2014 Recap

As 2014 comes to an end I wanted to list some of the accomplishments for the year.  Most importantly I want to say Thank You to my crew, because without them none of this happens!

- New equipment.  NCC showed a commitment to me and the membership by leasing a new fleet of mowers.  This allowed for a better quality of cut on all playing surfaces, most notably Fairways. Since I have been here we have not had a true fairway mower, we had to use a 7 gang which is efficient but does not give a quality cut at the desired height.  By picking up new fairway units, I was able to put another machine in the Roughs, which meant we could keep up with the growth of Bermuda.  We maintained it all season at 1.25"-1.5".  That is the plan going forward.

- Coldest Winter in a long time.  The winter of 2013/2014 was one of the coldest winters on record.  Winter hit hard!  We had significant snow, above average rain, high winds, and many single digit days.   All of us with Ultradwarf Bermuda greens were very nervous in early Spring.  We covered the greens a total of 29 nights, compared to 6 nights the year before.  Needless to say my crew and I were glad when March came around!!

Tree Removal.  Call2Cut tree service was contracted to remove close to 300 trees.  This was step 1 for a major project involving trees and cart paths.  Most of the trees which affected the paths were removed, while others were because of disease, shade or various reasons.  For a job that is not clean, I was very impressed with the cleanliness of this crew.  Very few damaged areas, ruts or tire tracks.  We still have a few trees that need to come down for shade issues and a few have died, so expect them to be back out in 2015.

Cart Path repair.  We contracted a milling machine to grind ~50% of the paths.  After this was done the asphalt crew from McWaters Paving came in to grade out and pave.  While it may look "patchy" they are smooth.  I believe over time the fresh black will blend in with the old grey asphalt.

County road/Lake project #17.  Coweta Co. took on a major project which affected NCC and Newnan Pines.  It was determined that the overflow pipe was on the verge of failure, so the County saw the need to fix it.  After several months of driving on a temporary road it was completed in October.  While the lake was down, the club jumped on an opportunity to muck out the upper lake and build a dam to raise the water level.  Jay Ayers was extremely helpful in this project, Thank You Jay!  It was also decided to build a wall around the green.  Blackhawk Foundation was contracted for this and I think it turned out great.  It is a poured concrete wall now, but if we want we could drop the water and add some sort of rock for a really dramatic look, we can.  Thank You to All who assisted on this project.

In addition to this list, everyday maintenance and small projects consume our time. We try our best to stay on top of things, but often times detail work is put off until winter.   Trimming trees, cleaning out creeks/lake banks and detail work are projects we are currently working on. 

2014 has quite possibly been the busiest, most challenging season for me as a manager.  With the amount of projects going on and the club running without upper management for many months I am glad to see this season wrap up. I was also without an Assistant for 3 months, but have been blessed with a great individual who truly cares, David Hartfree.  I am sure many of you have met him.

We already have a few projects planned for next season. I am looking forward to 2015!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family!

Andy

Wall #17

The wall project is now complete. This week the crew laid 5 pallets of sod around the new wall. I am glad this project is done, as this has been a work in progress for quite a while. Thanks to all the groups and individuals who have helped make this possible.