Shop organization

September is probably our busiest month of the year for the golf course. The weather is nearly perfect, and the golf course is usually in peak form. Member play is at its maximum and our outing schedule is packed. Because of all of this, the Grounds department has several half days when it is counter productive to even be out on the course, so we tackle some other tasks on our list.

Since our property is so large, we usually have other work somewhere else on site that needs to be done once the golf course is prepped. Soccer, tennis, pool grounds, or just the acres green space, can use attention. When the golf course is too busy for us, these other areas can benefit. We have the opportunity to send several staff to work on projects we may have put off previously.

The stacks of pipe that we will
be sorting

Another area of focus during these busy times is at our shop. Cleaning and organizing inside and out of our maintenance building is important. Not only does it protect our equipment, but knowing where tools are when you need them is efficient. Also, maintaining a clean workspace shows that we value our job and projects a presentable facility to visitors.

One particular area at our shop that had been neglected was our irrigation and drainpipe storage. We keep several different sizes and lengths of irrigation pipe at our shop for when we need to make small repairs to our system. We only stock 20-30 of the most common sizes total, if we were doing a larger project we would make a separate order. But this allows us to make emergency repairs when something comes up and we can’t wait.

The same goes for our drainage pipe, although we keep less of this on hand because we don’t often have to make emergency drain repairs (although, 1 season was so wet, that we were adding drains left and right!). However, we do keep some on hand, mostly leftover pieces from past projects, as well as many different connection pieces.

All this pipe is stored around the back side of our shop, near the practice range. Part of the reason it gets neglected is due to our work on the rest of the property, but it also is not a place we need to get into all that often. It gets overgrown with weeds because there is not regular traffic, nor is it accessible for a mower. But starting last week, we mobilized nearly our entire staff to start organizing. Our first step was to simply move all the pipe out of the way, and thoroughly trim all the brush down, which we accomplished. We haven’t continued any further yet, but over the next few weeks our goals are: comb through all the pipe and make sure everything is usable, sorting as we go, and level the ground underneath so that we can set pallets down on which to stack the pipe.

This is the storage area for the pipe. It
has been partially cleaned out now.

Organizing the shop won’t affect anyone’s experience at Bretton Woods, but it is still an important aspect of our maintenance of the facility. Keeping our space and tools clean leads to taking better care of the course, which does directly impact every golfer.

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please be careful not to damage the lip of the cup when retrieving your ball after putting out.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Golf Cart tips

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org