One Week Out

We are another week closer to opening. The crew is very busy putting the course together in preparation of welcoming our members back for another season.

A greens update: we put tarps back down on 1,2,6,10, and 18. The poa annua that took a bit of a hit is slow to recover as very cold nights this week have had turf growth at a standstill. A fertilizer application this week will help get things moving; but it should be noted that fertilizer uptake is very much temperature dependent. So long as we are getting frosty nights with temperatures falling as low as -4 this week, patience will need to be exercised. Our goal will be to open all 18 greens and target pin locations to the healthiest part of the greens that have some winter damage. Our greens have a nice mix of bentgrass throughout them that provides healthy turf amongst the poa annua. Last fall when we solid tined and verticut the greens we overseeded with a premium bentgrass cultivar at a pound of seed per thousand square feet.  As temperatures rise, we should see some new bentgrass popping in these areas amongst with the recovering poa.

1 Green April 24th

Picture from April 1st. A lot of positive growth and green-up over the past 3+ weeks despite the conditions

The tarps will help mitigate the cold nighttime temperatures and boost surface temperatures in the day while single digit highs are still what we are facing. Highs into the teens next week will be welcomed, though nighttime lows are still getting closer to freezing than any of us would like. We will be looking at pulling the tarps back in the morning and placing them back down at days end as we approach opening day.

A lot of speckled poa damage on 6. Plenty of bentgrass throughout will help with recovery

The front and left side of 10 had the most damage. The back and right fared better. More sunlight there.

I am excited about how the rest of the course fared. The rest of the greens and all tees and fairways have overwintered well. The course is still quite saturated from the cold and wet spring. We appear to be in a bit of a drier stretch; more mowing of fairways will be possible; particularly when it warms up and the turf plants start taking in and metabolizing water for growth.

Another update will be provided before opening day.