Mike and Armando are just finishing up the maintenance cars. I have to say they look almost as good as the car looks when they were new 11 years ago. Mike will completely service the car making sure everything is operating safely and within the manufacture specifications then the car is handed over to Armando who will then sand, repaint and give the car a nice coat of wax. Night and day when you look at the before and after photos. These cars are the true workhorse of our operation and they have to work everyday and run without problems. We do not have many backups here. The work that we do during the winter is critical to a smooth operation when the golf season starts. That's not to say we do not have breakdowns but we try to avoid the major problems by very close inspection now.
As far as the golf course, there is a light coat of snow and everything is still in great shape. I usually walk the golf course at least 2 times per week scouting out any problems. I have not seen any snow mold at this time and there is no ice damage. How can we get snow mold without any snow? well there are basically 2 types of snow molds. Grey snow mold needs snow cover and I would not expect that we would see any grey snow mold this winter. Pink Snow Mold is the other type and this disease does not need snow cover. Wet, cool weather is ideal for this disease to develop. The pacific north west battles pink snow mold almost year around. I will be keeping an eye out for any development of the pink snow mold as spring draws closer. I would expect that we will start to see some as the grounds warms up.
This year, I will be attending the Golf Course Superintendent annual conference. Which is in Las Vegas this year. I am looking forward to many great learning opportunities that the conference has to offer. The conference is the last week in Feburary and I will post many updates from the show floor while I am there.
I hope to see everyone the 20th for our annual meeting.