Pre Christmas Update

 

I have high hopes that the start to this winter is proving a return to consistent winter weather for us. The last few winters fluctuations in high and low temperatures along with rain events rather than snow falls gave us some challenges to keep the turf healthy as we went through this part of the season.

 Early cold weather put frost in the ground and a recent blanket of snow is absolutely perfect for the golf course. The early frost also allowed us to get the large tree spade on the property to plant 6 new maples on the left side of the 8^th hole last week.  As you know these trees replace Ash and Austrian pines that were removed as they were dying off from disease and insects.

Dropping the first of 6 significant sized new maples on the left side of 8

 

 

All 6 were successfully installed before the latest snow fall

Not completely spectacular without leaves, but I am confident they will be fully appreciated next season when the leaf breaks from the bud on all these new additions.

 

As mentioned in an earlier Blog we stripped the back of the 7^th green to stop water from pooling which will also cause significant ice buildup making the grass prone to winter kill.

 

Poor surface drainage leads to pooling of water as seen here on the Putting Green after a summer rain. This leads to saturated soils and if left long enough, death of the turf during the growing season.

 

 

The same pooling of water in the winter over frozen soil is a much bigger job to remove before it freezes. In this file photo we are using a shop vac to suck water up from the greens surface.

 

This photo shows how we remove the sod with the sod cuter and meticulously reshape the surface by hand with a shovel. This project was about 75-80% complete when the snow shut us down completely. There is no concern for us getting it finished and sod back in place for opening day 2014.

With Christmas around the corner I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.   I look forward to spending time with my family over the holidays and hope to see all of you at our AGM in January.