The winter included plenty of snow cleanup, some tree work, brush clearing, equipment maintenance and supply refurbishing. We finished the mound work on the 3rd hole and started some master plan projects on 3 and 13 until we got snowed out. We will continue these when the weather permits.
The course still has a few pockets of snow after the brief cycling warmups and cool downs of the last week. We had about an inch of rain yesterday making the course a soggy mess and now we have the upcoming forecast of swinging temperature I previously mentioned. As of right now I feel pretty good about the turf conditions coming through the winter. March however is a very touchy month when it comes to winter damage. Wet conditions followed by prolonged temperature swings put the plant into limbo giving it mixed signals of "wake up" and "go to sleep". This rapidly decreases food stores and makes it susceptible to low temperature kill. Note the lows for the coming week plus.
Last week we were out on a few greens with the snow blowers and the loader to remove very heavy pockets of snow. Greens like 5,10,12 and 17 still had over two feet of snow on them. Greens 1 and 10 had 4-5 inches of water sitting on them under the snow- less than ideal. Our goal was to remove the snow to allow the water to vacate the surface. I am typically not a fan of removing snow, especially during the winter months but the trapped water paired with upcoming temperature swings is a recipe for damage. Our hope was to alleviate some of this and limit the water on the surface that encourages the plant to hydrate and wake up.
We are currently cleaning up the fallen trees and starting stick cleanup now that the course and dump are accessible. There is a ridiculous and disgusting amount of goose poop on the course. Once things dry out we will attempt to drag it and blow it off.
We are quite a bit behind schedule both in terms of tasks and plant development. For reference, a season ago we had already uncovered greens, aerated them and covered them back up as of last week. I don't see a window to do this any time soon with nighttime temperatures going into the 20s and even teens. There is still a fair amount of frost in the ground in places which won't come out until we get warmer nights Our team will bounce around working where we can to prep the course, clean up debris and get some projects completed as we can. I wouldn't expect an early or typical opening this season as far as timing goes. The long range forecast could change and with that my opinion but I'm trying to be realistic.
We are looking forward to seeing you all back soon!
