Finally, opening day

One month to the day from the originally planned 2014 opening day, and we finally have opened the doors to the new golf season. A rain event over night dumped 3/4" and made for a damp course. We allowed power carts out after roping off the wettest areas. If you were out on the golf course this morning you would have had the chance to see the greens as we pulled tarps off long enough to mow them. With a current temperature of only 9 and a forecasted low of 2, the tarps are already back in place. I am happy to report we have had significant growth over the last 12 days on all greens..

 



Here is the 2nd green on May 1st

And here is the 2nd green this morning, May 16th

16th green on May 1st

And these two pictures both taken this morning before the mower was on it

 

All greens have made good progress, but are still very young and fragile. Many members have asked me this morning when these green will open. It's just to early to say. We need some realistic temperatures so we can remove the tarps for good and begin mowing everyday to help promote lateral growth. At this point they look good, but have no density to them whatsoever. It is vital we don't put play on them too early. Allowing the traffic onto new turf too early will significantly set them backwards and put them under stress just before the heat of summer hits us which will make them weak and susceptible to the summer stresses.

We are also continuing to prune broken and hung up branches from the canopy of our trees. If you see this 50 foot boom Genie working please stay far away as branches will be falling to the ground constantly and the operator has very poor visibility of the area below his work platform.

My entire crew deserve a huge thank you from me as well as every member for getting the course to where it is for opening day. If it wasn't for their work ethic and dedication to this golf course we would not have accomplished so much over the last month. Well done gang! A staff Bar-b-q on the 30th of May hardly seem reward for all you have done this spring.