Spring Update 2017

This has been an interesting week of weather. We welcome the rain to insure enough moisture for the plant while it wakes up. The snow has slowed us down for a few days, which is a good reminder of the unpredictability of April weather.

The 10th Tee

Lots of standing water

Across the River

With these fluctuations in temperature over the last few weeks, the perforated tarps have helped to protect the plants by regulating these changes. It looks like next week they will need to be removed so we can start to prepare the greens for play. At this time, we believe the greens have survived the winter well but with the tarps still on we haven’t seen all areas yet. 

A peek under a tarp

The newly sodded tees on #3 and #5 have wintered well. There is still some work to be done on the surrounding areas such as sodding and installing the steps. We look forward to getting them into play as soon as possible.

New tees on #3

New tee on #5

We have lots of course clean up and set up to do before we open, so hopefully the weather cooperates in the following weeks. We will start with debris clean up and the first cuts on the playing surfaces. Hopefully we will be able to start our cultural practices of aerating, topdressing, brushing and verticutting. The plants should begin growing, so they can handle any stress that may be added from maintenance or golf. For active growth we need the soil temperatures to increase, which is directly related to the air temperature, so we are looking for some nice days with warmer nights.

We are looking forward to a new season.