Green Expansion Project Update: Week of June 8

If you’ve played recently you likely have noticed the Green Expansion Project work (as I described in Paul’s Weekly Golf News two weeks ago) we have done over the past 10 days. It measures the equivalent of a full sized, fairly large green (over 7000 sq. ft.) so it should be noticeable and hopefully you can see where ultimately you will see many new future hole locations.  All of these areas will become green surfaces in August when we perform the re-grassing process. 

 All of the expansion areas (like above area between the green and the rough) will become putting green height with Re-grassing Project in August. In spring of 2016 a 24" collar will be allowed to grow to a higher height of cut.

Just as a reminder, these areas (and no areas) are not going to be “ripped up” or “plowed under” or “dug-up” or “blown up” when this happens. The mixture of turf species will be killed, we will perform several cultural processes such as aeration and verti-cutting (not sod stripping!) and then we will plant pure creeping bentgrass directly into the verti-cut lines and aeration holes in the dead turf which will act as an erosion blanket protecting the new seedlings as they germinate. This dead mat will also hold some moisture to aide germination. You might look at what we are doing with these expansions as us simply putting down the padding before we then put down the carpeting. We’re not going to rip the padding back up before we plant the grass carpet! By doing this now we will have surfaces that will be as similar to the greens as is possible, compared to the bluegrass surface we removed or seeding into bare soil, when we grow in the new greens. Doing this now (compared to waiting until Aug. 3^rd) allows the turf to root well (so it can withstand the aeration and verti-cutting that is needed that day and the 4^th and 5^th as we prepare for fumigation) and allows us to topdress it several time so that it becomes as close to our green surface as is possible prior to the Aug. 5-6 possibly 7^th if needed, fumigation process. 

 This is the most "blown - up" that it gets. It's just scalped grass, with some aeration holes, and some verticut lines, prior to fumigation and then (10 days later) drop seeding. Wider lines above is the XGD Drainage last fall on this Lower Practice Area green. All XGD work is now complete on all other greens where improved drainage was needed.

If you haven’t noticed the new expansions then you surely have seen the sod stripped from the front of #12 fairway and #18 fairway. This sod was harvested (recommended by our course architect and approved by the G&G Committee) and is the source of the sod used for  the new expansion areas around the greens. When we complete the necessary harvest from these areas we will then plant seed of a Kentucky Bluegrass variety. This same Kentucky Bluegrass variety will be seeded when we kill off and re-seed a perimeter swath, 6-8 feet, around all the fairways in August shortly after we re-grass all the fairways.

So far we have addressed 11 green surfaces. We first stripped the sod in the expansion areas (some was reused in other rough areas, some was undesirable mixtures of grasses and discarded) then we excavated over 100 tons of regular clay loam soil, replaced it with over 100 tons of a blended sand and organic soil (as similar as we can get to the 5-6” layer of 25 years of sand topdressing and natural organic accumulation currently on our greens) and then harvested, from #12 or #18 fairways, and laid over 7000 sq. ft onto the new expansion areas. We also lifted, removed or added mix as needed, on approx. 1500 sq ft. of current putting surface to provide smoother transitions off the greens or better surface flow of water, or to acquire extra hole locations. This work was a lot of effort and time (nearly 10 full dawn to dark days) but in the long run you will have larger greens with many new hole location possibilities and with a base or foundation as similar as possible to the existing greens.

 An area adjacent to the right greenside bunker at #14 where sand has accumulated from sand blasted out. We stripped existing green, removed accumulated sand, smoothed grade, and re-laid the green sod.

 Some greens required relocation of sprinkler heads from what was collar to what now will be putting surface. This area is on #14 just beyond the right greenside bunker. 

Same area as above on #14. Existing lifted sod and new sod being installed (from fairway 12 or 18) after irrigation heads moved, soil backfilled and compacted, rootzone mix added and compacted, and smooth graded.

We are not quite finished as we have 7 more greens to address but 5 of the 7 are very minor in the amount of expansion and no others will require appreciable soil replacement like many did on the first 11. We plan to continue to press on with this work a couple days this week but we will avoid Thurs-Sunday with Kiltie Days and then the weekend. Thank you for your understanding.

 Back right area on #3 green be excavated and flattened to provide an interesting and challenging  future tournament hole location. 

As we were out there last week doing this work I heard from many of you expressing excitement for the future green expansion areas. I too think our green surfaces will ultimately have a lot of new interest and I’m really excited about the new grass variety we will have in August. If you haven’t visited the Lower Practice Green you should do so. It’s healthy (with less disease control inputs than all other greens), attractive, smoother than any other turf surface on the course, and poa annua free. It’s what your future greens will become! Have a look. I think you will be very pleased.

Regrassing Project (on two areas) Begins

I know it's been a long time since I posted last mentioning our progress at that time. Since then we of course made great progress on getting the greens back to a playable condition but it wasn't without time (and more than expected was needed due to unusually cold temperatures) and significant efforts by my staff. Many different procedures were employed such as spiking, aerating, topdressing, seeding, sanding with pigmented sand to absorb moisture, fertilizing frequently, watering daily, and ultimately sodding when the other procedures had to be repeated several times due to heavy rain events. The time of year was just getting too late, special events were just around the corner, summer's potential stress was looming, and we had a nice amount of "home grown" nursery turf to use if needed. And, as it turned out, it was! Nearly 10,000 square feet of green height and fairway height sod was used were winter's wrath remained. The areas were repaired and back in play before long and we were able to get on with the season. That was now about two months ago. It's been a nice two months for growing turf for sure. The rather cool conditions have helped roots grow deeper than usual at this time of year and the lack of significant heat has made "nurturing" the many new seed and sod patches a little easier than what otherwise could have been. We do know that if given the time, seeding would be preferred as sod can indeed be easily stressed on very dry, low humidity days. It's getting better all the time and hopefully we can keep it in good shape for about another year when we say goodbye (as approved by our Board of Directors and communicated at our Town Hall meeting) to our existing green and fairway grasses and replant with new, more stress tolerant, more disease resistant, more attractive, and, most importantly, more playable grasses!

This Regrassing Project actually began over the past couple weeks with work on our Turf Nursery and our . Lower Practice Area (between 3 tee and 11 tee. The Grounds and Greens Committee, with support from the Board felt that going through the process on these areas would: 1) Provide a practice area (in addition to the Range which will remain open) next year when the course will be closed (Aug. 3rd, 2015) and 2) have a supply of green and fairway height turf, of the varieties we intend to use next Aug., should we have grow-in washouts or other unexpected damage, and 3) provide current experience for myself and staff with the entire regrassing process from pre-sterilant seedbed prep., pre-plant prep., seeding procedure, and establishment or "grow-in" procedures. Some of these processes are shown below with many occurring today just prior to the soil sterilant application.

 Having used all our turf nursery we thought it would be wise to expand it since area existed adjacent to it and one never knows when it might come in handy in the future. We expanded by 50%, now 15,000ft2. Drain lines and about 7 semi-loads of sand was used.

 Original area on nursery where sod was removed for repair purposes was tilled, smoothed, and cleared of debris.

 Soil was brought in to build side slopes and new addition sand was smoothed, compacted, and leveled with original area. Sod was then placed on slope. Area ready for next step, soil sterilization, to control and plant material and weed seeds present in the rootzone.

 Meanwhile work proceeded this week at the Lower Practice Area. Here the green is receiving the XGD Drainage System installation. Drain lines are installed on 6' spacing across the entire putting green surface. 

The next step was to scalp the green, trying to remove all the green tissue and organic mat so that the future seed has optimum seed to soil/sand contact.

 Verti-cutting (like De-Thatching) in 2 directions future removes organic mat and creates channels for seed to lodge within and stay protected.

 Mult-tine aeration, multiple times, followed to provide avenues for the soil sterilant to penetrate and function better.

 After a Deep Tine Aeration, to further move sterilant into soil, and a few sand topdressings and smoothing procedures, a ring of sod is cut outside the area planned for sterilization.

 Tubes are laid across the surfaces to distribute the plant/weed seed control product underneath the plastic tarps

 With tarps in place the sod is replaced where it was prior removed to provide a tight seal.

 Here the thick cut sod is being replaced to seal the tarp at the Turf Nursery

 With tarps in place sterilization began and within about an hour at each location the application was complete. We are required to keep at least 25' out from the treatment area for 5 days at which time the tarps will be removed and an airing out period of an additional 5 day will be allowed before we begin seeding processes. When the tarps are removed it may very well be possible that a pungent odor will linger for a day or two. This is only the result of the decaying process of the plants, seeds, and soil organisms and should dissipate within a day or two. 

 The Lower Practice Area Green. Site of what will be some beautiful new turf in a couple months. About mid-October you will be asking why you can't use it as it will look ready by then. It will of course need time to establish and mature before we can subject it to golf shots and extended traffic. Your patience, however, will be rewarded with beautiful turf on the green as well as the chipping area (which we have expanded some) surrounding this entire green. 

I think you will be pleased with the results! 

I will update this project regularly, on this blog, over the next several weeks. I also tweet often so follow me @scc1897 for periodic updates on this and other activity on the golf course.

Slowly But Surely

We're doing about everything we can to enhance recovery of the severely winter damaged greens I showed in my last post. It's been a little over 3 weeks now, since the last post. All damaged areas have been aerated multiple times (with solid tines / shallow depth) to create sites for seed, seed has been planted, dark colored sand or dark pigments applied to retain heat, nutrients and other germination enhancers applied, and covers placed as often as needed. The only thing we obviously can't do is get our weather warmed up! We've seen a few warm days but clearly not enough to get the 200,000,000 or so bentgrass seeds (35 lbs x 6,000,000 per pound!) we've planted on greens to germinate just yet. Slowly but surely we're beginning to see a few sprouts and the covers which we place on when cool, off when warm or when we have to mow (the turf surrounding the damaged spots still needs frequent mowing) and back on again to keep the seed warm and moist. It's honestly a real pain, and a time and labor drainer but of course a necessity at this point.
We have made good progress on many greens and where we started the season with just 3 greens open for play we are now at 8. Specifically Nos. 5,8,12,13,14,15,16,18. More are getting close, like Nos. 1, 2, 10 (10days -2weeks - but no promises!) and others, Nos. 4,9,17 a few more weeks and finally Nos.  3,6,7,11 which will be longer yet. Warmth, germination, normal turf growth and spreading, plug planting from our turf nursery (when coverage is close to full we will finish it up with plugs -which we are working on everyday too) are all needed and will come, slowly but surely.

This large scale overseeding repair we've had to do will unfortunately create conditions you are not accustomed to as we move forward this year. The new seedlings will need time to establish and mature and will initially be fragile and prone to damage.  
The following are practices we will need to employ to insure establishment:
-Mowing heights will need to be kept higher than normal. The new seedlings need leaves for photosynthesis and we don't want to cut them too low to jeopardize this.
-Rolling will need to be minimized until plants have developed so we don't crush and damage them.
-Grooming practices (light daily vertical mowing) will need to be withheld to minimize damage.
-Watering will need to be done as needed to keep seedbed moist and may be needed multiple times on warmer, drier, windier days.
-Seedhead suppression products (certain growth regulators) will need to be withheld. In a typical year we use these to suppress Poa annua seedhead development which are unsightly and wreak havoc on ball roll creating bumpy conditions. These will affect germination and establishment of our planted seed and we cannot use them this year. We did and will continue to use on the minimally damaged greens, but those with significant injury will not be treated.

Yes all of the above is painful! Slow, leafy, wet, bumpy, are not enjoyable and certainly are not typical for us but this is not a typical spring for us either. On greens that are healthy we can perform many of the above practices and even on portions of injured greens if areas are isolated, and  eventually, slowly but surely, we will be able to return the practices to all greens.
Your patience and understanding of these unprecedented conditions are greatly appreciated.

Here's a look at how recovery is progressing:

 No. 1 Making nice progress. Plugging work coming soon

 

#2. Much improvement. All photos look better from a distance but this is only a short while from being open.  Side Note: Note the 3 divot marks at the lower portion of photo. Practicing right in front of a green! I'll hold my tongue...or fingers, and say no more.

 #3 Perimeter areas are hardest it. Will be some time before this can tolerate traffic.

 #4 Swale area in center. some recovery from existing plants but much more needed.

 #6 Drainage swale areas badly injured. Like #4 some recovery seen but will take more time here

 #7 Most injured area of all greens. Interesting that this was where the former tree (back right behind green - removed last fall due to damage and deterioration) created shade and root competition weakening the turf on the green. Going forward with tree gone the new turf will be much healthier and likely better able to tolerate stresses.

 #9 Making progress. Areas most impacted are where drainage is slow (plans are being formulated now to improve drainage on this and many other greens...more on this later) and where shade from the large trees front left of green and where nearly all traffic funnels to the 10th tee. Often it is several factors that result in turf being unable to tolerate cold or heat stresses. Poor drainage, shade, traffic, then ice... strike three...or four, you're out!

 

#10 Progressing well. This one along with #2, and #1 will be ready fairly soon.

#11 Most of damage is around perimeter areas. Clean-up pass stress?? Perhaps. #11 along with  #3 are in about the same state of condition. Will be some time before play can resume.

#17 Going to be a little time here but perhaps several sod plugs will move us closer to opening. Lots of plugs being planted from our nursery to many of the damaged greens. 

Slowly but surely we'll get things back to at least close to normal. 

Thank you for your patience and understanding!

On a more fun note:

 

I mentioned in April 'Clippings' column that I was going to start a few honeybee hives. The hives are here (two near Grounds Op. Center, and one on course in tall grass near 14 Champ. tee) and I installed the bees on Apr. 8. We've done a lot of work in close proximity and they really don't want anything to do with us, just interested in gathering nectar and pollen. Honeybees have been subjected to many problems (varroa mites, habitat loss, improper or excessive insecticide use, and more) and perhaps we can help a little by caring for a few colonies. And perhaps we'll get a sweet reward in time. 

My foray as a beekeeper with my first full inspection. They can be a little disturbed when their hive is opened up, hence the veil and white suit (apparently white is calming), and there are 10,000 at this point, which will grow to 60,000 or so, so I'll likely continue to use the veil! Many beekeepers eventually abandon the protective equipment, just shows that these girls (yes mostly females) aren't that sassy after all! My queens are in good shape and I've seen nectar and pollen being placed in the comb and tomorrow marks the 21st day which hopefully will show the first brood emerging.  

And another fun note:

Hawks Win! Hawks Win!

Round One wrapped up with a 5-1 victory!

Bring on Round Two. 

Let's Go Hawks!!!

A New Season Begins - Greens Open

In just a few days meteorologic spring, or the Vernal Equinox, will occur and a new season will be upon us. As is suppose to happen, the sun is rising higher on the horizon (actually the earth tilts on it's axis), daytime temperatures are becoming mild, and nighttime temperatures are remaining above freezing. Overall, it's a beautiful thing! And as such, with ground conditions reasonably dry, and covers removed yesterday (warm temps can accelerate too much growth under covers), I see no reason to not take advantage of the nice weather opportunity and roll, set hole locations, put flagsticks in, and open greens for play!

 Covers being removed for first time in 2011

This may be a record for green opening but at least this one is a desirable record. We had a year of extreme records (or near records) last year, and a winter with near record snowfall, so we might as well keep the record streak going! Hopefully we don't have any severe weather records this summer! 

If you do get a chance to play during this mild weather break, keep in mind that with this very early opening, you will still see evidence of the aeration from late last fall. In addition, the greens will not be mowed just yet, as it's likely temperatures will drop again (after all we are in Chicagoland!) and I want to keep the little extra turf cover that we now have (from the covers protecting and warming), until night time temps are consistently above freezing.

     First rolling. This settles natural soil heaving that occurs in winter and smooths surface. 

Photo shows enhanced green-up from covers on practice green and number nine green in the distance. 

Another thing to remember in the days to come is that we are in our "Cover Shuffle" period and so greens may be recovered for a few days (all depending on temperature lows) then re-opened, and then this sequence may repeat until mild temperatures prevail. In doing this we retain the advantages of the covers (early spring green-up, root and shoot growth acceleration, aeration healing, and more) and yet control growth so as too not allow excessive shoot growth.

I have much more to comment on concerning current course conditions and varied maintenance activities in progress so look for more information to follow soon but for now...Happy Spring!

Ventilating the Greens

With the frequent and above normal amounts of rain over the past seven weeks, saturated soil conditions are present throughout the course. And now, with very warm temperatures upon us, the combination can rapidly lead to turf root loss and diminished quality. In spite of numerous core aeration sessions over the years and nearly 5" of sand topdressing (from 20 years of work) providing a porous surface rootzone, with the excessive amount of rain we've had recently and internal drainage lines on only a few of our newer greens, we recently started a process of Greens Ventilation.This is really just an aerification process but without removing any material and using a special tine called a cross tine. No it's not a special tine that I came up with, I wish I had, it's a special tine that is available from a tine manufacturing company shaped like two intersecting double sided knives. We use our Toro Procore aerator and adjust the depth to approx. 3 inches, and the spacing to approx. 1 1/2" on center.

Rafa beginning Ventilation process

As the tines are inserted, a cross like cut is created and these cuts result in much more area affected and open to air movement into (providing oxygen) and gases out of, the rootzone soil. A great feature of this tine is that while it affects a nice amount of underground area, the surface is minimally disrupted. 

Green surface after "cross tine" ventilating, prior to rolling

Javier rolling 

After rolling the green following ventilating, ball roll is minimally, if at all, impacted, yet valuable benefits of oxygenation (aiding root system support) and rootzone soil drying (aiding surface firmness, and ball roll) are gained. This procedure may be repeated in the coming weeks if our current weather pattern of frequent rainfall continues.

 Putting surface after rolling...surface nearly closed but ventilation channels beneath remain

As soil temperatures rise in the summer months, root growth slows and even ceases. And of course, without roots, plants weaken and ultimately die. Moist and/or saturated rootzone soils warm and retain heat more than drier rootzone soils and so anything we can do to dry and cool the rootzone, and retain roots, is critically important. Ventilation certainly helps in this regard!

A Good Bit O' the Green

St. Patrick's Day is on Wednesday next week and aside from the usual reasons to celebrate, this year (due to some very favorable developments just this week) there are plenty of additional reasons!

It's hard to believe but just a few short days ago the course was still blanketed by snow.  We've had a winter with a generous helping of the fluffy white stuff, in fact I believe it's the seventh snowiest on record. With temperatures well into the 50's this week, the blanket is no more.  Snow melted...Reason #1 to celebrate!

 Snow cover on Monday 3/8

Snow melted by Friday 3/12

The mostly continuous snow covering this winter has really tested the efficacy and length of protection of our late fall applied plant protectants used to manage snow mold disease activity.  Many areas in the untreated rough have a greater than usual presence of both Typhula and Microdochium fungi, commonly known as, Gray and Pink Snow Mold.  These diseases typically cause foliar blighting but no crown or root damage so recovery will occur from these unaffected plant parts, in a reasonable length of time. Our fall applied nutrients will help accelerate recovery as soon as soil temperatures rise, at which time they will become available for plant uptake. Fortunately, the areas we apply protectants to, the greens, tees, approaches, and fairways,have little to no activity. As with the rough, the amount of disease is more than I've seen in many years (in spite of our treatments) but overall less than many other fellow Agronomists and many Plant Pathologists expected, given the lengthy period of snow cover. Less disease than expected...Reason #2 to celebrate!

 Snow Mold disease fairly prevalent in untreated rough (foreground) but fortunately minimal in green, tee, and fairway areas.

Along the same lines of continuous snow coverage, a great concern of mine, and many of my colleagues, has been the lengthy covering of ice. You can review our snow and ice removal efforts in my January blog posts which, at the time, were performed at what perhaps could have been the upper limits of time that poa annua (a significant plant species component of our turf) is thought to withstand ice covering or encasement. Since those days back in late January I've been wondering if we would have ice encasement injury on #11 green, one of two greens that was rather severely damaged last year. After "flood melting" the snow off #11 green, and then warm temperatures thawing the soil enough so that we could pull the staples, we were able to turn back the cover for a good look. We're not completely "out of the woods yet" (a sudden drop to sub-freezing temperatures could happen and could result in crown hydration injury) but each passing day brings us closer to spring temperatures and beyond the threat of winter injury.

 Thick (3-4") ice coverage on #11 Green in Dec. & Jan.   

        

 
Breaking and removing ice on #11 Green 

                          

 The result of our uncovering was a huge sigh of relief as we found very minimal, essentially typical early spring, slight turf discoloration. No apparent ice or other winter injury symptoms...Reason #3 to really Celebrate!

 First uncovering of #11 Green revels little to no winter injury!  

 Another Green (#2) with a Good bit o' green!

The Luck o' the Irish must be with us! (Along with the luck we created for ourselves with our management practices and products we used to protect our turf this past winter!)  Now let's hope the luck stays with us all summer long, and especially through the Western Amateur Championship!

Ice Melt Accomplished!

With the snow removed from the greens late last week, and Mother Nature coming through with warmer temperatures and a little rain this weekend, all except two greens were completely free of ice this morning. The two that still had ice remaining were greens no. 3 and no. 11, but with a little ice breaking and shoveling work, these too are now ice free.

        

Cracking the remaining ice on No. 11 Green

Shoveling and loading cracked ice 

Ice free surface of No. 11 Green

 Time will tell whether our snow and ice removal work these last few days will reduce or eliminate turf damage. We still have more winter to come (in fact it's back already!) and there are other types of Winter Injury that are, unfortunately, still possible.  In theory though, we've broken a long period of continuous ice encasement and removing this layer, one that restricts oxygen and causes carbon dioxide to accumulate, can only be beneficial. Looking forward to the warmer days of spring!    

Speeding up Ice Melt - Reducing Ice Damage?

Looking at the last post I think most would agree that the photos of the blanket of snow throughout the course are very attractive and quite serene. I remember taking them and enjoying the picturesque beauty of the moment. At this point however, it's now been over 50 days of continuous snow coverage, and much of it has turned to ice. Snow cover is fine and even provides beneficial protection. Ice, in contrast, is infinitely more concerning and has now been in place perhaps a bit too long! Shortly after taking the winter wonderland photos,  we had a slight warm-up and then some rainfall. It was actually right at Christmas and was one of only a few days where the maximum temperature exceeded 32 degrees. The warm-up (41 degrees that day) was not enough to melt all the snow but it did reduce the depth. The melting snow of course changed to liquid and added a layer of water beneath the remaining snow and directly on the ground/turf surface. The rain, over 1.5 inches falling the same day, contributed to this layer.  Cold temperatures that then followed changed this water to ice, and with temperatures remaining near or below freezing for the past 30 plus days, it has remained as ice. So at this time a layer of ice has been present for over 30 and approaching 40 days.

Snow cover over 50 days now.

Winter Injury & Our Turf
 There are several forms of what is generally called Winter Injury and includes: Winter Desiccation, Direct Low Temperature Kill; Crown Hydration Injury, and Ice Encasement / Suffocation. At this time I'm mainly concerned about the potential for the latter. The covers that we always use help guard against Winter Desiccation but have little effect on these other listed injury forms.
Our turf species components on our greens, tees, and fairways is primarily poa annua (perennial biotypes) and creeping bentgrass. Of the two species the poa annua is by far the more sensitive to ice encasement.  University research generally shows that ice encasement injury to poa annua will occur at continuous coverage lengths of 45 days and bentgrass at 90 or more. With ice cover on the course (the greens being our primary concern) approaching this 45 day mark, the anxiety (for me) about suffocation injury of our poa annua,  increases with each passing day.

Test hole reveals 2" ice layer on No. 11 Green

Time to Act:
With the temperatures expected to rise into the 40's for this weekend I felt it was a good opportunity to try to have Mother Nature help us reduce some of the ice accumulation we're experiencing.  So over the last couple days we've used snow blowers and shovels to remove the snow off all greens so that the surfaces will hopefully absorb some heat, (snow insulates and reflects) by exposing the darker ice and the darker greencovers, and also reduce the added moisture that would result when it melts this weekend. As we removed the snow we noted that the thickness of ice is minimal on many greens, a 1/2" or so on a few greens, and quite thick (2") on only one green, the same one we had winter injury on last year, No. 11 green.
Our snow removal will certainly help the warmer expected temperatures to begin to melt some of the ice and perhaps most of it on the greens with minimal thicknesses.  I'm expecting that Monday we may have to physically crack and remove remaining ice on No. 11 as I think it's unlikely that 2 inches will melt in just a couple days. We'll see what next week brings.

   

Snow blowing approx. 6" of snow off No. 11 Green 

 

                                 Hand shoveling to assist removal process 

Will This Remove the Threat of Injury?
We wont really know for another couple months as ice damage injury is so variable and depends on many factors.  It varies from year to year in places of the country that deal with it annually, where various efforts are employed which work well some years and may not work at all the next. Managing Winter Injury is certainly an inexact science! I do know that our efforts now, trying to reduce the length of ice encasement, can't hurt, and if anything may help reduce some anxiety (and allow me to sleep a little better at night!) for the next couple months!

Ice depth of approx. 1/2" exposed on No.10 Green. 

A Final Comment & Request:
As we removed snow from the greens we did note that in areas where cross country skiers and snowshoe walkers had crossed greens, the areas beneath the surface had definitely changed to solid ice and was much thicker than adjacent areas. You'll see the snowshoe prints in the photos below.  Given this, and our concern about ice damage, I would ask that skier and snowshoe activities be restricted from the greens and tees. There are many mounds and bunker shoulders throughout the course, in rough areas, where if you're one who enjoys these activities, can travel, to get the rolling elevation changes you may desire.

 

Snowshoe tracks showing heavy ice accumulation on No. 17 Green

 

Close up of Snowshoe track and ice accumulation

Enjoy your skiing and snowshoeing but please refrain from traveling on the greens and tees. Thank You!
Let's hope Mother Nature "Holds the Ice" from here until spring.  I'll keep you posted.