Jim Engh, Jim "magic" Hajek, me

Jim Engh is the architect of Fossil Trace. On occasion he will visit us whether it's to tour the course with a potential client, to play golf, or like in this particular case he was being interviewed by a Denver Post writer for an article. Look for it in this coming Sundays paper. If you are not a golfer, you may not realize the uniqueness that is Fossil Trace. There are no other courses like it.

There are many things I love about working on a golf course. One thing is the early mornings and watching the sunrise (I am usually at work anytime between 4:30-4:45 am this time of year so I see most sunrises). Another thing I love is the opportunity to view wildlife. No, I am not talking about Jim Hajek's escapades in his retro-nicker golf outfits, I am talking about this:

Ready for sun!

These chilly cloudy mornings are getting old! For the past 4 days I have arrived at work to find cold, cloudy mornings--some with rain. Here are some pics from this morning...

Bucky rolling #1 green:

Rolling #10 green with Columbines:

So what is with the fan?? This is a question I get alot. On 15 green we have a large fan located off to the side under the cottonwoods next to the wall. This fan comes on by a timer and runs everyday during the season. The purpose is to keep air moving across the surface of the green. The location of this green sits down in a hole and there is little air movement. If there is no air movement Bentgrass does not do well. During the first few years after opening this green was always struggling so we made the decision to install the fan. Now it thrives!


Changing cups

Hole locations are changed daily during the season at Fossil Trace. This is a simple yet important process. If the hole is not moved often, the grass around the cup would thin out and die from all the daily traffic. Plus, it adds variety to the way the holes on the golf course are played on a daily basis. Here are some pics of the process. Thanks Jay for the demonstration!

Cutting the new hole:

Removing the old liner and putting the new plug in the old hole:

Finished product:

Welcome

Welcome to the fossil trace maintence blog. This will be used as an area for me to post what we are doing here at the course. Feel free to comment, email me, call me or whatever if you wish...

Today, June 2nd, it is raining. When I arrived this morning around 4:45 am, we already had an inch in the rain gauge. It is 8am now, and we are approaching an inch and a half. We had a USGA qualifier event this morning scheduled, but the course is closed. It was a womens event, and the girls are up at the clubhouse waiting to see if the rain is gonna stop anytime soon. According to the radar, they may be waiting for a while...

Our seasonals were sent home and the remaining full-timers are working on small projects here around the shop such as prepping our tournament flags, painting cups, cleaning, etc.

I hope that you will enjoy this forum and find it useful, fun (yes, golf maintenance IS fun!!!), and sometimes educational. See you soon!