Cart Abuse and Greens Closing

After a long holiday week, we are back at it here in the maintenance department.  I apologize for the length of time between posts, but with the holiday I figured people would be busy.  I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and managed to survive Black Friday (or completely avoid it if you are smart he he).  Black Friday was a great day for golf and we did almost 80 rounds here at the club.

Anyways, there is still much to do to the golf course before we are "put to bed" for the winter.  Unfortunately, the heavy rains have put a stop to all of it.  We are still hoping to topdress and fertilize the greens once before the ground freezes, but with conditions as soft as they are, we are unlikely to get that done anytime soon.  Up to 3 more inches of rain appear to be headed our way over the course of this week.

With that, we will instead spend some quality time indoors putting a dent in our winter cart maintenance chores.  Every year, our cart fleet is brought in for winter service.  We will start with a good pressure washing followed with checking and cleaning the front end, brakes and brake pedals.  Afterwards, we will remove all batteries, clean out the battery box, clean the batteries and check the water levels.  Once this is complete, the carts will be put to bed for the year.

Along with this, I would like to comment on the condition of the carts.  I usually spend time talking about the abuse that misused carts can do to the turf, but must turn the tides a bit now.  Your money bought this fleet brand new this year, and with just the FIRST THREE CARTS we brought into the shop, there was significant body damage to the likely tune of a few hundred dollars!!!  I was amazed all season at the regular abuse of carts by our membership.  Bag holders, sand and seed boxes, body panels, and fenders were replaced on many carts this past season, and it seems that there are further damages leftover for the winter. Please take care of your carts while using them on the course!  We will get them fixed this winter, but we should be wary to cause unnecessary damage to our carts as it takes money away from more important things!

Speaking of more important things, the greens will be officially closed as of Monday, December 5th.

Allright, now that I have fininshed ranting, enjoy the rest of Cyber Monday!\



With the batteries removed, there is significant debris, garbage, and battery acid present in these boxes.



Using battery cleaner neutralizes any acid that has built up on the batteries to prevent corrosion and unwanted battery discharge.

After just one season, this battery hold-down rod is already corroded.  Maintenance like this is essential to keep these carts in the best working order possible.

It's always a big team effort to get through 50 carts with this degree of maintenance.

TISK TISK!!  A small hole such as this will require the entire body section to be replaced.

This cart obviously took a heavy hit as the side panels and main body section are no longer aligned.  This and the above picture were the first two in the shop selected at random!!!  There was one more that came in damaged, so the percentages seem to be high for damage this winter.