Back To Reality

What an incredible finish to the 2013 Masters! It was great shotmaking from both Scott and Cabrera and not a red shirt in sight. But putting my personal feelings aside it is now back to reality. The colors of Augusta National are a sight to behold but I'm more concerned with the colors at The Royal Mayfair. White is a predominate theme but as each day goes by more and more turf is beginning to show. As of tonight we have 8 more greens to clear so we should be finished by late Tuesday. Most of the tees will be left to clear on their own and we should be pumping water off the fairways in about 10 days.

The greens that have cleared look good (April 14th) and I'll give you a complete rundown on conditions once they are all exposed. I have a feeling we will be mowing them before the snow is gone as there is very little frost at the surface and in fact many greens are not frozen at all. The insulating value of a deep snow pack cannot be underestimated as many small mammals can attest to.

As expected all activity is delayed in relation to opening the golf course. Early to mid May is my guess unless we see a dramatic improvement in temperatures. The practice facilities will open as soon as conditions dry out. Even our staff orientation meeting will be affected by the late spring. We won't be able to take the usual course tour with the new staff members. 6 full months with snow cover. Enjoy every day from now on.


Some snow removal pictures from #8 and #10 greens:

One of our older rough mowers that is now a permanent snow blower idling at #8.

A Toro Polar Trac loaned to us from Oakcreek Golf and Turf on #10 green. The best machine we've used to clear snow off greens.

A good example why fungicide use is critical in our climate. It's very obvious by the spray pattern where the mold is not controlled.  Its unfortunate that the early snowfall last October stopped us from spraying non primary turf areas such as sidebanks and much of the sod we laid down in the rough last year. Very good results on tees and greens. No fairways are exposed yet but I think they'll be okay as well.

All for now,
Wade