. It's Just Not In The Cards By Jerry Walters MTT Contributing Writer If you're planning on lounging around during the 'non-golfing season', working on your one-handed shuffle and your poker-faced stare, forget about signing on with the maintenance crew from the local muni. The common misconception is that the super and his crew spend the off-season sitting around the facility catching up on their much needed sleep, reading turf science magazines, and playing cards. According to Bruce Nelson, Golf Course Superintendent at Fox Hollow, it's the busy time of the year. The staff is pared down to nearly 25% of the summer crew, which presents additional problems. If the weather continues to be mild to moderate, golfers will continue to play the courses. That situation continues to be the norm rather than the exception in Colorado, and the staff needs to hand water many of the areas around the tees and greens. The irrigation system is generally shut down and blown out as a precautionary measure for the winter, leaving only a few hydrants around the greens still functioning. With limited manpower, and increased numbers of players, combined with inadequate daylight hours, the job of keeping the grass from dying off in the winter becomes monumental. If the temperature gets slightly lower than tolerable, hand watering produces only ice. That would be good on the slopes, but not for golf courses. As for the actual routine in the maintenance shop at the course, every piece of grass cutting equipment, from the big riding rough mowers to the hand held fly-over mowers for the riverbanks to the string trimmers, must be torn down and completely rebuilt. That includes nuts and bolts and every part that takes the wear and tear of a rigorous mowing season to keep the courses in pristine condition. In the case of Fox Hollow, where 27 holes of pure golfing pleasure are maintained, the mowers are so abundant they're kept in numerical order. Gaskets are replaced, fluids changed, and all the mower blades are precisely ground and sharpened to an edge that could be used for shaving. Reminds me of my own home maintenance program. Winter is the time for tree and shrub pruning, and any changes in the texture of the course design such as adding bunkers, waterfalls, cart paths, etc. Logically, one would think that summer would be the best for these projects, but if memory serves me correctly, that's when all the golfers are slapping the ball around. The maintenance crew faces additional challenges just ducking errant shots when on the course in the summer. When the ground remains as soft as a loaf of day-old French bread, new cups need to be cut so as to avoid wearing out the turf in one spot since the leaves of the grass don't regenerate while in the dormant season. Occasionally, two or three cups will be cut into a green where the use will be reduced by rotating the flagstick. This idea only works when golfers use a little common sense about the prevailing season. Downtime is also prime time for training programs. Turf specialists are brought in to conduct conferences about any new and improved methods of turf care and also about chemicals used to solve turf problems. Personnel training is accomplished during the off season, and it goes beyond the occasional ducking when the word FORE! is heard. There's a certain technique involved in maintaining a golf course without being seen by the public. The main objective is to be invisible, not to interfere with the players, and to not be struck by the ever present snap-fade. Aside from the maintenance on the equipment, wintertime is the season for pulling in all the ball washers, benches, hazard stakes, (they could stand to lose a few of those) signs, and tee markers for a little sprucing up and repainting. Giving the river rocks used on the tees a new coat of Dutch Boy sounds like my kind of job. If playing cards for the winter, is what you're looking for, it won't be in the maintenance facility, but back inside the clubhouse at the men's grill. Jerry Walters is co-host of Chip Shots radio show on 950am The Fan.