As I look back at the extended fall golf season we just had,
it sure was nice to reopen the golf course to our members and their guest. We certainly had an increase in our pro shop
merchandise sales, golf cart rentals, guest fees and many stayed for dinner and
drinks following the bonus rounds of golf.
We were able to get our fall leaf removal finished like never before,
which is an enormous help on our spring cleanup routine. We added a drain in the cart path in that low
area on your way to the 2nd tee.
We took down numerous dead trees around the edges of the property,
chipped all of the brush at the end of the driving range and we even had that
massive dead Ash tree east of the 3rd green cut down and
removed. All in all an A+ for golf
course operations. My only concern going
into the late but abrupt start to winter was how saturated the ground was; we
had 2.7 inches of rain in October, 2.5 in November and 3.2 inches in December.
It’s important for winter plant hardiness to have the grass
gradually harden off slowly as it heads into winter. With above average temperatures and above
average precipitation, I’m just not sure how the plants went into the
winter. They could be very vulnerable to
dramatic temperature dips when we go from a warm spell in February in the lower
40s to an arctic blast of temperatures in the single digits. Having the surface be so saturated could
result in a really high pressure for snow mold potential over the winter. We sprayed to prevent snow mold fungus but
with the high moisture levels it could be a rough spring because of that very
nice but abnormal fall weather we enjoyed.
Steve
