Progress Report #2

All of the winter damaged areas on greens were seeded the week of April 21st which means we are just shy of 6 weeks into the recovery process.  The weather has been a challenge until just recently but I will say that I am generally pleased with the progress to date.  I am fully committed to getting the greens open as quickly as possible while not risking their long term recovery.  We have good germination happening and if you don't walk right up on the green, you may wonder why it is not open yet.  The old saying applies here, "Good from far but far from good."  What I don't want to do is subject the new seedlings to foot traffic just yet.  The risk is that the recovery is stunted at the point we are at now and the greens don't fully recover.  A little patience will yield great dividends going forward.  To make a comparison, we wouldn't have dreamed of opening the new 11th and 12th greens just 6 weeks after seeding them.  Continued good weather along with judicious fertilizing, topdressing and aeration will complete the recovery process.  We are getting close to the finish line but aren't quite there yet.  Once we do start opening greens they will remain at a slightly higher height of cut until sometime in the summer.  I am going to be conservative with green speeds for the foreseeable future and focus on consistency and smoothness.  Once again thank you for continued patience and understanding as we work to get back to our usual high standard of conditioning.

The following pictures show the progress to date:

#2 Green April 21st

#2 Green May 30th