May 5th Update and Opening date

 Hello Folks,

Just a quick update to talk a bit about the opening and whats going on around the course.  Despite the cold and wet weather of the past week we continue to move forward with repairing the greens from the winter damage.  Shout out to my staff to have worked hard in rather uncomfortable weather over the last week. 

On Monday of this week we took the germination tarps off the greens and I was pleasantly surprised to see that our mid -April seeding had germinated.  In anticipation of the poor weather forecasted for Wednesday/Thursday, we put the tarps back on for Tuesday night but not before mowing the healthy parts of the greens.  One of the big concerns with seeding this early in the year is loss of seed to freezing.  Fortunately, the tarps prolong the warmth of the day and shelter the seedings from the frost.  This morning, we pulled the tarps off again to mow, fertilize and water the greens.   It looks like Mother nature is going to help us out next week with some high teen and low twenties temps and some greatly needed sunshine. Its probably going to be too hot this weekend (hard to believe I'm saying that) to keep the tarps on, with that amount of fertilizer and and water we could cook the seedlings.

The seeding growth on 18 green as of May 5th.

Our plan as of today is to open the course on the 12th of May.  This is much earlier than expected but it comes with a caveat, there will unfortunately be eight temporary greens.   We know the damaged greens are not ready for play but the rest of the course is in pretty good shape, and as it wont hurt anything, you should be able to take advantage of that.  

Here are the current photos of the greens (less 3green) that will be temped for the opening.

Number 11 green

Number 18 green

 

Number 7 green

Number 16 green

Number 13 green

Number 12 green

As you can see from the pictures the common problem with these greens is the damage has occurred where the pins would be set. Some are more severe than others so the recovery rates will be different for each location.  Ill keep updating this blog with our progress.

Over the last few weeks our efforts have not gone unrewarded.  Here are a few photos of the 17th green and its progression.

Number 17 green April 26

Number 17 green April 30th

Number 17 green May 5

The tarps will remain off for the weekend so feel free to come out for a walk and see the course and current conditions (watch out for the sprinklers).  These are not the types of blog posts that are pleasant to write, but rest assured, we will continue to grind until things are back to normal.  As always, feel free to drop an email, ask a question, or stop by the shop for a chat.  See you soon!