Travels with Terry

Equipment Tag System

This effective system tracks which employees are using specific small equipment, like string-line trimmers, hovercraft rotaries and reciprocators because they inevitably get mistreated and none of the employees will step up as the responsible party. Each machine is hung on the wall or sitting on a shelf, with an ID tag on a hook adjacent to each respective machine. Next to the equipment is a board with each crew member’s name with a corresponding hook next to their name. When a crew member signs out a specific piece of equipment, the equipment tag is then placed on the board next to the respective employee’s name. A special small-equipment room was created during the maintenance building remodeling in 2010 when this tag system took effect. The cost was less than $100 for all of the tagging materials and it took about a day to complete. Mark Smith, CGCS, Raul Ramos (aka Hop Sing), Ron Mahaffey and Nora Pelayo created this very successful system at The Quarry at LaQuinta in LaQuinta, Calif.

Lunchroom Tables

The Quarry at LaQuinta in LaQuinta, Calif., remodeled its maintenance building in 2009. They have a new lunchroom /meeting room measuring 48 feet by 27 feet in the main part and 12 feet by 15 feet in an adjacent area, totaling approximately 1,476 square feet. The five new lunchroom tables fold neatly into the wall for a nice, clean, uncluttered look when they are not being used for easy cleanup of the floors, which are mopped daily. Palmer Hamilton (www.palmerhamilton.com) of Elkhorn, Wis., is the manufacturer. The table single wall pockets model number is No. 86R031412, No. 40M03293014 for the wall pocket table and No. 42M03171214 for the wall pocket bench. Twelve employees can sit comfortably at each table. The total cost was about $15,684.96 for the materials and about $1,675 for the installation. They were installed in one day. Mark Smith is the certified golf course superintendent.