Heavy Frost

Temperatures dropped to a low of -2 last night and when the sun came up, it brought a heavy layer of frost with it. The 8am shotgun has been pushed back to an estimated start time of 10am due to the frost delay. This may result in only 9 holes able to be played as the Brad Stevens Memorial Tournament starts at 12:30. This is a full shotgun and will require any previous tee times to be off the course before the shotgun.

A frost covered #11

 This week at the club, we had our club wide training day. This was held on Thursday and saw all departments come together for training and an afternoon 9 hole tournament. Not only is it a great way for new staff to get accustomed to the clubs standards but also a great way for every department to come together and meet each other. It is a great way to set the bar high for a team approach to the season.

With this week including a holiday and a staff wide training day, there was really only 3 full days of work for the greens staff. Having said that, a very important cultural turfgrass management practice was completed on Tuesday. A vertical cut on the greens was done to promote new, healthy growth. This process also improves firmness on the surface accompanied with a moderate topdressing. With the warm day time temperatures and low humidity, the process went very smooth. The material brought up from the vertical cut was easily removed and the sand was worked well into the canopy of the greens.

Verticutting #1 green

As mentioned in previous posts, there was a little bit of winter injury sustained on the course. These areas include the right side of #1 fairway and a few small spots on #5 fairway. Due to our mostly clay dominant soils, numerous areas throughout the course will settle over the winter. With a large snow pack and moist soils, these areas tend to lower and cause water to settle in those depressions. These areas usually do not fair to well during the late winter/ early spring freeze thaw cycle. These areas are going to be leveled and sodded. Other areas will be seeded and topdressed to level the playing surface. 

This coming week, the crew will be working hard in the bunkers. It is a large process to get the course ready for play coming out of the winter. Up until this point, the bunkers have not gotten a large crew work over. This week, tasks will include; a sand depth check, sifting of the sand for rocks and edge maintenance. For being a hazard, the bunkers require a substantial amount of TLC.

The temperature today is suppose to reach a high of 24 degrees with low humidity. Accompanied with a clear sky, the day looks to be shaping up perfect for a round of golf!