Green's Status Update

          The warm weather over the weekend resulted in a green up of the property.  It also allowed us to further evaluate the condition of the greens that were damaged over the winter.  Unfortunately, the results were not what we were hoping for.  Many of you had the opportunity to see the damage for the first time this weekend.  I fielded many of questions about the condition of the greens.

           The warm temperatures have also allowed us to begin the recovery process.  All the damaged areas are being seeded and fertilized today.  The irrigation system is being pressurized today to allow us to keep the seed moist for proper germination.  We will continue to utilize the covers during cold nights and cooler days.  This will assist us in keeping soil temperatures up to allow for seed germination.  Once seed begins to emerge it is imperative that we keep traffic to a minimum to allow the areas to fill in...This is why certain holes need to be closed for a few more weeks so we can be in top shape for the season.

           Many of the questions that I answered this weekend had to do with the covers.  Our covers are made of a permeable material.  The permeable material allows the greens to breath during the winter months.  The covers are intended to protect the greens from extreme wind and extreme cold temperatures.  Covers do not protect greens from ice damage.  Which is what happened this season.  Our Poa Annua greens are very susceptible to ice damage.  The contours in our greens are an architectural masterpiece.  They do have their issues when it comes to the agronomics of growing grass.  During the summer months many of the low-lying areas in our greens held water.  This is why we installed drainage in all the greens during the Fall of 2009.  The drainage has worked effectively in removing water from our green during the season.  However, once the ground freezes during the winter this water sits in the low lying areas of our greens and freezes.  Around the 20th of February this winter we experienced a couple of warm days followed by a significant amount of rain.  This moisture went to the bottom of the snow pack and froze.  We started removing snow and ice from the greens the second week of March.  Several low areas had up to 6" of ice accumulation.

           We realize that this is a major inconvenience to the start of the 2014 season.  This is not the first time this has occurred and we always seem to weather the storm and manage to get through it.  Darin Bevard our USGA Agronomist will be on property later in the week to provide us some insight on what he is seeing during his visits this Spring.  I will forward the membership Darin's comments about the visit and report on our progress consistently until our greens have completely healed.

Gregory Boring,
Golf Course Superintendent

Course Update

          With the Falls now open it has given us an opportunity to tend to the rest of the property.  We started yesterday preparing the Pines for play.  The bunkers were detailed and raked to repair the washouts.  The covers have remained on the five greens that sustained injury from our harsh winter.  These greens will remain covered as long as the below average temperatures continue.  We anticipate having an 18 hole course open for the weekend.  This course will be made up of the Falls,  seven holes from the Pines and two holes from the Willows.  We realize that this is an inconvenience but it is necessary to restrict play on these greens to allow them time to recover and allow the covers to help raise the soil temperatures which will promote recovery.

        A forecasted warm up later this week should allow us to begin cutting some seed into the green.  We continue to believe that most of the damaged areas will recover with the assistance of warmer temperatures.  Please be reassured we are doing everything we can to promote the recovery of these greens.  Just keep thinking warm temperatures.

      We have had many inquiries about the driving range.  The mats are in place and ready to go.  The problem is we need to allow the range to dry up so we can pick up the balls.  At this point a majority of the balls would plug if we opened the range.   The forecast is looking better toward the end of the week.  We will keep you posted.

Gregory Boring,
Golf Course Superintendent

Rain on the Way

This is the radar of what is headed our way for tonight into tomorrow.  We are waiting to see exactly how much rain we receive to determine the status of the golf course for the weekend.  Some forecasts are calling for an inch of rain which could cause a substantial delay in opening the golf course.  We will keep you posted.

Sticking Around

Yesterday snow fall of 3.5" in Clarks Summit is sticking around.  Last night's temperatures dipped back into the mid 20's and unfortunately froze most of the snow that melted during the day yesterday.  The warm up today should melt the remaining snow throughout the property.  The opening of the course will be delayed this week due to yesterday's storm.  We hope to have Falls opened by late this week however they are calling for more rain later in the week.  Once the ground has thawed and the soil dries out enough to open the greens we will open the Falls for play.  We will keep you posted.

The snow from yesterday is sticking around this morning.

An Unexpected Surprise

We woke up this morning to an expected surprise.  A potential dusting of snow ended up being 3.5"of snow on the golf course.  This will definitely delay the opening of the golf course this week.  The warm up that is expected today and tomorrow will quickly melt most of this snow.  However, it will cause the ground to be very saturated thus delaying the opening of the golf course.  We will continue to update the membership on this site as well as frequent emails until we have everything up and running.

Winter-Weary Golfers Need to be Patient

Winter-Weary Golfers Need to be Patient

COURSE UPDATE

           

            We are getting to that time of year where we are starting to prepare the golf course for Winter.  Nighttime temperatures are getting into the upper teens and lower twenty’s which cause the soil to freeze almost every night.  With those nighttime temperatures it takes a while for greens to thaw out during the day, which has resulted in many delayed starts in the last few weeks.  Sunday’s high is calling for Mid 20’s, which should cause the ground to freeze even more.  It has always been our policy that we will continue to open the course only if the greens are thawed completely.  Unfortunately, this time of year it is tough to determine whether the ground will thaw.  We have to keep monitoring the situation throughout the day to determine whether we will open the course.  It’s a tough call to make at 8:00 in the morning. 

            The Green Department has been out this week applying products to the golf course in preparation for the winter weather.  Snow Mold Sprays have been made on Greens, Tees, and Fairway.  Fertilizer has been applied to the Fairways.   We will be Winterizing the Irrigation System on Monday and Tuesday as well as applying fertilizer and sand to the greens.  We are monitoring the weather daily to determine when to install the covers.  We will keep you posted to when this will take place. 

Thank you,

Gregory Boring, GCS