On The Course March 31st, 2015

We are a little frosty this morning but the sun is shining and it should be a great day. We will be working on some frost projects this morning and will be working on the Championship Course later this morning. We are still hopeful to have the front nine open by 11:00 or 12:00 today.

On The Course March 30th, 2015

Fernando and "The Crew" rolling up the excelsior mats on #4 Green

 A little rain over the weekend slowed our staff down a little bit but we have made some good progress so far today. We will be opening the front nine on Tuesday and will be working on getting the back nine greens uncovered and mats off the golf course. We should have the back nine open on Wednesday if the weather allows.

Our goals for the week are to get the covers off the greens and stored in the semi trailers. We then have to clean the chaff off of the greens and replace the sod drainage cuts as well as the plugs for the drainage holes. We would like to get this done before we allow play on the Championship Course.

We will be working on training the crew in on greens mowing and rolling later this week. The buds on the trees are swelling up and we should see some leaves emerge later this week. This should be a great start to the golf season.

#4 Green is looking good

#10 Green is looking good

The difference in Poa annua (light Green) and Bentgrass (darker green)

NICE TEAMWORK!

#9 approach shows the difference in covered areas

On The Course March 23rd, 2015

WINTER IS BACK! At least for a little while.

 

We have received 3 inches of snow overnight and the crew is busy out clearing the lot. The weather forecast for the week looks a little cooler than it has been but we are still hopeful to get out on the golf course later this week. We will keep everyone updated this week on the progress on the course. 

On The Course March 19th, 2015

We typically blow any leaves or debris off the top of the mats before we roll them up

Corey, Fernando and Rubiel pulled the Excelsior Mats off of the putting green 10 today. The green looks great. We have been looking at the weather forecasts and over the next couple of days it looks that the temperatures will be pretty cold for the weekend. We have decided to wait on pulling anymore covers until next week. This will keep the ground from freezing again and we should be able to get after removing the remaining covers next week.

We are planning on opening the range Friday, March 20th at 10am. We will have to be careful of frost and frozen ground over the weekend. We are still hopeful to get the Championship Course open as soon as possible and it would appear we have a pretty good chance by late next week.

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Rolling up the mats very tight and very straight help when we are storing them and putting them back out in the fall

There is always a little chaf left on the greens once the mats are rolled up. Fernando and Rubiel are blowing that off and leaving the green fairly clean.

On The Course March 18th, 2015

The weather has been very good the past week and we are getting really close to pulling the covers on the greens. The weekend forecast doesn't look as warm as it has been the past week. We have some frost on the course this morning and will be working in the shop until it warms up enough to get out on the course. The crew will be working on cleaning up the range tee area and we might be pulling the covers on the practice greens. We have a small weather system moving into the area with some potential snow or rain. We will keep a close eye on that and if it passes we should be able to start rolling up some mats.

Kurt, Nick and myself were at a Pesticide Workshop yesterday and will be finishing that up today. Corey and the rest of the crew will be on the course if the weather allows. We are looking at opening the range tee on Friday. We will be using the mats and have the turf portion of the range tee covered to help promote some growth. Fernando and Rubiel have covered a few of the tees on the Championship Course to jump start them.

The Golf Committee is meeting today at 4pm and we will be having a Grounds Meeting on Tuesday, March 24th.

On The Course March 14th, 2015

The only snow mold we are seeing is in some limited rough areas.

We have some significant frost on the turf this morning. The overnight temperatures are still getting close to freezing and it looks like we have a great couple of days this weekend. We are still holding off opening the Executive Course at this time as it dries out and the remaining frost releases from the ground. We saw some changes in soil temperatures yesterday as some of the greens were above freezing for the first time since November. We will continue to monitor the turf conditions and will be opening the golf course as soon as it is ready and we will minimize turf damage.

#13 fairway is looking very good.

There are a few frost heaves on #5 fairway.



Frost has risen the ground around the drainage line leading to the pond on #7

On The Course March 13th, 2015

Water melting across #6 Fairway on the Executive Course

 The weather has been great the last couple of days and the snow is almost completely gone. The frost is definitely coming out of the ground. The Championship greens have not thawed out very much with the covers holding in the cold temperatures. Our Turfguard sensors are still showing temperatures at 2 inches between 29-30.5 degrees. We getting closer to opening the Executive Course but with the soft conditions we would be doing too much damage by allowing golfers at this time.

These pictures posted were taken March 12th at 2pm. The range floor is thawing out and we have a little snow on the southside. When the turf firms up enough so golf balls will not plug into the ground we will look at opening the range. We have the turf portion of the tee covered and are working on pushing some growth. We will be opening on the mats as soon as we can.

There is still a little snow on the executive nine but it is melting fast.

Fairways on the Championship Course look very good.

Some light surface damage from skier going down #14 fairway

On The Course March 10th, 2015

Frost is starting to come out of the surface and you can see the footprints on the turf. Please stay OFF the course until we open.

We are into a very nice stretch of weather and the snow is melting and the frost is starting to come out of the ground. Being it is only March 10th I would bet this isn't the end of winter but we can definitely enjoy it while it is here. Please refrain from walking out on the golf course at this time as we can create some traffic depressions and do significant turf damage at this time. Once the frost has come out and the surface has dried and firmed up we will begin discussing opening the course. The Championship Course Greens are covered and will remain covered until we see a definite spike in our soil temperatures. We have seen some of our colder soil temperature this winter with the limited snow cover. Most of the greens are between 26 and 28 degrees right now and will probably hold that temperature for the next 3-4 days. I would not anticipate anything for movement on the Championship Course for the next 10-14 days.

We will continue to have more frequent updates on this blog this season and going into the summer. I will be introducing some of the new staff as well as the returning staff as we get closer to the golf season. I am very happy with the condition of the golf course at this time and we have a couple of very key weeks coming up that could get us off to a great golf season. Feel free to contact me at anytime regarding course conditions. JD and his staff in the Pro Shop will be setting up this week and will have the shop open next week. Make sure you are getting your ForeTees updates and you can also sign up to receive emails from this blog when new content is posted.

10 Fairway looks very good for March 10th with only a few small pockets of water.

A little sneak peak under the cover on #14 Green. Looks like it did last November when it was covered.