A lot has gone on regarding the weather and our golf course since my last blog posting. Before I review the last 2 weeks I am glad to report that all the 150 yard spruce trees were picked up by the membership, the Tee House work is well underway and we will begin laying down cross country ski trails later this week. Remember to stay away from greens, tees and the pond slopes. If you follow the track we lay down there will be no issues. Hopefully the trail isn't too difficult this year. We are trying to avoid steep slopes and sharp turns. Your feedback is welcome as we can always change the route if need be.
If you recall the weather conditions in late October it was very cold and the golf course froze hard. It then snowed about 6 inches around the 26th of the month. That amount of snow in late fall was nice to see but was worrisome. That worry being a warm spell or the threat of rain. The rain came first and created a 1/4 inch ice layer on top of the snow. That was fine, we could live with that as there was plenty of light, air filled snow underneath. Last Friday the game changed. It rained that evening and then it rained again Saturday. On Sunday the temperature shot up well above the freezing mark. Enough was enough. We decided to remove the degraded crusty snow off of the putting surfaces. It was easier said than done. It took 2 days using 2 snow-blowers, shoveling behind them and removing patchy ice that was present, either form animal tracks or melting snow. By late Tuesday all the greens and collars were free of snow and ice and standing out as islands surrounded by white. Unfortunately there is nothing we could do about the fairways and some tees. Not too worried about the tees but some low areas on fairways had standing water under the crusty snow. That will freeze and probably kill some turf depending on the variety of grass in these areas. Difficult to guess right now. Another issue may be the snow we moved off to the sides of the greens. It is hard and heavy and may damage some surrounds due to ice buildup. Considering the alternative I can live with that.
Going home late Tuesday we felt a big sense of relief as the greens were looking good. However, the forecast for freezing rain at the time tempered the mood. Fortunately that didn't occur. I am happy to say the heavy snow we just received is exactly what we needed. The greens are now protected with a very good layer of snow. We are not out of the woods yet but it is going to take very warm weather to cause damaging ice formation. Can it happen? Maybe, but I'm going with the odds of winter being here to stay.
I know I mentioned a video of the covering process on 6 green. I thought of it after we finished. Too late. Maybe next year. I will eventually post a link to Greywolf Golf Course where they have a good video of the procedure. We are monitoring the temperature underneath the cover/bubble wrap and it is below zero. All good for now.
In closing I thought I'd mention we still have some split wood available for pickup. Call ahead (780-203-4211) as it may go at anytime.
Wade
