Winter and Early Spring Update

It has been a mild winter and it looks like it's going to be a short one too. Warm temperatures last fall helped the course to recover from one of the hottest and driest summers on record. There are still some areas that need to fill in and the mild temperatures will help speed up that process. Spring has arrived early this year as well and we are seeing temperatures well above normal for this time of year. Although we will need to make adjustments to our plans to compensate it is a good thing to have more time to grow healthy turf before the heat of the summer gets here again.

Over the winter, the crew has been busy keeping the course playable for the mild days we have had while also finding time to complete some projects. Every winter, when the weather prohibits us from working out on the course, we bring in all of the course accessories and refurbish anything that we can. Yardage markers, cart signs, rope stakes, benches, bag stands, and trash cans all get sanded and a fresh coat of paint or stain applied.

When we can work outside and don't have course set up to do, we focus on cleaning up the native areas and the perimeters of the course. Over time, small trees and brush grow up along the edges of native areas and tree lines and they start to encroach on the course. This not only interferes with the playability of the course but shade, restricted air movement, and root competition also make for more difficult growing conditions for the turf. We have also been trimming areas where you have to carry native areas off the tee for a better view of the landing area such as on hole 8, 15, and 16. A lot of marsh and pond edges were trimmed this winter too for a cleaner, more maintained look.

Last but not least John Melson, our equipment manager, has been busy as usual taking care of the equipment when it's not being used as much. He spends a lot of time pressure washing, rebuilding, and sharpening in the winter as well as uses the down time to take care of some of the bigger repairs such as putting a new clutch in our older tractor.

Stay tuned to our new blog for regular updates as we move into the growing season. I plan on using this site to get a little more in depth information out to those who are curious as to what we do behind the scenes and why we do it. If you have any suggestions as to topics you would like more information about let us know. In the next couple of months we will have lots of topics to cover such as bunker renovation (starting this week), aeration, Audubon projects, and some very important spring fertilizer and plant protectant applications. See you out on the course!