I scattered this post by posting the last update in another thread.
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/what-do-the-doers-do.63859/#post-498790
Anyway, here is the next update.
I finally fired the superintendent. It took me a while. He has knowledge of the course that I may not have access to. But, I will figure it out.
All the maintenance employees have been assigned more specific jobs with job descriptions and detailed instructions. They start at 5:am to get work done ahead of the golfers. I have been there every morning at the start. I am in need of seeing some leadership come forward to take on some duties. Until then, I am it...
It has only been a few short days but I feel like giant leaps of progress have been made. It is amazing to me that the two irrigators have been disassembling and cleaning our sprinkler heads for a couple of years. I did not catch this in the dd and it did not show up on my radar until the overseed process began. At that point, I quickly became an irrigation specialist. I feel that I have learned enough to surpass the guys that have been doing this job for 15 years and the "sup" who was in charge here for years.
For a while, I worked unclogging heads daily to get water to the new grass. I kept asking for investigation and looking for the "root cause" of the plugging. I was being told that algae was growing inside of the pipes. I looked into this and found that it is possible for it to "build or crust up". But I decided that it was time to do my own investigation.
I went with the irrigation team when they did pipe repairs. All I saw was large globs of algae laying in the bottom of the 8 inch pipes. I was alone in the belief that is was coming in through the lake but it was soooooo apparent. I kept requesting for the team to open the filter but the process was continually delayed. It was a heavy 12 inch diameter chunk of iron that took three people to lift. Since it was built over top of an array of large pipes, it was difficult to deal with. As with other processes, I had to demand that it be done in a forceful fashion.
The filter was completely clogged with the slimy algae. So it was now apparent to all that it was coming from the lake.
Part of this story is very complex and I don't want to write too many more paragraphs. The summary is not complete.
We have two irrigation lakes. Both of the systems were plugging. One had the filter that was plugged and the other had a severely damaged filter that was non-functional. I ordered a new one but the only place that I could find said that it would take 5-8 weeks. I had one of my employees that worked in an auto body repair shop attempt to straighten the filter. It worked. We were able to put the assembly back together with a full seal!
I have not been able to find the inlets from the lake to the wet well yet but am trying to borrow a boat to assist in the search. In the meantime, I rigged up a metal screen with 200 feet of ropes, floatation devices and weights. We dragged the likely areas and removed over 1000 lbs of plant life from the water. Initial indications are that our pipes are cleaning out. It is a long process to clean miles of pipe that starts at 12 inch diameter but indications are looking good!
I contacted the people that do most of the work on our wells. They told me that they could rig a vacuum to a pump to allow us to dredge around the well inlets. This should solve our problem.
I have been putting resources into our equipment for parts and the mechanic is making incredible progress on getting our equipment up to speed. I took his blade sharpening duties away from him and had him train the individual operators on sharpening and setting mow heights. Now that the operators are learning what a pain in the a$$ that it is, they are being more careful with the machines. They are not requiring as much adjustment.
We have 72 carts that are used for toting customers around the course. They take a high level of maintenance and a lot of time to move around. We also have over 25 engine driven pieces of equipment in the maintenance shop. Most of these have wheels and are driven. We have put some new rules in place for accountability on the maintenance which should cut our overall time down in a significant fashion.
We also have filled the golf shop with retail items for sale, hired a part time cook, and have an inventory list for supplies.
Overall, we now have processes with ownership for most of the golf course duties. This was lacking when we took over.
Customers are coming back to the course and singing praises for the turnaround. I constantly hear that the course has never looked this good. I have heard these positive feedback from hundreds of people. More than twenty people today alone. At least 40 homeowners have grabbed me on the course or come to the pro shop to give us this feedback! That is what I have witnessed. The staff is hearing the same thing.
I am not satisfied yet. Not even close!
The money income appears to be significantly ahead of last year. It is hard to tell with memberships and such. Our expenses are higher right now but a reduction is coming.
I am so busy that it is difficult to provide updates. It may be a while before the next one comes out.