Winter Update

To say that it's been a wacky weather week would be an understatement.  The recent storm system was ushered in by thunderstorms on Monday night, and the rain continued on and off throughout Tuesday.  All told, we ended up with 1.8" of rain (which is ironically equal to or greater than the rainfall that we received in the months of June, August, and September).  Due to the frost that formed the week prior from the frigid temperatures and bare soil, much of the rain ran off and/or settled in low spots.  As the pictures below show, a significant amount of water collected in the normal areas (in front of 3 green and across the beginning of 6 and 7 fairways).

Luckily, the rain tapered off prior to the temperatures dropping below freezing and much of this water did eventually work its way into the ground.  However, some water/ice remains in these areas (especially on hole 3), and time will tell if any damage results.

As far as the greens are concerned, they seem to have cleared off and drained quite well.  There is some ice on limited areas on a few of the greens (2, 6, 7), but to this point, the ice is not the clear, hard type that restricts air exchange.  Thus, while all of these temperature and precipitation fluctuations are less than ideal, we are fairly optimistic and quite certain that things could have been a lot worse.

After reaching a high of 54 degrees two days ago, tonight's forecasted low is -10 degrees.  I imagine that this cold snap will firm up the layer of slush that is below the 6+ inches of snow that is currently covering the course.

As I had written about in the last issue of The Divot, the potential for snow mold development remains high due to a moist turf surface and likely plant protectant degradation.  But, there isn't anything that we can do about it at this point, and we will diligently scout for it when spring arrives.

In lighter news, the crew took advantage of the snow-free ground last week by cleaning up the large limbs that were damaged by the December blizzard.  In the end, four truckloads of wood chips (which is quite a bit) were collected from the downed branches.  We also removed the large hawthorn tree between 7 green and 8 tee because nearly every main branch broke or split under the weight of that heavy snow.

While it was a rather unsettling week in the turf world, the course is covered in a pristine white, and we are thankful that it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  As the picture below shows, the previously-pictured water feature that formed on hole 7 at least looks a lot friendlier under the snow.