March 20, 2015
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising,
the snow is clearing and the Masters is only 3 weeks away. All of which are sure signs that spring is on
its way.
The greens at Pike Lake that receive a lot of day time sun
have started to poke their way through the snow after a cold, cold winter. While it was arguably colder than last
winter, there wasn’t as much snow. Thankfully,
there wasn’t a mid-winter ice storm like last season which was devastating to a
lot of golf courses in Ontario. Ice
cover, snow mold fungus', desiccation and crown dehydration are all examples of
threats our turf receives throughout the winter months. We made sure our greens, tees and fairways
were well protected from the elements thanks to the precautions we took in the
fall and a nice insulating snow cover that Mother Nature provided us.
We’ve been out to view a lot of the greens, tees and
fairways that have turf showing and thus far everything we have seen is
immaculate. The golf course appears to
have wintered extremely well. While we
haven’t seen every putting surface due to remaining snow cover, we are
confident that they will follow suit and come through the winter just as well
as the others.
Here are some photos of number 11 green and number 11
approach.
As stated in the previous post, some of the greens will have
open holes remaining from the fall aerification. These holes won’t last more than a few days
once the temperatures rise and we are able to top up the holes with sand.
Thus far, the rate at which the snow has been melting has
been ideal. Similar to ideal conditions
for maple syrup, a good melt involves day time highs of 5-10 degrees with
sunshine, and below freezing night time temperatures. This limits the amount of flooding the golf
course will endure – especially in the valley holes that run along the canal
system. It’s also healthier for the
grass because it will ease into the growing stage rather than be rushed with
warmer temperatures.
Once the golf course is clear of snow, the preparation for
opening day will begin. The golf course
maintenance crew did a great job with the leaf clean up last fall which will
pay dividends this spring. There will be
some branches and twigs to tidy up along with a few other necessities to
complete before the course can open.
We hope everyone is as excited for the upcoming season as we
are.
Happy Masters
