Spring Yet?

                                          March 16th 2012

                                          March 22nd 2013

                                          Still plowing!

We had to dig over 4 feet of snow out from the back door of the shop in order to tow a JD2500 over to the heated mechanics bay for an engine replacement.

What a difference a year makes.  Last years freakish early warm-up (when we were open this week) to this years late arrival of winter; which has us under many feet of snow and weeks away from an opener.
Last year we were caught off guard because the early melt-down this year we will be very prepared!  Bring on the sun and warmer temperatures!

We are using a wonderful product call Vinyl-Guard to protect our bunker rake handles this season.  The product comes in a roll and can be cut to size.  You then spray the surface with a stick spray, slide the Vinyl-Guard  tube over and shrink wrap it on with a heat gun.  I hope this will protect the sticks for several years to eliminate the need for annual sanding and staining and provide more strength to the sticks.  

How Many of you are looking forward to this again!  

Well we are still in heavy preparation mode and the count down is on until opening day!

The Heritage shop has been very loud with the sound of grinders at work as we tear down and grind each reel in preparation for the 2013 golfing season.  Seals, bearings and other parts are replaces if needed and the reels are reconditioned as if they were new from the factory.  We use 100 reels to maintain the 36 holes here at MGC with the primary reels being serviced during the off-season.  This process takes loads of time and must be completed properly to achieve top quality turfgrass conditions.  

 Reel set-up on the Grinder

 Accuracy with-in one-thousandth of an inch 

 Reel spin grinding

 Relief grinding a reel

 Grinding of the Bedknives

 Reassembly of the Reel 

Putting the Reels back on the Tractor Unit

Equipment tires should never be left flat for extended periods of time or damage will occur to the sidewalls.  We air up any flat or low tires every two weeks in both shops and take note of those tires so they can be monitored more closely in the spring.

                                         Small Ice Pockets on Heritage #17 Green

                                         Over all picture of Heritage #17 Green

                                         Very Thick Ice (2-4") on Greywalls #2 Green

                                         Greywalls #4 Green - ouch

                                         Greywalls #5 Green

This winter (or lack there of) has put our turf in a very vulnerable position.  The open areas are now susceptible to winter desiccation while the low pockets on the greens have ice accumulations from last weeks meltdown.
We need more snow cover very soon to insulate the exposed areas and then we will need an early spring melt to help reduce the severity of ice damage.

                                          Milorganite in the ice on the edges creating air pockets

                                          Ice on #15 Green Greywalls

                                          View of the Ice on #15 Green in the low areas

I was able to get out and check the golf course on Wednesday before the snow storm arrived.  The melt down last weekend did create some solid black ice pockets in the low areas on some of the Greywalls greens.  The Heritage greens looked good as the ice on those greens was very porous and was more of a hard crunchy snow type.  I always worry more about solid black ice cover on the Heritage course because the amount of poa annua growing within that canopy.  In previous years I have seen the bentgrass on the Greywalls greens survive almost 4 months of solid black ice cover.
It is always good to know the ice covered areas so I can determine the type of winter damage or winter kill when the snow melts away in the spring.
I did not see any fungal damage on the surfaces that were treated in October/November.  Once again our spraying worked very well eliminating that early round of snow mold growth.  The big kicker will be that fungal growth spike during the last month of winter during snow melt.  I am worried that the lack of early snow and open canopy caused some photo-degradation of our product reducing its length of protection.
Time will tell but for now lets enjoy the WINTER!!!!!!

                                         Ski tracks left on #14

                                         Ski tracks on #8 Green

                                         Ski pole damage on #5 Green

                                         Ice left on the Green from ski tracks

                                         Ski tracks on #5 Green

                                         Ski tracks around #5 Green

                                         Ski tracks right across #4 Green

Well we finally got enough snow to start enjoying some outdoor winter activities!
For an unknown reason someone decided we had enough last week to cross country ski on the Greywalls course.  This disrespectful individual also skied across the roped off greens damaging the turf below because there was not even close to enough snow for that kind of activity on a golf course.
The Greens are roped off for a reason please keep your winter traffic as far away from these areas as you can plus please be patient and wait for enough snow cover before enjoying the MGC property.