Virginia... Plain and Simple
H
ere in Virginia we have been hit by the downturn in the economy, even though we are close to Washington
DC and, therefore, you would think, somewhat protected from it. We have particularly felt the affect with reduced numbers of rounds and quieter days. In 2009 the aim for us at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club (RTJGC) was to continue to maintain the course to championship standards. This is where we have built our reputation, under the expert guidance and management of Course Superintendent, Scott Furlong CGCS, and, as his Senior Assistant Superintendent, we have both had to deal with keeping up the level of maintenance with less resources. As we entered the season our aim was
David McGregor, a former intern of the Ohio State University programme, is Senior Assistant
Superintendent at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia, USA. Here he talks about keeping up the levels of maintenance with less resources
34
to keep it simple and maintain what we had. Having completed our tee reconstruction at the beginning of the year there were no further major projects planned. With the downtime we had in the winter, it was perfect timing to prepare ourselves for a busy and important start to the season. Our seasonal crew was a completely new set of guys, so training them to understand our requirements needed to be completed quickly, without wasting time or money. Mother Nature was kind to us at the start of the summer, which helped our training time. Our rainfall was so frequent we had to become extremely time efficient to achieve and complete regular tasks.
Once the season was in full flow, streamlining our operation and cutting
out labour wasting tasks was vital to our success.
The combination of jobs became a
regular thing. Tasks like changing cups and moving tee markers have now been combined with rolling greens, which we have found works very well. Also smaller jobs, like filling tee divots, have now been combined with edging yardage plaques. These are some of the tasks we feel have had a big impact on saving labour. It’s also become common for us to use our mechanics and assistants for the morning jobs as labour. This has enabled us to free-up up to three guys to help get other tasks completed. The mowing schedules were also
looked at. We mowed tees, fairways and approaches twice a week - previously it had been three - adding a third cut only if we had not achieved our desired look. Having the crew available for an extra morning each week gave us the opportunity to reduce overtime and increase course set up speed. Mother Nature plays a huge part in all of our maintenance programmes, and so we closely monitored temperatures and dew points to assist us with jobs like mowing the rough and morning hand watering, where we can waste time and money if carried out on the wrong day. Once we had overcome the start of the season and were in full swing, we were heading into the three months of hot and humid weather; June, July and August. The value of keeping the course in firm and fast condition was of high importance, not just for the expectations
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132