Earth Day Visitors

We had a couple of visitors today on the golf course.  Two Bald Eagles were spotted on #8 Pines near Summit Lake.

Winter Injury Update

2" of Rain fell on the golf course during the day on
Tuesday.  All the areas where water pooling is
occurring are the same ares that sustained winter damage.

Tuesday's rain ended as ice and snow for Wednesday morning.

There is no question how tough of a week this was for not only the Grounds Department but also the membership of The Country Club of Scranton.  This week saw a little of everything.  We started out Monday with 30 mph sustained winds.  Then Tuesday we awoke to torrential downpours which brought over 2" of rain to the property.  Wednesday morning we had to shovel an inch of snow and ice off the greens to allow our USGA Agronomist to look at our greens.  Thursday allowed us to get to work on the recovery and seeding process.  Fifteen of the nineteen Old Course Greens were aerified, slit-seeded, topdressed, lightly brushed, fertilized, watered, and the covers we put back on.  We have been applying light but frequent amounts of water to the greens since they were seeded on Thursday.  The freezing nighttime temperatures are not helping our seed germination efforts however.  We have continued to cover the greens each night as well as during the day based on air temperatures.

We borrowed this machine from another club to aide us
in the seeding process. 

The plan for tomorrow is to remove the covers and apply some liquid fertilizer, and fungicide to the greens.  This will also allow us to evaluate any progress we have made.  We will also be taking pictures of all the greens so we can effectively be able to compare the greens from week to week.  As soon as we feel it is safe to open more greens we will certainly do so.  We thank you for your patience and hope to give your golf course back to you quickly as we can.

The seed and topdressing was then lightly brushed in and
fertilized.  We then watered the green and applied the
covers back onto the putting surfaces because of our
low nighttime temperatures.  

Millions of Bentgrass seeds were cut into these
grooves and aerification holes.

Course Update

The damage that has occurred on #10 this years is as severe as I
have seen in my 20 years in the business.  We have started the
recovery process with seeding and frequent fertilizer
applications.  As bad as this looks we have been here before
most recently in 2011.  It will recover.  It's just going to take a lot
of hard work and patience.

This is a picture of the damage that occurred in 2011.
The damage this year is in a similar location and
pattern.  Water continue to be our nemesis
during the winter.

The Green Committee had an opportunity to join me, my first assistant Jeff, and Darin Bevard of the USGA today to assess firsthand the winter damage to the Old Course greens. The damage is the worst I have seen in my 20 years in the business. Although the greens were covered, the freezing, thawing and refreezing created the perfect storm of bad conditions for these greens.  Darin reported many other fine clubs in the Northeast have experience similar damage.

The Falls greens fared much better because they have better water run-off and have a sand composition different from the design of the Old Course greens. We are reseeding the damaged greens, which also suffered from the 80 degree highs over the weekend followed by freezing temperatures today. This seeding process and the healing of these greens will require minimal traffic. Accordingly, we anticipate the Old Course will be closed for at least the next three weeks if we get some warm weather to assist us. The Falls nine will be open for play every day. If we can re-open the Old Course earlier we will certainly try to do that.

Please be assured we are working very hard each day to restore our course to the condition the membership deserves, and we will be communicating with you each week to apprise you of our progress.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and support.

Gregory Boring, 
Golf Course Superintendent

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.