On The Course December 23rd

Greens are looking good under the covers

 What a difference in weather it has been this winter compared to last year. Last year at this time we were buried under a very healthy blanket of snow. We have only seen small traces of snow so far this year. The course has taken the rain and weather very well and as long as we get a decent coating of snow before the really cold weather sets in we should be in great shape for spring. The rain events that we have had in the past couple of weeks have soaked into the ground and the turf grass plants have hardened off for winter in great shape. Our biggest concern right now is going into January with no snow cover. The snow cover helps insulate the turf and prevent decication and a potential for cold temperature kill. The excelsior mats on the greens will protect them from decication and from cold temperature kill. The fairways are open right now but I would anticipate we get a good coating of snow before the cold weather starts. We have not seen any really cold nights yet because of the lack of snow. Once we get some snow covering the course we will see the colder temperatures set back in.

We have been working on some tree removals on #14

We have made some progress on our winter project list. We have begun trimming and removing some trees on #14 with the goal of opening up enough areas to help with turf grass growth in a few of the bare areas in the left rough. We have the ski trailed marked and ready for snow. We have been busy in the shop working on golf course accessories and equipment maintenance. We take time in the winter to rebuild all of the reels on our mowers and replace bearings. The reels are then put on the reel grinder and sharpened. With four fairway mowers, four triplex mowers, four tee mowers and 7 greens mowers this will take us until the middle of February to get this work all completed. We also need to do general maintenance on the rest of the equipment which includes oil changes and cleaning.

Very few frozen puddle on the fairways after the recent rain. Most have soaked in and we are waiting for a nice coating of snow.

We will be attending some educational conferences over the next couple of months. We have a pretty good selection of seminar topics for our annual turf conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center in January. This is also a good time to get Superintendents and staff together and talk about the past season.

Lena showing one of her pups how to bring the pheasants back!

Have a Great Christmas and New Years!!

Jason's pup Amani during her first trip to South Dakota.