At this time of year the question always arises “When are we going to open the golf course?” Each and every year the opening date is based upon a number of factors. Moisture: We at HCC immediately think of moisture. Being a heavy clay based property, we tend to hold onto the moisture from the winter snow, rains etc. The club has invested a large amount of capital funding into a drainage project that has mitigated a lot of previously experienced issues, but there is still a lot of property not completely drained. In the spring there is a large amount of water at or just below the surface of the turf due to the fact that it hasn’t dried out in over 6 months. Traffic on this turf can result in heavy, more permanent damage like root shear and rutting. To open the golf course we feel that waiting for at least one drying event prior to opening protects us from this type of damage. Growth and recovery: In the early spring the soil temperatures are obviously very low. Turf growth ...
The goal of this blog is to inform, educate and update the members of Highland CC of any Turfgrass related issues.