Covers Off - Greens look, well,...Green!

With the snow gone, ice finally melted, and forecast temperatures mild during the day and above freezing at night, the green covers have now been removed! We now enter a period I call the "cover shuffle" which means we'll leave the covers near the greens and if the nighttime temperatures are forecast to drop below freezing, we'll put them back on. When the nighttime temperatures again reach above freezing, we'll take them back off again. This on and off covering/recovering process will continue until temperatures ultimately moderate.  It's a tedious task, and we always look forward to a long stretch of days/nights where we can keep them off and let them acclimate, but I believe if we don't replace them during these temperature drops, we'll likely have a reduction of some of the benefits the covers provide.

 A Green Cover being removed

Benefits of Green Covers:

• Protection against desiccation (drying) in an open winter. (Not a concern this year with extended snow cover!)
• Protection from animal activity such as deer and geese.  Both tend to dislike covers. 
• Prevents debris and animal waste (deer, geese, coyote) accumulation over winter.
• Allows us to perform aeration later into the fall and extend the playing quality of putting surfaces.
• Provides enhanced green-up and root growth as covers accelerate soil warming. 
• Helps us achieve smoother, truer, ball roll in an earlier time frame.

Back of #15 Green - Nice & Green...just in time for St. Patty's Day!

We began rolling the greens today and we'll likely begin to mow them tomorrow.  Also began rolling fairways to firm them and settle some of the natural frost heaving that occurs when the soil freezes.  More information on all these activities will be posted shortly.