Opening Day

It's nice to have the course open, unfortunately later than normal but this spring has been a long time coming. The course is pretty wet in spots and carts will be a day by day decision until we see some dryer weather.

 We are keeping our equipment off the course as much as possible to minimize traffic patterns. With dryer weather we will get the remainder of the course cleaned up and increase manicuring the playing surfaces. It would be nice to see more sunny days and warmer temperatures to really get the grass growing. Until this happens we do not want to stress the turf to much because it needs to be growing to recover.

 15th Green April 8th

15th Green April 28th

Much of our time over the last week has been doing repairs on the 15th and 17th green. We have moved a considerable amount of sod from the nursery to repair damaged areas and now we need the weather to cooperate to get this turf growing/recovering. We will keep these areas covered for the next few weeks depending on the weather. It will take time to recover to playable condition but fortunately we have the badly damaged areas replaced.

Repairs and Cuts

 Repair work on #15 has been a slow process, moving piece by piece from the nursery and fitting it all together takes time. We missed a few days this week with the wet conditions but we have repaired the front half of the green already which had the most damage.

We have started to cut some of our fairways, there are still a few wet spots out there but its nice to be able to get cutting.

We have been able to do our first cuts on the greens and are working on getting the tees cut also. With the soil temperatures still remaining under 10 degrees we are not seeing much growth but everything is cleaning up well with the cuts.

Spring Update #2

 Not what we are looking for at this time of year, unfortunately another day that will slow down our clean-up on the golf course.

Spring Update

The weather seems to be improving enough and the course drying up so we can begin the process of getting the course ready for the golfing season. There are many wet areas out there still that are limiting how much we can accomplish without making a mess. Hopefully the rain holds off now so we can continue preparations.

The results of the winter on the course have been pretty good. Our chemical applications have controlled almost all snow mold activity. Our combination of solid and perforated tarps on the greens has helped protect the greens from ice build up and the consistent snow cover throughout the winter. The two areas that have seen damage from the winter are the 15th green and the front of the 17th green. 

 We have begun the process of removing all the damaged areas on #15. With some cooperation from the weather we hope to have this replaced in the next week. It will then need some extra time to fully recover before we begin playing on it.

We are taking sod off our nursery, piece by piece to replace the damaged areas.

 Nursery grass getting ready to move to green on 15

This is the front of #17 green (Freeze/Thaw injury in the spring - notice foot print pattern from walkers going across the green in early spring). We are seeing recovery in this area and will be overseeding it to help it fill in.

Spring getting started 2

What a difference 5 days makes!! At the beginning of the week we were 70% covered in snow and now we are down to 10%. The majority of the remaining snow is in the rough along the south side of treed fairways. We have had a good look at all of the greens now and the majority have looked good. The 15th and front of 17 are the only greens that have been hurt from the winter. There doesn't seem to be much frost left in the sunny areas now so its just time that is needed for things to firm up. We have begun some cleanup on the course but we are very limited to where we can go.

#1 Tee

#9 from the Green

#18 from the Green

Spring getting started

Its nice to see some warmer weather and our snow receding. The course is roughly 50% covered in snow and with a little luck most of that will be gone over the next week. Over the last two weeks we have removed excess snow off all of the greens and all snow off the greens that have solid covers. After having a good look at half of the greens now the majority of them look like they have wintered well. We are seeing minor mechanical damage on some greens and some freeze/thaw damage on the front of #17 green. The 15th green has been hurt from the long duration of snow cover and quantity of snow pack that it had received over the winter. It will need extra care in the coming month to get it ready for golf season. Of the areas we have seen our winter protective chemical has been very effective, little to no snow mold has been present. Over the next few weeks hopefully all this snow will be gone and we can begin the process of getting the course ready for golf.

A look out over #1 from the Tee

10th hole

9th hole

18 Green

Under the tarp on #8

Winter continues

This has certainly been a winter we haven't seen in a while. With the snow coming early and the cold temperatures holding on so consistently.

First Tee

Fortunately for the greens at The Briars the snow cover has acted as an insulator to keep the soil temperatures from fluctuating. There is a good amount of frost in the ground but not as much as you may think considering all the cold temperatures we have had. We have looked at multiple locations on the golf course and there is a minimum of 2.5 feet of snow cover and no ice on the surface of the greens. A build up of ice can smoother the grass and if it stays on the surface too long it can produce winter damage. Also, in the freeze/thaw times in the spring, the ice can take more time to thaw and therefore increase the chances of winter damage.

Looking at our long range temperatures we will be leaving the insulating snow cover on the greens until we see the temperatures consistently increasing and it begins to feel like spring is coming. Timing will be very important due to the long duration of the snow cover. With our greens covers underneath the snow, the length of time our winter chemical applications will stay effective, and the carbohydrate storage in the plants being used up when the temperatures change we will want to get the snow removed.

11 Fairway towards Green