Off and Running

The project intensity increased yesterday as our architect, Tom Marzolf arrived on site. The construction company was soon shaping Tom's vision for our golf course. We are off to a good start and are finally seeing some nice weather. Work has begun on #5 and #6. We will be moving on to #7 and #8 in the next week or so. We hope to begin laying sod by early next week on #5. Sand has started to arrive and once the drainage and liners have been installed we will begin installing the sand. It is an exciting time to be a member and even more exciting to be the Superintendent at The Country Club of Scranton.

Bunker Project Begins

Hawk Shaw Golf Course Construction arrived on the property today and got right to work. They began removing the sod and sand around the green side bunkers around #5 and #6. Our architect, Tom Marzolf will arrive on site tomorrow to give them specific instructions on the size and shape of the bunker. We plan on using the maintenance blog to keep the membership up to date on the progress of the project.

Building Strong Roots

The long hard winter took its toll on the golf course. Even the greens that came through the winter looking healthy have lost significant root depth and mass over the winter. Now is the time where we are trying to build those roots to prepare us for the upcoming season. For this reason we will be very conservative with our mowing heights for the next few weeks. This will result in noticeably slower green speeds. Our goal for the next few weeks is to improve the health of our greens. A strong root structure will allow us to present our members and guests with excellent putting surfaces throughout the season. As we begin to lower our cutting height you will start to see an increase in green speeds. We will continue to keep you updated on the progress throughout the Spring.

A Slow Start to the Season

The Winter Season has taken its toll on the golf course in many ways. Obviously the most severe was the damage to the greens. The extended long winter season has not allowed the golf course to respond like it currently does in early April. The soil temperatures are about 2 to 3 weeks behind where they should be. The result of that has been a golf course that is extremely slow to green up. The snow fall that stuck around until late March didn't not allow us to get on the golf course and begin our clean-up process. The process actually started on April 4th. Many of you that played this weekend may have noticed that projects that took place during the Winter months were not cleaned up. Currently, we are in the process of addressing these areas. We have a plan in place to present you the golf course you have been accustomed to. We are diligently working to help the greens recover from the damage. We will keep them closed as long as we can to help speed up this process. Green and black sand have been applied to the damaged areas to help increase soil temperatures. And we will continue to apply and remove covers daily to keep the cold temperatures from delaying the recovery process. We will also be watering these areas frequently to encourage seed germination and allow damage turf a chance to recover. The Winter project areas will be seeded this week. We will begin mowing our greens, tees, and fairways throughout the week, which will encourage more growth. With a lot of hard work, and some warmer weather things should begin to turn around quickly.

A Rough Winter

The Winter was a rough one for the Old Course Greens at The Country Club of Scranton. We have sustained ice damage on seven of the greens on the Old Course. The fourteenth green, (pictured to the left) sustained the most damage. These greens have been spiked, seeded, fertilized, and heavily topdressed. The Green Department removed snow and ice on the greens several times throughout the winter to try and prevent this from occurring. We will keep these greens closed for a period of time to allow these areas to recover. We will be able to give the membership 18 holes to play for the foreseeable future. The closing of these greens will allow them to recover more quickly. The covers will remain on these greens to help increase the soil temperatures, which will result in faster recovery. We have battled ice damage in the past. The shapes and undulations on our greens allow water to sit on the surface throughout the winter. The internal drainage is not effective once the soil freezes. The covers are designed to prevent wind and cold temperature kill. Unfortunately they do not help prevent damage from ice accumulation. They will take some time to recover but we will keep the membership up to date with the progress on an ongoing basis. The Green Department is doing everything possible to aide in a quick and thorough recovery.

Spring has Sprung

The very difficult winter has taken its toll on the golf course. We have experienced some ice damage on several of our green. Holes #6, #7, #9, #10, #14, and #18 has experienced some degree of damage. It is still to early to determine the severity and how much will respond to some warmer temperatures. We have recently fertilized these greens and the covers will remain on the Old Course until we start to experience some consistent warmer temperatures. We will keep you updated with the recovery process and let you know when the Old Course will open. We began removing the snow from the greens in early February to try and remove the ice. Keep in mind that the covers do not prevent ice damage. The covers are actually permeable. They allow water and air to pass through. Covers are used to protect the greens from extreme wind and extreme cold termperatures which we are so prone to.

Insect Repellent

The attached photos shows the damage that bug spray can cause to the turf. Please remember when applying bug spray please stand on the cart path or the rough.