What Do We Do In The Winter at XGD Systems?
Not unlike northern golf superintendents, we often get the question what we do in the winter? I like to call the golf restoration business a cleaner version of farming. So, like farmers we need to seed crops in good weather, which is saying a lot as Mother Nature can be cruel sometimes when you are trying to finish up a project. Of course during harvest time the old farmer analogy is apt with “make hay while the sun shines”. So we are working when we can and planning in the rainy, or cool weather during the season.
So, during the off season we are fitting in some much needed vacation time to recharge the batteries, as are most northern supers. Like our clients we are also taking the off season to educate ourselves on new industry trends, be it with a personal self improvement course, or at some of the many turf conferences around the country. Below is a shot of Greg Nichols, our Midwest regional sales manager at the MN Green Expo this past week:
Sales meetings are held at headquarters in Guelph, ON to discuss planning and new markets, and what we need to do to get a presence in our targeted new markets. Sales trip schedules are produced and admin from Guelph provides support to help reach out to potential new customers.
From an operations and/or field standpoint, our operations manager Matt Magarian has a skeleton crew installing fairway drainage at the William Mitchell designed Noyac Golf Club in Sag Harbor, NY on eastern Long Island. If the weather cooperates this winter, and the east coast stays much warmer than usual, we may begin some Classic Green Drainage down on the Jersey shore at the Walter Travis designed Hollywood Golf Club in the next few weeks.
As our clients do, we take and roll with whatever Mother Nature gives us, so any greens or fairways we can get behind us in January or February significantly opens up our spring schedule to help serve our clients in a more timely manner.
So, please keep your eyes open for us at the GIS in San Diego in February, and at the New England Regional Turfgrass Conference in March, and stop by to say hello.
Cheers, Poor Old Dirt & Grass Farmer
