Porta-john cleaning

The porta-john between #8 green and #9 tee is convenient, easy for golfers to access, and strategically placed. However, its location is also a major headache when it comes to servicing the unit.

The Grounds department is only responsible for tidying up the interior of the porta-john and restocking the paper supplies. When it comes to actually servicing the unit, the company from whom we rent is responsible for pumping out the waste. The service company attends to our unit every Wednesday.

Problems arise when it is too wet for the company to get their service truck into the location of the porta-john. If we get any significant amount of rain from Saturday up until Wednesday morning, the company cannot drive their truck to the unit. Their service trucks are not four-wheel drive and are very heavy on the back end. This makes it extremely likely that they will get stuck anytime that the ground is wet. We have graded the road and we have added wood chips to try and make it more stable, which has helped. However, it can cause a big mess and cost Bretton Woods the bill of the towing company to extract the service truck if they should come in and get stuck. We monitor the situation every Wednesday to determine whether or not the truck should enter or not.

During a normal spring it is not unheard of to go weeks in a row of off and on wet weather. Depending on when the storms pass through and how much drying time is allowed between each storm, it is not inconceivable to go 2 or even 3 Wednesdays in a row without the service truck being able to get to the unit. The Grounds department continues to clean the inside as best we can, but we can only do so much. Inevitably, we have to wait for the ground to dry and the company to get into the site for the unit to be cleaned thoroughly.

These pictures are all from a particularly wet time. However, the results are still indicative of what potentially can happen when the service company enters when it is too wet. On this occasion, the driver did not check with us before entering and got stuck. In the end three trucks total got stuck and the tractor had to be called to rescue all of them.

Unfortunately, what this means is that at times the porta-john will be less than perfect. We will continue to have the service company clean our unit as often as we possibly can, but please bear with us when the weather is wet and the pumping truck cannot enter our property.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please remember to remove any bunker sand that may be stuck to your spikes before walking on the greens.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org