Aerification week expansion, why the extra days

One of the fundamental things we all have to remember is that the golf course is changing constantly.  This means the things that we did last year, or the year before, might not be what we need to do now.  As the course evolves and changes, so do the maintenance practices done to take care of the course.  More often than not, this means the practices done need to be more intense...this almost always means it take longer.  Additionally, it's important to remember that in a 5 day closure I only have about 3.5 days to get any work done.  The reason for only 3.5 production days out of 5 days closed is one whole day (Friday) is used just to put the golf course back together for the next day's golf.  On the last day there is no work being done to the course, it's all cleaning up, putting yardage markers back in the ground, and mowing.  The other half day lost is due to weather.  Inevitably it rains, and when you get rain you also get lightning, just as it is doing right now, and that kills a half day worth easily.  Hopefully you only lose a half day due to weather, but it has been raining a lot so far in the early summer.

An example of the changing times is how we handled verti-cutting the greens this year.  Usually I would start verti-cutting the greens around April 1st.  However, this year's golf schedule as packed with play and events and there just wasn't time to do it.  It's not that we can just forget about the need to verti-cut the greens.  What causes the need to verti-cut the greens doesn't go away, it's pay me not or pay me later.  So during this week's course closure I am veti-cutting the greens 4 different directions to make up for the lack of early growing season verti-cutting.  This extra verti-cutting "make up" is going to add 1.5 days worth of work to the already packed schedule. 

Here is a small spreadsheet of all the activities that have to be done this week.  Also, keep in mind that these activities are sequential.  They have to take place in this order.  This is also why it is majorly important to have spare parts for machines and excellent equipment care to keep this running smoothly.  If an early process machine breaks down, the entire process grinds to a halt!!!

		Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon
GREENS
Verticut greens		X	X
Clean verti-cutting debris		X	X
Aerify greens		X	X
Clean off aerification cores		X	X
Sand greens			X
Fertilize Greens			X
Drag sand			X	X	X
Roll greens			X	X	X	X
Mow green					X	X	X		X
TEES & APPROACHES
Lower height of cut and scalp		X	X
Aerify			X	X
Drag			X	X
Clean off debris			X	X
Sanding				X	X
Drag				X	X
Mow					X	X	X		X
Fertilize					X
FAIRWAYS
Lower height of cut and circle cut		X	X
Aerify		X	X	X
Drag		X	X	X
Clean debris		X	X	X	X
Mow					X	X			X
Ferrtilize					X
BUNKERS
Adjust sand depths and edge		X	X	X
Blow out debris						X	X		X
ROUGHS
Mow			X	X
Reduce height of cut and mow again				X	X	X			X
Aerify				X	X	X			X
Fertilize						X	

As you can see, there is a lot of stuff to do and this doesn't include "projects" like edging cart paths or enlarging teeing grounds. 

Another major consideration for closing the two extra days is operating cost.  We all know that hardly anyone wants to play a course that has just been aerified.  To open Sat and Sun would entail the Golf Shop to someone at the counter, the Cart Barn to have someone there, the Kitchen to have cooks and dishwashers, and the dining rooms to have waiters and busers for a very, very limited number of golfers.  Tony, myself and Tim looked at the history of our course closings and the number of golfers immediately following and it just didn't make business sense to close for a week, open for two days, and then close for another day.  It's a good way to save some money during a time when making money with an exceptional product is exceptionally hard, let alone with a very poor product to offer.  The operational interruption is also at a time when the least amount of people will be affected.