MH - 400 Material Handler Rebuild

 The MH - 400 material handler is a crucial piece of equipment that helps with efficiency when hauling various bulk materials around the golf course. We use this particular machine for hauling sand while topdressing greens, tees, and appraoches. This unit also has an attachment for allowing the user to topdress fairways and other large areas needing sand.

A view of the snapped belt from underneath the MH - 400

During our first aerification this past May, our MH - 400 decided it had enough and snapped the conveyor belt. This was a blow to our overall efficiency during the aerification process and it was not going to be an easy fix. The conveyor belt is the single most important aspect of the machine other than the tractor you need to haul it with. Since the belt broke the MH - 400 was not able to move the sand out of the machine into the topdresser.

Rear view look at the machine midway through stripping it apart. Notice all the rust. 

 Once we determined the belt broke the next plan of attack was to strip the machine of all parts and assess the damage. Since the belt requires so many pieces of the MH - 400 to come off, more often than not the MH - 400 needs a complete makeover. Due to the age of the machine, this was going to be the case with our MH - 400.

Completely stripped machine ready for some body work.

 Once we stripped the machine of all necessary pieces we began to assess our situation and created an action plan for replacement parts. Since our particular machine is nearing the 14 year old stage, we felt it was necessary to rebuild as it would be a cost effective way to save us from not buying a new MH - 400.

Floor of the MH - 400 that houses the belt rollers waiting to be sanded, primed, and painted.

Roller assembly with primer

 To the left is the floor of the MH - 400 after it was sanded and primed. We determined that the best way to prolong this unit was to give it a couple coats of primer and seal the exposed metal with a product similar to Rhino Liner or Line X. The reason for the decision was to give our MH - 400 the best possible scenario to survive another 5 years. Below is a picture of the finished product before being installed back into the body of the MH - 400. This will protect the main roller assembly from sand and water corrosion which could potentially cause severe rust damage.

Roller assembly with a Rhino Lining type material.

Up close picture of the Rhino Lining material used to prevent damage to the metal frame.

Here is our finished product after many man hours and countless cans of paint. All that is left is a test run so we can adjust the tension on the belt and get the unit dialed in so we can put it back in service.

Finished product

Raise Them Right!

Christian is seen here leveling heads around greens. We use a device called the Level Lift to slowly ease the irrigation heads up until they are flush with the playing surface. The Level Lift does 90%of the work to raise the irrigation head. All Christian has to do once the irrigation head is level, is pack fresh sand around the irrigation head to prevent any settling. This irrigation head should be able to go another 2-3 years without needing any leveling once the process is complete. 

Aerification 5/12/14 - 5/15/14

 Left;
Aerification equipment staged and ready to go punch some holes.




Right:
Walk aerifiers punching holes using 3/4" tines on the driving range tee.

Aerification equipment in action. We used 3/4" tines to aerify all fairways and approaches. Tractor mounted 1298 Toro aerifiers help make the job quick and easy.

Left:
After the cores dry, we drag them with a steel drag mat to knock off all dirt leaving the thatch behind to be swept up for disposal.

Right:
Cody is blowing the leftover thatch into rows for the sweeper to pick it up.

Thatch removed from all playing surfaces on holes 1 through 8. 

The chipping green blanketed with 304 topdressing sand after a core aerification. The sand was dragged in to fill all holes to allow for better water movement and nutrient uptake.

Summer Aerification Dates

As many of you may already know summer is fast approaching for most. While most of our membership departs to venture back north, the GC Maintenance team stays behind to groom the golf course for the upcoming 2014/2015 season. During this time we will perform a host of jobs, including aerification. Now I know mentioning the word aerification is like finger nails across a chalkboard for most, but it is a necessary practice that benefits the health of the golf course.

The GC Maintenance team will perform 3 aerifications this summer. Below are the dates and scope of work that will be performed.

May 12-15  :    Greens, tees, fairways, approaches, and rough will all get cored aerified. We will apply a     layer of sand on greens, tees, and approaches. 

July 14-17  :      Greens, tees, fairways, and approaches will all get cored aerified. We will apply a layer of   sand on the greens, tees, and approaches.

September 15-18  :     Greens, tees, fairways, and approaches will all get cored aerified. We will apply a     layer of sand on the greens, tees, and approaches. 

We hope you have a safe, enjoyable summer!

Jupiter CC 

GC Maintenance

Winter Venting of Greens

The Hydroject is used to in place of your normal aerifier during the winter months. As you can see from the pictures below it creates a tiny hole in the surface of the green to allow for venting. It not only makes a hole in the ground, but also creates a channel for oxygen and new roots to form. It is a similar process as to our summer aerification, just not as disruptive to the playability of the green.

Raul with the Hydroject in the reverse position.

Resulting hole from the Hydroject. To the left is a ballmark repair tool to give the hole some size reference.

Raul with the Hydroject in the forward position.

FROST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Frost on #3 rough on the morning of 1/19/14

Frost on #17 on the morning of 1/19/14


The frost blanketed most of the golf course that morning with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees. Some of you might be asking why a frost around 40 degrees. the only answer I can give you is that we were in the upper 30's for a couple of days prior to this frost. When you have upper 30 degree weather with no frost and then a 40 degree morning with heavy dew. It creates the perfect recipe for a heavy frost. At that particular moment that morning the ground temperature was colder than the air temperature, thus making it the perfect scenario for the frost.

As you may have noticed the tees and fairways had no significant impact due to the frost. the reason being for the lack of damage is associated directly to the size of the grass blade. The rough has a bigger grass blade resulting in more surface area for the dew to set on, which in turn allows for a higher chance for a good frost to set up on the grass blade.

Damage 4 days later after the frost around #7 tee box.

Poa Annua

Poa Annua on the #18th tee

Poa Annua is an invasive winter weed that causes many unsightly problems in the south during the winter months. If not taken care of in a timely manner, it could cause the weed to spread into other parts of the golf course.

We are currently spraying Poa Annua throughout the course as we see new areas pop up. They key to this is getting on it early before it has a chance to establish a stronghold in the turf.

In addition to us spot treating nuisance areas, we have applied another pre-emergent. to the turf to reinforce the one we put out in September. This should allow for us to gain control over future outbreaks before it spreads to other areas of the golf course.

Poa Annua in the rough #1

Since we had tremendous Poa Annua pressure last season, it will take some time to build up enough pre-emergent efficacy before we start to see a drastic change in outbreaks. To clarify, we will always have small pockets of Poa Annua no matter how much pre-emergent you apply. Controlling it from this standpoint makes it a task that is very attainable in the early stages of the germination process. Depending on the results of our control this year, we will look into other pre-emergent products for the winter months. In our industry we have many useful products at our disposal. The trick is finding the one that suits our facility the best.