Winter Update - February 2015

14 days, that's how long the turf has been covered by snow so far this season which is a far cry from the over 35 days of snow cover we had at this time last year. The snow is good in that it protects the turf plants from larger temperature swings especially the nights that have been in the single digits. We have three greens with sensors located in the soil monitoring temperature, moisture, and salinity. These sensors are relied upon much more during the growing season but its interesting to check them during the winter months, over the past 10 days the soil temperature has only fluctuated 2 degrees between day and night. The downside of snow cover, as many courses in our area experienced last year, is damage from ice. At the 40 day mark of snow cover I will begin to clear low areas of greens and take a sample of the turf to monitor its health. If we have snow melt earlier it will be important to move any thawed water off the greens before they can re-freeze. Please read this USGA update for more info: http://www.usga.org/course_care/New_regional_updates/northeast/Déjà-vu-All-Over-Again----January-2015/

Every two years Golf Course Industry magazine surveys all the golf courses in the country and compiles a very good breakdown of concerns in the industry. The following link is an electronic copy of that issue: http://www.golfcourseindustry.com/digital/201501/index.html  I urge you to read the State of Industry report that details how clubs in our region and other region are dealing with membership, projects, budgets, etc