The warm weather over the past couple of days has made it seem like spring has finally arrived. We are about three weeks behind what I would consider to be our average spring. Much of the course still has snow on it although it is leaving quickly. We finished removing our greens covers yesterday which is the latest I've taken them off in my 13 years here. As you have probably heard through the media, this winter was a tough one on golf course turf and we are no exception. We have five greens that have winter injury although it's still too early to tell the full extent. Some of the injured looking turf may recover when the soil temperatures warm up and the grass starts to grow. The frustrating thing is that there is really no clear pattern to the damage and therefore no lessons to be learned (other than Mother Nature can be very humbling!) Three of the greens with damage (2, 9, and 17) had solid plastic covers in place while the other two (15 and 16) were not covered. Low spots and high spots are equally affected. If there's any consolation, it's that we are not alone. I've spoken to many of my peers who are experiencing the same thing all the way from Windsor through Toronto. The internet and social media are reporting damage in most of the Northeast from Michigan to New England. Click on the following link for more information from the USGA:
We have plans in place for the recovery of damaged areas but need the weather to cooperate before we can begin. In the mean time, we are busy cleaning up all the debris left by the ice storm in December which will take several weeks to complete. Obviously this is not the start to the year we wanted but we are staying positive and working hard to get the course up to our usual standards in the shortest time possible.
Opening dates for the range and course would still be a guess at this point but it's definitely going to be later than usual. Stay tuned for more updates...
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