The year is coming to a close. The turf looks good and healthy and we managed to make a few improvements to the course before the Winter set in. How much more we can accomplish is anyone's guess as each week the night time temps dip a little lower. Recap on a few things we did over the last week or so around the property. Kevin and I drove the roads picking out large boulders lurking just below the surface. The normal freeze thaw cycle and simply a natural phenomenon pushes rocks to the surface so every few years we have to go out and dig them out to protect the grader and plows from potential catastrophe if they hit one. We filled 4 workman loads and some were the size of a beach ball. We also filled all the recent potholes and had hoped to cap a few areas with rap but ran out of time and weather. We also repaired the washouts on the bank of the middle tee on one and covered that with an old greens cover to slow the water down. Will cleaned out all the gutters for probably the 5th time and hopefully the last. We also had to power wash the lower handicap ramp again as it had a bit of mold on it which made it very slippery and dangerous. Afterwards I sprayed a product called wet and forget on many of the areas to test how well it will work to control algae growth.
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| one of many rocks we found on the roads |
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| Kevin and his rock pile |
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| Washout on first tee under sod |
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| wash out was worse than expected. more we looked the more we found |
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| late season bloom |
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| as promised a picture showing the color difference from final spray |
A rather important development as far as staffing goes happened this week also. Kevin Cleary gave his notice. Kevin was in his second stint as our "Foreman" and he held the title because I had terrible luck keeping anyone with the title Assist. Superintendent. I thought a hire with no previous golf course experience and a name change might improve my luck. I was right and believe it was 5 years in the first stint and 3 years in this one. Sandwiched in between was two years with the unforgettable Slovenian Simon Verbosek who is safely back home after a scary stint working at the Telaviv airport while they were having their little dust up a few weeks ago. Kevin plans to move off-island and hopefully be back in his original profession of culinary arts although he is hoping for a specific type of chef job which requires less hours and no weekend work. If all goes well he will be using his skills learned here while working part time at a course nearby. He says he will be around the island as he still has family here and I know he has enjoyed watching his nephew Hunter play sports. Kevin had a great rapport with the players here at Mink Meadows, was known to have poignant conversations, many of them involving his beloved Red Sox, and he will be missed. I will be busy trying to fill the position. We fill vacancies but in my mind we never replace anyone. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Christmas and I look forward to returning in the new year after some time spent with family and friends.
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