Course Update -- April 8th 2014

I want to update you and elaborate upon by previous post about winter kill.  Here is a link to the post in case you missed it, Old Man Winter.

It has been close to three weeks since I first discovered some areas of concern on our greens.  1, 4, 5, 8 have sustained localized areas of winter kill from crown hydration.  As you can see from the pictures below they are a whitish brown color and are not looking as healthy as other parts of the green.

                                               5 Green                                                              4 Green

Traditionally these areas are know for holding water.  With the wild temperature swings we experienced over the winter, water from melting snow accumulated and froze almost instantly when the mercury dropped below freezing. This happened at least 5 different times over the course of the winter and has lead to the damage we are seeing.  We did our best to remove as much water as possible, but it's impossible to get every last drop.  I have pulled samples from these greens and brought them into the shop in an attempt to get them to grow.  It has been 5 days since the latest samples were pulled and the pictures show the results.

                                      Sample from 8 Green

4 and 5 greens are showing little to no growth.  There are a few little shoots of grass popping up, but nothing encouraging yet.  8 green is showing some promise.  There is a bunch of new growth on top and some more below the grass surface waiting to emerge.  As for number 1, I have not been able to pull a sample due to the area being extremely wet.  At this point the area in the very front of the green looks very similar to number 4.  Along with the areas listed above the Putting Green, 3, 6, 7 also have some "questionable" areas that may have sustained some minor damage.  I am confident with some warm weather and fertility, these areas will recover on there own.

5 Green with covers

With that being said where do we go from here? Currently the worst areas have been covered with a permeable blanket to help warm the soil and promote recovery.  As soon as the weather becomes consistently warmer we will have a better idea of the full extent of injury.  The way it looks now we will be reseeding 4 and 5 greens and taking a wait and see approach with the others.  That means the damaged greens will most likely be taken out of play to let them recover.  Here is a great article from the USGA explaining proper techniques for recovering from winter injury, With Spring Comes Patience.  The article does a great job explaining why patience is going to be the key to our success and recovery moving forward.  We have not experienced a winter like this in a very long time.  The grass is in a weak and fragile state. Adding any unnecessary stress to the damaged areas will dramatically increase recovery time.

We are not the only ones dealing with winter kill this spring.  There are multiple reports from coaluges in the Rochester area who have similar or even worse winter kill than we have.  I want to share this blog post from a fellow superintendent in Michigan who has experienced winter kill this year, Greens Recovery.  It does a great job explaining the steps it takes to recover from the damage.  We will be implementing many of the same practices to our damaged areas.

As for the rest of the course, I am very pleased how we made it though.  Fairways, greens and tees are relatively snow mold free and healthy.  We are currently in a holding pattern, waiting for mother nature to allow us on the course.  We have a good head start on course clean-up thanks in part to the member clean-up day.  My staff is slowly beginning to return and we are doing some limited work on the course.  It started drying out over the weekend, but got set back to square one thanks to the .9" of rain we received Monday afternoon.  It is extremely wet everywhere and flooded in the normal areas.  I know many of you have been asking about when the course is going to open.  At this point I can honestly say I don't know.  The weather looks very encouraging headed into the coming weekend.  We desperately need several warm, rain free days to dry things out and allow us to get the proper equipment out there to open the course.  I am hopeful we can get the non-damaged greens open at some point this coming weekend, but I can't promise anything. As the week progresses I will have a better idea of where we stand and will pass that information along to you.

This is not an ideal situation for anyone.  I ask for your patience and understanding as we work to repair the affected greens.  If you have any questions feel free to contact me and I will be more than happy to answer them.  I will update you as soon as we start the recovery process and I know more.