Monday, March 31, 2008

Come On All Ready :)

I would like to say we have been really busy in the last couple of weeks and it has caused me to lapse a little on my blog, not the case. We have been pretty relaxed just waiting to get outside. I was hoping the end of March would bring pictures of green grass and signs of spring, well here is the end of March... It sounds like 3"+ of slushy, wet, and heavy snow, I think the paper referred to it as "heartattack snow" which I am sure alludes to trying to shovel the stuff.

Well before the current storm hit the turf we could see (which was most of it this morning) looked good and ready for spring. I am sure it will be only a couple of days before we get another look. Hopefully by early next week we are running around outside getting things cleaned up for the opener. I feel pretty certain it is gonna be a good couple of weeks before we can start filling out scorecards, but only time will tell. Once this snow is gone we are going to need some solid sun and warm nights to move the frost out of the ground. I have heard estimates that it reached a good 5' deep this winter, which would not surprise me. Once it starts to thaw out though it usually goes fairly quick. Hopefully later this week I have a much more anticipated photo to share instead of the snowy white blanket we see now.

Friday, March 14, 2008

One of the things I love to do while driving around the course in the morning is taking pictures. While on my travels to check out the course for things good and bad I come across a lot of neat things. When my camera is in the cart, which it usually is, I try and capture these things and share them with the crew and anyone else I think might enjoy them. Now with this blog I plan to share some of these things with you as well. This picture of a dragon fly I came across one morning is the first. It was just waking up and waiting for the dew to burn off its wings so it could start the day. Nature is such a cool thing.

As for the course and the weather and when we open, I know that's why your really here checking up on things... So far so good. If things follow typical patterns, we should be teeing it up early April. So far the weather has been great, and the snow cover since December 1st has been a very good thing. Now, however, we are entering that period when things will be thawing and freezing. This is when the grass can take in water but then have serious injury if it freezes up at night. A couple of things we can do to help things is make sure the greens are free of ice. When things start to thaw out and the water is flowing we will be out making sure it is not pooling on greens. By moving ice and snow obstacles we can keep the water from pooling and possibly freezing when things get cold again. As usual we will be doing everything we can to get the place in shape and ready for action as soon as possible. It's right around the corner.