Thursday, January 26, 2012

Course Update

The winter of 2011 / 12 just seems to not want to arrive.  The day time temperatures have seemed to consistently settle in in the mid 30's through December and January.  Most of the precipitation we have received has come to us in the form of rain or very light snow dustings that seem to disappear shortly after sunrise. 

As a turf manager, we always are thinking about how the turf will react under snow cover, if there there is ice forming on the turf, what decisions should I make to ensure the grass will be the best condition come spring.  All of this is subjective depending on each individual winter.  The 2012 winter has us more concerned if the winter fungicide programs we traditionally use in the fall will hold up, or degrade with  mild weather, and exposed grass.  Touring the golf course yesterday, we are in great shape and the turf looks good, with spring not to far away I believe we should have good healthy grass, come winters end.

The upside of the mild weather has allowed us to be out on the golf course doing some tree/hedge pruning.  It has also allowed us the opportunity to clean up some of our maintenance areas on the golf course, most notably the area in the north end of the club parking lot.

With the help of a tree company we removed and trimmed a couple of Silver Maples on Holes #9 and #15.  This will allow space for our younger trees planted in these areas, to grow and mature.  The Silver Maple grove between #12/13 were also trimmed during this time.

#9 Before
#9 After

#15 Before
#15 After
Our main winter focus is always maintaining our equipment.  Jose our equipment manager does a great job in inspecting and maintaining all of our equipment.  During this time all of our reels are sharpened and any equipment problems are addressed, allowing us quality machines for the up-coming golf season.  With the help of the maintenance staff our equipment is detailed and restored to like-new condition.