On The Course April 5th

Fernando rolling an excelsior mat on #7 green of the Executive Course.

Looking from tee to green #7 Executive Course

It took most of today for the staples to thaw out enough to get a couple covers pulled. We were able to get some of the covers off of the Executive Course and several Tees today. The equipment we have stored in the Barn over the winter has been cleared out. The excelsior mats that we use to cover the greens will be stored in the barn over the summer months. We want to make sure the mats are as dry as can be when they are stored. If they are rolled up wet they will get moldy over the summer. The forecast next week is calling for a chance of rain on Tuesday and that could slow our progress for pulling covers next week.

On The Course April 5th

We have added some Mallard Hen Houses to several of the ponds on the course.

The slow melt has continued and we are inching closer to being able to get the covers off of the greens. We still have some frozen ground that is holding the staples in the ground. We should be able to pull some covers on some of the tees today as well as the Executive course greens today. There is some rain moving in this afternoon and over the weekend and that should help pull the frost out of the soil.



Above is a video of the front nine from yesterday. It is just a quick tour through the front nine from the cart path. I did take a couple shots underneath a couple of the green covers and liked what saw. We are getting close to mostly clear of snow and should be able to get a lot of work done next week. We have been working on cleaning up branches and debris throughout the golf course as the snow melts. I will continue to post some videos and pictures over the next week and take a closer look at the condition of the golf course. We just need some sun and warm nights to really get the course ready to open. Please watch Foretees and this blog for updates regarding the course opening. Next week's forecast does not look as good as we would like but it has been changing daily.

On The Course April 2nd

Bryxton Gibson spreading some humates on #14 Green to help the snow melt.

 We had a really good snow melt over this past weekend. We are able to see most of the covers on the greens and a lot of turf is starting to become exposed. The temperatures for tomorrow look to be in the low 50's or upper 40's so we should continue a good melt through the rest of the week. The ground is still frozen at this point and we ask that everyone stay off of the golf course until we are going to open. When the turf thaws it becomes pretty fragile if it refreezes during the afternoon there can be considerable damage.

The course is looking like it will be coming out of winter in pretty good shape. The fairways have been covered in ice since the beginning of January but they are looking better than I expected. We should be able to get a good summary of the condition of the golf course later this week. I will be posting some videos and pictures over the next couple of days showing the progress of the course and what everything is looking like. We have the Grounds Staff working on cleaning up debris on the golf course and finishing some tree work.

On Monday, April 1st, we applied some humate organics to the surface of #13 and #14 greens. They were still holding some snow and we wanted to accelerate the melting process on these surface to get them clear by the weekend. We will continue to monitor areas of the course and help with the melting process where we can. The range tee is almost clear and as soon as the frost comes out we will be covering that with covers to help  increase the soil temperatures and promote growth.

Close up picture of the humates with some larger particles but also some finer dust covering the surface