Even though warm weather is coming we are still not ready for play. Significant ice is still present on greens, tees and fairways. Once warmer weather arrives, the ice will melt and will take some time for it to soak into the ground. The golf course will probably not open until after this weekend.
A heavy topdressing was applied to the greens on Friday to prepare them for the winter months. The greens will remain open until snow cover but the sand is critical to protect the plants from foot traffic and cold winds. We will most likely apply more sand come late January if weather and ground conditions permit.
The photos show the sand injector graden on top. The machine removes thatch and fills the slit at the same time. The second picture shows what it looks like right after we cleaned it. The bottom picture shows the same green about 3 weeks later (Dec. 1) and the slits are already recovering. This would be a great investment to purchase 2 of these machines as it will allow us to firm up our surfaces even more.
The right rough had no irrigation except for the fairway heads and now we added spray heads all along the right side of the hole to help keep the rough healthy during dry spells.
