Skip to main content

Winter Update February 2015

Well, we thought that we were in for a nice warm, calm winter...but Mother Nature changed that pretty quick in the month of February! We have received an incredible amount of snow this month, making outside work rather difficult, never mind that the temperatures have hovered around -20!
In late December our drainage contractors completed the work on #5, #7 and the Practice Range. All of the drainage systems were installed with only a minor amount of sodding and cleanup left to be done this spring. The majority of our tree work (removals, pruning and transplants) were completed before the weather turned. We do anticipate being able to get back out to do some more tree work prior to spring.
A few of our members have been asking about the condition of our greens this winter. In the aftermath of the spring of 2014 the concern is higher than usual. We are relatively happy about what we have out there right now. There is a very minimal layer of very "airy" ice on some greens. This is a result of the slush formation and freezing from back on January 5th. This type of ice is not nearly as worrisome as what we had last winter. At this point last winter we had a very heavy layer of solid, non-breathable ice cover on most greens. The situation right now is much better. However, there is a lot of snow out there. Our concern is that when the weather does decide to warm and the snow begins to melt, that it does not stay on the green and risk refreezing. A portion of our damage last spring was from this occurrence. Using our experience from last year, our plan is to monitor the weather patterns in the next few weeks and begin snow removal if a warm period is forecasted. The goal is to manage the snow depths and allow any melt to run off or at least be able to be pushed off by our team. Please continue to check in on this blog for updates as we move out of winter (hopefully) and into the 2015 golf season!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Practice Range Tee

Last fall we utilized a “new to us” method of revitilization for our practice tee. Our contractor TDS,  fraize mowed the surface of the tee to remove organic matter as well at to aid in leveling. The tee was then aerified and seeded to a new variety of creeping rye grass. We chose this type of turf grass as research  shows rapid recovery and a low growth habit. We were able to get some great growth in the fall, but the tee is still not ready for traffic and full use. The plan is to utilize the mats until growth has filled in some of the voids etc. We will then begin to slowly set up hitting areas on the grass tee. For a while we will alternate between grass and the mats with a 50/50 ratio of use. Once the grass tee is established and is in adequate recovery mode, the practice areas will be back to normal. As always our membership’s patience is appreciated as we try to improve these areas for use.
Post a Comment
Read more

Cultural Greens Maintenance...

With the cooler temperatures this week, we will be performing some all important greens maintenance procedures. Monday evening (after the outside event) we will be doing a light grooming on both our greens and collars. This task will help to reduce the amount of lateral growth, therefore standing up the plants (for a better cut) and smoothing out the surfaces. Following the grooming we will be dry mowing all areas tonight to help clean up the debris. Tuesday morning we will be applying our biweekly light topdressing prior to play. Once the sand has dried, we will use our cocoa matt to drag the sand into both the canopy and the shallow grooming channels created by tonight's procedure. These practices in conjunction help to create a smooth, firm and healthy surface to putt on.
Post a Comment
Read more

Greens Cultural Management Practices Schedule

The fall is a great time to perform a number of necessary cultural practices. Our goal is to amend the upper portion of the greens surface with enough sand to help insulate the crown through the winter as well as removing and diluting organic matter. Below you will find a schedule of cultural practices that we aim to complete before the covers go on and the snow flies!!! Wednesday, Sept. 30th- Light topdressing followed by a Cocoa matt Tuesday, Wednesday October 13/14-Course Closure full core aeration with heavy topdressing. October 19th- Light topdressing followed by a Cocoa matt October 26th- Light topdressing followed by a Cocoa matt November 2nd- Light topdressing followed by a Cocoa matt November 9th- Deep Verticut, followed by a sufficient topdressing. November 16th- Post Course Closure, Heavy topdressing followed by Deep tine aeration. Of course this is all in hope that the weather cooperates...happy fall!
Post a Comment
Read more