplishments!

Do you play golf, If so, what is your golf handicap?   Yes, it’s going up = 6.3

What are your hobbies?  Family time – biking, hiking, swimming; Golf and Basketball; Puzzles

Any favorite quotes?  If you can appreciate the value of simple things, then you can accomplish great things.  Success is the sum of small efforts repeated every day.

What is your favorite meal?    Chinese

What is on your bucket list?  Trip to Hawaii

January Update

Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to work for your Club.  I’m excited to continue showcasing and conditioning the property while providing members and guests memorable experiences.  I have been welcomed whole heartedly by the members whom I’ve met and the OGC Team.

I look forward to meeting each of you as the daunting thermal temperatures become favorable for some outdoor Wisconsin golf.  In the meantime, the golf simulators suit my golf game a little better as you always have a perfect lie, no army golf (walking), no wind, and not having to putt the ball on the green. 

These past few months have given me and my team the opportunity to review a lot of material and gain insights into how the property is all put together.  Learning an entire new property not only above ground, but all the components in the ground, takes time to fully get a feel for the operation and how to fully maximize each facet. 

For those aspiring weather watchers in warmer locations.  In Wisconsin, we now understand what cold weather really means.  We’ve even had a day or two where we were colder than the continent of Antarctica. Brutal cold!  In addition, two big snow storms in January each produced over 6” of snow which gave us some snow plow practicing.  As a “Turf Doc”, I am thankful for the snow cover as it’s a great insulator on the property.  With no snow cover, the brutal temperatures would have been lethal to those precious species of turf which we meticulously lose sleep over each night.

Looking ahead to the next few months, our team plans on finishing the sunshine enhancement program by winter’s end and look forward to working on the property cleaning it up from winter.  We also have been busy servicing and touching up the course’s equipment and accessories.