Reel to Reel

Five inches of fresh snow fell last night.  I found a few snow drifts over a couple feet deep.    As a reminder to the winter walkers, please avoid walking across any greens.  Compacted snow will turn to ice which can result in damage to the greens.  Thank you for your cooperation.    Below are a few photos, I took from my morning inspection.    #2 fairway   #6 green   #7 fairway  

The turf is barely covered with the snow that fell Friday.  Temperatures in the low 30's for the next 7-10 days indicate winter is now here.  As ground conditions firm up on the course, we will be starting our winter tree maintenance. a look down #5 fairway   Our efforts last week were focused on power washing the equipment and organizing the shop in anticipation for our winter maintenance program.   David cleaning a utility vehicle My staff does a phenomenal job of going through each piece of equipment making sure everything is running efficiently.  An aging fleet provides Mike, our equipment manager, several challenges throughout the winter.  He continues to amaze me with his creative solutions to fix our seasoned equipment.   Jose working on a fairway mower Please continue to follow the blog throughout the winter.  I will be providing information on course...

Countless articles have been written by the USGA and universities regarding winter play on greens.  Agronomists across the country agree that cool season grasses need a break during the winter months.  Traffic on dormant turf leads to a host of problems including wear, compaction and the severing of roots.  Problems that occur on green surfaces this time of year can directly impact playing surfaces in the spring and summer months.  Bumpy, inconsistent, and weak greens would be a difficult way to start the new golf season.  Please continue to help protect the golf course throughout the winter and avoid any foot traffic on the greens.  Thank you for your cooperation.

The golf course is closed for the season.   The flags have been removed and the greens have been roped off to eliminate any traffic from winter walkers.  Throughout the winter months and into early spring, the greens will go through freeze/thaw cycles.  These conditions will leave the greens soft and susceptible to foot printing.  Please stay off of the greens to help reduce potential problems from arising next spring. Red stakes have been placed in front of the greens to serve as a target to shoot at when the golf course reopens.  Thank you for your cooperation in these efforts to protect the golf course.

We continued winter preparations on the golf course today.  We started pumping down the pond on #7.  A low pond level is desirable for drainage during the winter months.  Snow accumulation throughout the winter creates a tremendous volume of water as it melts, and having the pond low is a proactive measure for the snow melt.   #7 pond being pumped down to improve fairway drainage We took the covers off of the new forward tees on #12 and #18 to treat them with a preventative fungicide application today.  As you can see from the photos below there is a nice amount of growth.  The covers have helped moderate soil temperatures to improve growth this fall.  They should be in really good shape this spring. New forward tee on #18 New turf growing well under the covers