Has Anyone Ever Seen a Dead Cavalryman?

The title today is a derisive question asked by infantryman during the Civil War. The foot soldiers felt they did the heavy lifting and the dying while the cavalry got the glory and a horse to ride. Now I don't know how many infantrymen there were at the TPC Norton today, but they were out helping the grounds crew clean up the course. Meanwhile we were cleaning and labeling our noble steeds.
Carts management has about 30 carts for our needs and perhaps twice that many that we manage for TV crews and assorted groups that run the tournament. Our job is to make sure everyone who needs a cart gets one, and everyone who wants one, but doesn't need it,  doesn't. So labeling and licenses are a big part of our jobs. We sorted carts and labels and made a few deliveries and then we all went home.

It's amazing how much work went into getting the course ready for Irene. While tent frames remained standing, their covers were stripped. TV and Shotlink towers were dropped. Equipment that normally would be deployed on the weekend remained tucked away in pods. By the time we were around this morning fallen trees were being chainsawed and debris moved away. The most interesting thing I saw was on the 18th green. A large crew had placed several dozen 4" plugs on the green. Normally a grounds crew takes a single plug and places it in the hole on the green. They then drill a new plug in the new hole location and move on to the next green. Don't know if a tree or branches had hit the green, but extensive repairs were certainly going on.

The PGA takes greens very seriously. Two years ago when a dog ran onto a green and left claw marks a crew was on the scene in minutes and spent half an hour repairing the damage. We didn't know at the time, but the dog had clawed up the location of the next days pin placement. Listen to the pros' comments to see if they mention course conditions during the week.

All those pampered cavalrymen eventually went home to the farm, and today I left the TPC to go to Sheep Pasture to do some real work. A tree had fallen over the main entrance narrowly missing two parked cars. Two trails were closed due to fallen trees and a large hickory had split and collapsed. Debris filled the area where the farmers' market was held. Ironically, two large dead trees that will be removed with a crane next week stood unscathed. By the time we left today, the entrance was open and the farmers' market area was ready to go. While I'm driving the Red Sox legends tomorrow, the NRT crew will get underway opening trails.