Course Update

 

 

Spring 2015 Golf Course Update:

 

The seasonal temperatures this past week has begun to melt the heavy snow cover on the course.  The Golf and Grounds crew has been able to open some roads around the course to get to the greens that do not have covers on them and do an assessment of the conditions under the snow. Several greens have a one to three inch ice layer on them and those green had the snow removed so the warmer temps could help melt the ice. Presently greens 3, 6, 8, 1, 9, 10, 12, 16, 18, and the practice green have been cleared of snow.  The ice levels on greens 3, 6, 18 & half of 12 are completely gone and we are hoping within the next week the remaining greens that were cleared will also be devoid of any ice.

The green surfaces with the exception of #6 look ok. There are several areas on #6 that are discolored and appear damaged. We removed plugs from those areas and have them inside at the maintenance facility trying to “push” the turf out of the winter dormancy to assess any damage. When temperatures rise and the turf comes out of dormancy a better assessment can be made.

The greens with covers appear to be ice free under the covers so at this time we have decided to let Mother Nature do her thing and melt the snow off the covers.

When the snow does melt off,  the turf will be super saturated and will need several days under normal temps to firm up to be safe to walk on without doing damage to the grass plants and soil structure. The 2.5 feet of snow we have had equates to 605,000 cubic yards of snow on the acreage we maintain at the club. That is a lot of frozen water

I would say at this time, our normal opening date of the first week of April is definitely in jeopardy.

I will continue to keep you updated during the next few weeks.

Peter