Stick cleanup

There has been little consistency in the weather so far late winter and early spring. We have had mid-70’s and low 20’s and everything in between. One factor that has been constant though has been wind. We have had a windy last few months and the debris cleanup has been nearly as constant.

Going back to early February there have been many days of sustained winds above 10 mph and a handful of days with sustained winds in the 15-18 mph range. Also, there have been many days with gusts of 20-30 mph as well as several days with gusts of 35+ mph. What all this wind amounts to is a mess on the course. Luckily, there are no leaves on trees right now with which to contend. However, there has been plenty of other debris to keep us busy.

With winds that strong and that consistent there is the likelihood of small branches, limbs, and even entire trees coming down. In addition, the evergreen trees have needles that are blown of the trees and can be difficult to clean as well. Since the wind has been a common theme lately, the Grounds staff has been tasked with cleanup repeatedly. Each wind storm that comes through finds new debris to dislodge from a tree. It can take us several days to comb over all of the property and pick up all of the sticks, limbs, etc. It has felt like before we finish cleanup from one storm, the next has already been through so we finish and start right back over from the beginning.

Stick cleanup is about as unglamorous as it sounds. We haul a trailer behind our cart, start in one location (for example at #1 tee), work down the right side of the hole and up the left side, then move on to #2. We have had a few dry enough days for us to get our carts into the grass to get closer to the debris, but most of the time the staff picks up the stick and carries it back to the trailer. As you can imagine this is time consuming. However it is necessary to try and keep up with the job or it can get unplayable and overwhelming. If we didn’t cleanup after each storm, but instead waited for several storms to come through, the mess would cause winter golf to eb very difficult. Also, cleaning up the mess after many storms would take more time and progress much slower than keeping up as the storms hit.

Right now, we are working on another round of cleanup of the property following the storm that came through on 4/6. We should be finished this early this week. But for now, if you see some sticks out on the course, just know we are working our way there soon.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Blue flag cart riders, please obey the recently updated handicap cart rules.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org