Snow Depth Management of Putting Greens...

As mentioned in previous blog posts there is some ice formation on our putting greens. The typical late January thaw did not happen this year, so we are left with ice under the snow...a lot of snow. This week we began to blow the snow off of the greens in effort to expedite the melting process.The process of snow blowing is a large task. We had to snow blow access paths to the greens just be able to get through the very deep snow. We are clearing the snow down to approximately 3 inches. This will allow a faster melt...as some of the greens have upwards of 3 feet of snow. Our plan of attack is complete the first clearing by Tuesday, if the weather continues to warm up, we will blow them again to reduce the amount of water run off. Runoff can cause issues if it refreezes at night...so we want to reduce as much as possible. The forecast for the next 10 days is promising for melting. Sunny days with moderately warmer temperatures will help to melt the ice layer. All of our greens are covered with dark green permeable tarps that will attract sun and create a warmer area for melting.
 During evaluation if we feel that we need to expedite the melting process we will apply black sand to attract the warm rays from the sun.

 

                                   #1 Green snow blown down to a few inches of loose snow...