GREENS

SENDING GOLFERS OFF THE 10th TEE

If you play golf on Tuesdays here at Whitevale, you may be curious why you start on the 10th tee. Every Tuesday and Thursday we mow around the bunkers with a mower called a Flymow. This mower is very similar to the regular push mower most people use on their home lawns, with one big exception. It has no wheels! It is actually a small hover mower. The motor not only turns the blade, but it turns a fan creating air pressure under the deck. This wheelless mower works very well around the rolls of the bunkers without scalping. So why do we send play off the back? Well, on Tuesdays we flymow the front 9 bunkers and this process requires 3 people to mow the grass and blow the debris out of the bunkers. It will take them between

3 1/2 to 4 hours to get through the front 9. Behind this crew we still need to rake the bunkers because of the mess we make. Therefore, by sending play off the 10th tee, the crew have an extra 2 hours to work without having to move out of the way for golfers. By the time the first group has made it to the 1st hole, this crew is down on 7, and if all goes according to plan, by the time the first group of golfers get to the 9th tee, this team is finished. If we have equipment break downs and the progress is slowed, then golfers will catch up to this crew. Because this crew has to watch out for, and get out of the way of people hitting golf balls, their production is significantly slowed, usually doubling the time required to get the job complete. As you guessed this also doubles the cost associated with getting this job done.

Brenden, Nicole and Derek flymowing at 3 green