The warm winter weather has given the golf and grounds crew the opportunity to complete several outdoor projects that would not be the case during a normal snowy cold winter. The bad news is that our normal indoor activities of refurbishing our golf accessories are behind schedule. We should be able to catch up on this work with a few rainy days.
A complete cleanup of remaining debris from both tropical storm Irene and the October snow storm has been completed. Branches and small trees damaged from the storms on perimeter wood lines have been cut and chipped. Rough areas on 1, 2, 8, 9, 11, 13, and 18 have been cleaned out to promote air flow during the growing season.
All the removals and stump grinding associated with the capital tree project on 11 has been completed. The remaining work of adding soil and seeding and sodding will take place in the early spring.
Our normal winter tree work has also been completed. The golf and grounds crew is in the process of cleaning up the remaining stump grinding debris from that project.
The cleanup of our dump areas is almost complete. The screening of the topsoil and fill in those dumps is still to be completed. Warmer and drier weather is necessary for that work to be done.
The golf and grounds crew are monitoring the greens that we have covered. The warmer temps can cause some problems with turf that has protected covers for the winter. To date the turf under the covers looks good without any flush growth. We will continue to monitor these areas and remove the covers when the weather remains above freezing. Removal of the covers too early can work against us if there is a sudden cold snap too soon after the covers is removed.
The biggest question facing turf managers this spring is what effect the warmer winter weather and the above normal March weather will have on the life cycles of the Annual Bluegrass weevil, (ABW), as well as the timing of pre-emerge chemical applications for crabgrass. We have already installed our insect pit fall traps to track the movement of ABW adults. When the adults appear implementation of our ABW program will begin. An earlier than usual appearance of these pests could effect the treatment schedules throughout the growing season.
The staff has already started to monitor soil temperatures. When the temperatures reach the target levels pre-emerge crabgrass applications will take place.
The warmer weather could work to our advantage accelerating our spring aerification schedule for greens and tees. Aerification scheduled for April on greens could be moved to late March if the weather continues to improve and the greens firm enough to withstand the use of the aerification equipment. We will continue to keep the membership informed on any aerification activity on the course.
Traditionally we target the first week of April to open our greens and tees. If the temperatures continue to stay above normal and there are no significant rain events the opening of the course could be moved up as early as a week to the last week of March.
Let’s hope Mother Nature cooperates and we can get a jump on the golf season.
