As I mentioned here, I have recently been nominated to participate on the National Golf Course Owner Association’s (NGCOA) board of directors. It has been a honor for me, in addition, it has also required me to do a fair amount of traveling this winter. I have spoken at both the Minnesota and Oregon regional […]
TVI, Take 13
Every spring, we host the Toad Valley Invitational. No. It isn’t anything that we sponsor, but rather a bunch of Drake Alumni who come in from all over the United States. They call it Toad Valley Invitational because you have to be invited to know what’s going on. There are usually around 40 friends who […]
Intake Adventures
There is a common catch phrase in the golf industry. It goes something along the lines of cleverly calling irrigation irritation. That’s right. There is nothing that can cause a golf superintendent’s hair to turn gray faster than irrigation. To get things started, we have to get prepared from the winter. In Iowa, we have… […]
Staining. The Story Begins.
As we mentioned in the posts here and here, we have lots of staining projects up our sleeve for the coming year. Unfortunately, the weather hasn’t been cooperating for us to get our stain on with these outside projects. That’s when we decided that if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em! That’s right. We decided […]
First Wedding of 2013
Our first wedding of 2013 was late this year. That actually worked out well because the weather hasn’t exactly been all that great this year. The only trouble with waiting until late April to get started is that our staff didn’t have much time to dust off whatever skills they had forgotten since last year. […]
Winter Uglies Get the Axe
The problem with having a 100 foot wall of windows is that you have a 100 foot wall of windows. Windows that get little kid finger prints, elbow marks from doors opening, and the grime of winter. All easily visible. Please note the finger print in the middle of that picture. We definitely should have […]
The Wheels on the Toad
Theresa is our resident Golf Shop merchandiser. She has lots of creative juices. We have some Bridgestone Product that needed a creative display. I don’t know about you, but the first thing that comes to mind when I think Bridgestone is tires. Definitely not golf. Despite the fact that they currently hold the number two […]
She Thinks My Tractor is Comfy
Our outside staff spends lots of time on this John Deere tractor. They are required to sing country songs about tractors while they work. Ok. Not really required. Maybe just encouraged. We like to keep our outside staff happy. No falling asleep on the job, though. In preparation for the rain that is predicted, we […]
The Science of Garbage
Garbage detail is always a good indicator of the busyness of the golf course. Lots of garbage. We were busy. Not much garbage. Not so busy. Yeah. It’s highly scientific. Steve is our official garbage man. Steve’s nickname around these parts is Smiley. He is always smiling. Even when it is 32 degrees, there is […]
Jake the Butcher
The spring is probably the most hectic time around the golf course. There are so many projects that need to happen to clean up from the winter and prepare for the summer. There are perennials to transplant, native grasses that need trimmed back from last year’s growth. Roses need to be pruned. New mulch needs […]