I want to take a moment to address a question that always gets asked multiple times in the spring as the golf courses emerge from the snow pack.
Why is the Heritage open and Greywalls still closed?
The first difference is terrain. Greywalls sits higher and gets more snow. The extreme valleys fill in with more snow and it takes longer to melts off.
The second difference is turf type. The Heritage course fairways are predominately poa annua; which will start taking in water and growing when soil temps are in the low 40's. The Greywalls course fairways are fine fescue and bluegrass and those turf type do not start taking in water and growing until the soil temperatures reach 51-52 degrees.
The pictures below prove my point..
Number 8 fairways Greywalls has not broken dormancy and has not started to grow out of superficial snowmold damage because the soil temp is still 49 degrees.
As you can see we have began solid tine aerification; which accelerates a rise in soil temperature when air temperatures rise.
The Greywalls front 9 always holds snow longer and takes more time to begin growing.
We have a unique situation in that our golf club has two courses. One happens to be ready for play before the other in the spring. I know everyone is excited and ready to play but have patience; continue to enjoy the fantastic spring conditions on the Heritage course while the Greywalls course emerges from winter.
A combination of solid tining the front 9 fairways and warm weather this weekend will have the Greywalls course ready for cart traffic next week.
Your grounds staff is seasoned and well educated. We know what we are doing and we work very hard to get the golf courses open as early as possible. Six short days ago we had cross country skiers on the golf course and we now have it to a point that it will open within a week. I call that a miracle!
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