New Synthetic Tee Allows for Early Opening of Range

The range tee opened for practice on Tuesday, March 23rd.  With the grass barely getting started at this point, we are fortunate to be able to utilize the new synthetic turf that was installed last fall by Dave Sadlowski from the golf shop.  The synthetic tee will be utilized until May 1st, at which time the normal teeing grounds will be opened.  The point of utilizing the synthetic tee until that time is to allow the grass to get growing, which in turn will promote a better hitting surface later into the season.  The synthetic is very nice...it has good  'give' in that it does not hurt your hands, even with a poorly struck shot. 

You can also notice in the photo the brown / pink blotches that show up in from of the synthetic.  The tee took some snow mold damage this year due to the high volume of snow that we had on the ground from Christmas through Mid-March.  Not to worry...once the ground temperatures warm up and we receive some rainfall, this distressed turf will spring back to life very quickly. 

That was fast!  The golf course went from being covered in a deep snow pack to having 95% of the snow melted in a matter of days.  I was shocked to see nearly all of the snow gone from 15 fairway along the woods, as this area typically persists for weeks into the spring.  With the limited amount of frost that we had in the ground, the snow disappeared quickly.

As far as the turf goes, greens, tees and fairways look very promising at this point.  Our hope is for continued moderate temperatures.  The biggest thing that we would like to avoid is a sudden drop in temperatures, say from the mid 40's to the low teens or single digits.  A drop in temperature  without any snow cover would be very detrimental to the grass.  The long range forecast looks very favorable, so we will keep our fingers crossed.

The duration of the snow did produce ideal conditions for grey snow mold, and the roughs are blanketed in this disease right now.  Not to worry...once the ground dries out, a light brushing or scarifying will loosen up the mat and stand the grass back up.  Once this occurs, the grass will get moving again with warmer temperatures.  While it may look a bit ugly at this point, this type of disease is very superficial and will be gone with dryer conditions and warmer temperatures.

The March thaw is underway, and temperatures are above-average for this time of year.  With the volume of snow this winter, the rains and warmer conditions have created a good deal of run-off.  As a turf manager, my concern at this point would be an aggressive dip into very cold temperatures, much like we experienced in 2009.  Free water, exposed turf and plummetting temperatures is a solid recipe for fine turf loss.  Fortunately, the extended 10 day forecast is calling for highs in the 40's and low 50's, with nighttime temperatures hovering in the mid to upper 20's. 

The few exposed areas of grass that I can see right now are encouraging, but we still have a long way to go before I would state that the golf course made it through unscathed.  At this point, I am cautiously optimistic regarding the current state of the golf course.  Further melting in the days ahead will allow for a better view of the course. 

On a positive note, there is currently very limited frost in the ground ( less than 4 inches ) which bodes well for getting everything thawed and pushing the water down into the soil.  Again, free water is the enemy at this point - as the ground opens up and the water penetrates, risk of damage begins to decrease. 

As far as an open date goes, well, one never knows what March still has in store!  I will continue to keep the membership posted.  The staff and I are eagerly awaiting an opportunity to get out on the course and begin our spring cleanup, and the weather will let us know when we can get started.