Winter Damage and Recovery

As everyone now knows, golf courses took a very hard hit from winter this year and there was widespread turf loss to greens, tees, and fairways.  Many clubs in our area are currently manicuring

2 South on 4/2/14 being topdressed
after already being prepped and seeded.
Permeable cover went on immediately
following this sand application.

temporary greens while the primary greens heal.  I'm happy to report that our greens are currently recovering well and it's due to the hard work of our staff and proper advanced planning.  All of our greens that got hurt from winter damage were prepped, verticut, aerified, seeded, topdressed, rolled, fertilized, watered, and last but not least covered over a week ago.  Today we observed that three of the first greens that were seeded have newly germinated bentgrass growing.

2 South on 4/13/14.
Recovering well!

Covering our greens with permeable tarps help to heat the soil layer beneath to the required temperature to germinate bentgrass, which would otherwise not be possible right now.  As the new grass germinates and starts to grow, the tarps will help keep the soil moist and the plant healthy.  The greens tarps will be removed every day to allow staff to mow the green and occasionally apply fertilizer for growth. The greens will then be re-covered every afternoon to continue to hold in heat and moisture until they are 100% healed.  It is a very labor

Putting Green 4/1/14

intensive process but allows greens to heal much quicker and gets them back in play, healthily, much faster.  Greens that are covered while healing could become playable up to 4 weeks faster than those that are not covered.  Most importantly, while greens have been recently seeded and are healing, keeping traffic off them is a must for quick recovery.

On behalf of the grounds staff, we would like to thank the

Putting Green 4/13/14. Bentgrass
germinated today on the damaged area
that can still be seen and will recover
nicely in the next few weeks.

membership for their patients and understanding while we get the course back in shape after such a hard winter.  The recovery process is going well and we will continue to update members as the weeks progress.