Growing through what winter left behind

Now that most have been out to play the golf course you have seen just how unfavourable winter weather can have a negative impact on conditions. What else is also very visible out there is some of our deficiencies and the one that I think is the most visible is surface drainage. Clearly any area that collected water suffered damage. For now I’m just going to focus on the greens because of course they are our bread and butter. Here's a couple of points of interest regarding those damaged greens that I believe are some of the underlining reasons why they suffered through this particular winter.

·         1 Green – Back right section was elevated to increase pinnable area redirecting surface drainage through the middle right of the green instead of the original back right run off area

·         3 Green – Re contoured and resurface however middle right and back left run off location were never graded to allow water to exit the green

·         6 Green – This isn't the first time a green has been killed because of harsh winters. It happens

·         9 Green – Re contoured and resurface however the green has no surface drainage. It’s essentially a bowl.

·         14 Green – Middle left section was elevated to increase pinnable area eliminating one of it’s vital surface drainage locations.

·         15 Green – Recontured and resurfaced to increase surface drainage just not aggressive enough

·         16 Green – Middle left section was elevated to increase pinnable area eliminating one of it’s vital surface drainage locations.

·         17 & 18 – In my time here these greens have wintered well however 17 if you look all it drains to the front but this area is higher and could be improved through regrading.

Surface drainage is key to our winter survival here because the ground is almost always frozen thus stopping all possibility of surface water moving through infiltration. As the season wined's down this year two musts for me is to address the surface drainage on 3 and 9 greens. I’m pretty confident that I can resolve the damaging conditions.

1 Green this April drainage path

So what’s up with the recovery of the greens. I think we can all be happy with the results on 6 and can even see the light at the end of the tunnel, 1 and 9 are a slightly different story. Those two greens clearly show just how by having a poor growing medium can stunt recovery. The exact same techniques were used on those greens as were used on 6. The key difference in my eyes is the soil that is under those greens. While all three are native “push up” greens the material on six is sandy and the other is a heavy silt/clay high organic combination which has terrible draining capabilities (There’s that talk about drainage again).

 The outlook

·         1 Green – A few days of plugging out areas slower to recovery and the green will be back in play in no time

·         6 Green – A couple of top dressing’s and patience is all that’s needed for this one.

·         9 Green – The reality is this green will not be one of our strongest for sometime. We have slit seeded it again in two directions and will see results in a week. The right side that was sodded last year is not allowing seed to establish so I have just enough sod from our nursery to repair that. Continuous plugging will also be employed. When the green does open there still will be damage but at least this green has spots for pinning.

·         Practice Greens – Once night time temperatures start to hover around 13C (55F) we will seed these greens and have them ready for the end of June.

     

      Below are a couple pictures to show that things will recover, remember how 10 green turned out last year.

1 Green May 15, 2015

10 Green May 20, 2014

Yes the golf course is not in the condition that we all would like at the moment but I’m confident that sooner than later it will be back to meeting expectations. Just like how the phoenix rose from the ashes the greener grass will grow through the death of winter.

Jay Sisko

Golf Course Superintendent

The dust has settled

Did that seem like a long winter? Well here are a couple of number that would say it was. The greens were under a tarp (essentially a sheet of thick plastic) for 154 days. Also anywhere that ice had formed I have it calculated at 104 days. To say the least it was a tough winter and a few areas visibly struggled. I wasn’t able to get this information into the newsletter because I simply didn’t know exactly what was going on with every location for the submission deadline. The following is what I would consider I know at this point:

·       Yes the greens have suffered some winter kill. The green that has been hit the hardest is #6. We are estimating that 90% is damaged. My initial thought of action to repair it will be to do exactly what we did with 10 green last spring. I’ve learned many things over the years that I believe will contribute greatly to its successful recovery. This was completed on April 16^th

·       Greens 1, 3, 9, 15, 18 will also require the above action to repair them however the level of damage is much less severe.

·       Greens 2, 16, 17 are candidates for repairing the damage with our green height sod from the nursery on hole 8, with 17 being the largest. Completed April 17^th & 18^th

·       I would anticipate we will have some temporary greens to start the season, it’s just too early to say exactly how many but no more than 4. What’s the upside? BIG CUPS!!  We’ve gone from our usual 6” to 8” for added enjoyment. ;-)

·       Tees are all in good shape including the newly constructed tee on 15.

·       Fairway damage is increased from last spring and if you are familiar with the property you know the “spots”. It’s more of a short term inconvenience though as they always make a decent recovery.

What’s next and what needs to happen to get our golf season started?

·       There is still an incredible amount of frost in the ground and many of the drain lines are still frozen which is hindering drainage on the course. From the greens to the fairways to bunkers the frost needs to subside so the drain lines can do their job and the course can start to dry out.

·       The week of April 20^th we will begin the cleanup process. It’s the usual suspects that require the most work 1,2,3,4,5. Winter came upon us so quickly we didn’t get to cleaning up our normal amount of debris. This will not delay the opening however, it’s just standard business.

·       Then of course the final details. Mowing of all areas and getting all the hardware out to turn this place into a golf course.

·       We are right on schedule to open when we historically do.

Winter kill is always a disappointment but during my tenure here I would have to say it’s just a reality of our property and winters. I have a plan in place which I’m confident will lead to success and in turn some great golf course conditions before we know it. Once again some patience will be required because as I’ve come to realize it’s not how you overwinter it’s how come back. Don’t let this information concern you we have it all under control. I just want to keep you in the loop so you know what to expect when you come out and play your first round. After the conditions that we endured here on our property this winter by the time we open I feel we all will be pleased with where the condition of the golf course is at including myself (and I’m our hardest critic). Plus we have a very exciting project taking place this spring that I truly believe will enhance holes 6, 7 and 8 through the sale of the land to the hospital.