Fairway mower wheel repair

On Tuesday, the left wheel on the fairway mower looked crooked.  I was really hoping the lug bolts were just loose, but no such luck.  We have an interesting repair in front of us. The frame cracked on the wheel motor mount. 

Cracked frame

  

There is supposed to be a wheel there!

 A new front axle frame assembly is about $2500 plus many hours of labor.  We are going to try repairing the mount before going that direction.  After cutting out the paper thin rusted frame and grinding, I think we have something we can work with: 

Clamping up the new motor mount

   

New pieces of metal added to strengthen frame

Reinforced the top

Side view

Finished repair

The fairway mower is back in action and everything worked fine. I'm fairly confident the wheel motor mount is now stronger than it was new. Our fairway mower double cut the fairways today to catch up on the grass growth since last Thursday. We have had a lot of rain in the past week and the fairways were getting very long.  They are now back to normal height.

On a happier note, I had a visitor last week!

Stump grinding

This week, we ground about 200 stumps around the golf course.  Many of them were here along the 7th hole and the driving range. After we fill in the holes, we can put the fence back together and start beautifying this area that was once filled with Ash trees taken by the Emerald Ash Borer:

 

Also, the new seed and cart path behind 7 tee are looking good:

 

 

A beautiful morning

New roots in August!

A couple weeks ago, we used "bayonet" tines for the first time on the greens. The slices left were barely noticeable after rolling and mowing. A few days later, the marks were invisible but testing with a soil probe reveals excellent rooting in the channels opened up by the tines. In each of the slices, new roots have developed, sometimes down the entire length of the tine. Without venting, it is unlikely we would be growing new roots in August - especially this August.  The channels formed by the bayonet tines offer some much needed oxygen to the rootzone allowing golf courses to keep their greens healthy in tough conditions.

 

Bayonet tines on a Toro 648 with rear roller

 

New roots!

7 Tee Area Before and After

With seed germinating and the cart path installed, I thought it was time for some before and after shots of the area behind 7 tee.  This project accomplished several things: improved drainage, removal of old fill pile, improved cart routes, and safe access from the driving range to the course.  The "after" photos were taken after several rainstorms and the improved grading and drain lines performed as expected with no standing water in the area.

 

Looking back from 7 tee:

 



Before removing the pile and after:

 



Same area earlier this year and now:
 

Looking north after the drain was installed and now:
 



Early morning net repairs

Thanks, Stan!

 

Blue tee on #7 is open

The cart path around the back of 7 tee was finished Friday and the tee is open for play.

More seeding around 7 tee

7 Tee Project Timelapse

December 15, 2015: Trench dug for drain pipe

December 16, 2015: Pipe installed. Backfilling begins.

April 16, 2016: Tilling and grading

May 9, 2016: Seed and blanket down

June 24, 2016: First mowing

7 Tee Cartpath

Serious progress made today on the renovations around the back tee on 7.  The crew spread moistened stabilized crushed granite in the forms and rolled it out.  It was a beautiful day for working outside.  Good work, Gary, Felix, Aaron, and Chase!

The day lilies are in bloom

Another new drain line

A couple weeks ago, we added a drainage pipe to connect an old drain line to the newer system.  The old drain line could have been connected when the newer line was put in, but I'm guessing the architect did not know the old system was there.  The connection should allow some areas of 7 fairway to drain more quickly as the perforated drain lines will be draining into a deeper basin instead of being full of water after a rain.  It should also reduce the puddles you can see in the pictures that were caused by the old drain line "daylighting," or emptying onto the surface.

Thanks to Elmhurst Park District for letting us borrow the backhoe.  We could not have done it otherwise.  A trencher would not have worked on some of the large chunks of concrete we ran into.  Some were so big, we just had to leave them there.  We ran into a complete slab of sidewalk at one point.  Luckily it was deep enough we could leave it there and still maintain our slope.

Sunrise at Sugar Creek