Schedules

In order to keep this blog active, I've put myself on a schedule.  The funny thing is, while we don't necessarily think much about it, scheduling is such an important part of our work on the golf course.

I am a big scheduler, mainly to keep me organized and to get the things done.  It helps me plan out the week, and works within our staff schedule.  Even the little things I schedule, because they could be the easiest items we forget to do.

There are also many different schedules that I make and follow.  I have a weekly schedule that will dictate our daily and weekly tasks. 

I have a cultural and plant health application schedule that plays a couple of roles, one it assures I stay on track with fertilizer and preventive applications, the schedule I create also helps for budgeting purposes.

I have an equipment maintenance schedule which we use to make sure the equipment is maintained properly so it is ready to use when needed and we get the most life out of a piece of equipment, and even an equipment replacement schedule that mainly helps in the budgeting process.
 
There is a golf schedule where we get important golf dates, which we use to make sure the course is at its best for particular outings or tournaments.  As with any of the big events on the golf schedule, preparation for those events starts why ahead of the actual event.  That yearly event on the golf course's golf schedule usually leads to preparation for it, starting the latest would be that spring.  Major events can have preparations starting as much as five years or more in advance, of course that is usually including major renovations, setting up infrastructure for the tournament logistics and media.

There is even somewhat of an irrigation schedule, although much of our irrigation use is dictated by weather or possible cultural or plant protectants, meaning do I water before I apply or after.  It all depends on what the label suggests.

All great topics to discuss over time.  But I will first share my weekly type schedules, hopefully you bare with the documents I use as examples, as I just learned how to screen shot, and have marginal examples.

I first begin with a daily task list, which will go into details about the important jobs that should be accomplished that day to prepare the golf course for play, or as it relates to other projects or applications.

As the above shows, these are our plans for daily tasks for the those two days.  It shows what events might be taking place such as leagues or outings (in red).  For important cultural practices, I show it in green.  The way I layout the tasks emphasizes the importance of those tasks to be done on that day. It does help with some flexibility when needed.  A great example of that was we were scheduled to mow tees on the Monday, the mower went down on Sunday, us being a course without extra equipment, we worked on repairs on the Monday, and we were able to mow tees on the Tuesday.  Weather or staffing can also play some havoc with this schedule, but by having it in this format, I can keep things organized, while being flexible when needed.  In the second column is where I write down the name of the crew member who performed the task, allows us to track accountability.  Than the other two columns are for notes.  After the days of the week are covered, a to do list wraps up this section of my weekly schedule.


The next section is a list of applications I'm planning on making.  Some have specific dates tied to them, (weather permitting of course), while others are applications to make when spare time and weather conditions allow them.  And then there is the reminder for the next application, for example our next wetting agent application.  When it comes to growth regulators like Primo, I will use a 200 Growing Degree Days calendar to track for the next application.

       
   The next section in my schedule is a list of equipment that needs to be serviced and any repairs that will need to be done.  Most of the repairs get the "write-in" treatment.

Last but not least is our irrigation repair section.  Most listed items are project items which when we have time we will do.  We will write in any repairs that occur during the week.

I hope this offers some insight into what planning goes into maintaining the golf course and getting everything done in a typical week.

As always,

Thanks for reading!

Mel