I met with the Greens committee on Friday
afternoon to discuss the 5th and 6th greens. Unfortunately,
both greens still aren't quite ready but they're very close. We're erring
on the side of caution; I'd rather wait a little longer and know they're ready
rather than open them too early and have them struggle through the summer. I’ve talked to a few superintendents who have
gone through this same process and the one common takeaway point from them was
to wait as long as possible before opening them. A couple of them received pressure to open
them early, which they did, only to see the greens suffer and they had to close
the greens back down for a couple weeks for recovery. This is obviously something we are trying to
avoid at all costs. The plan is to keep
them closed for the coming week and then open them up the week of June 3rd, not
sure on the exact day yet but it will obviously be before the Men's M/G. Both
greens are being mowed and rolled on opposite days and we continue to lower the
heights gradually. The exposed seams are being seeded and topdressed as
needed and we've definitely seen an improvement in overall quality. We
have moved the temporary pins a little farther back and mowed the turf a little
tighter to try and simulate an actual green starting on Memorial Day. I understand that this isn’t ideal but it is necessary.
The renovation of both
greens complexes was done to improve playability, turf and plant health, and
overall aesthetics. The project on the 5th
and 6th holes was scheduled to begin at the beginning of October
2018 but we received some concerns regarding the greens being closed and
members having to play to temporary greens for the Green and White tournament
in the middle of October. It was decided
to push back the start of the project until after the tournament. The project did not officially begin until
the first week of November, delaying everything by over a month. Both greens weren’t sodded until the first of
December so they didn’t get a real chance to knit and begin the process of
rooting as the ground was too cold by then.
This delay has pushed both greens back 1 month and is why they remain
closed today. The grow-in phase didn’t
really begin until the middle of April as day time temps started to climb
allowing for the sod to begin rooting.
This spring has been tough as it’s rained seemingly every other day and
it hasn’t been ideal growing weather but we are making the best of it. The cooler than normal spring temperatures
have also played a major role in delaying the opening of both greens. It’s tough to pin down the actual day when
they’ll be open because everything is so weather dependent. As I
mentioned earlier both greens will be open in time for the men’s M/G on June 8th. If anyone has any questions or concerns
please do not hesitate to ask me. Thank you all for your patience.