The Thaw

What a streak of weather we have had the last 6 weeks.  Due to the tight grasp mother nature has had on us it has been very difficult to get the golf course open.  It started with a few small snow showers, then cold weather for an extended period that froze the ground.  A period of freeze and thaw cycles that drove the frost about 12 inches deep, which I have never seen that deep here.  These cycles caused the small amount of snow to turn into an ice layer sitting on frozen ground.  Due to the frozen sub-surface we only were getting melt from the sun and air temperature, compared to getting melt from both sides if the ground was not frozen.  Couple that with our location up against a bluff and the current sun angle of December lead to only a few short hours of sun each day

First snowfall at the beginning of December

The freeze thaw cycles led to this ice layer on many greens

Typically here in the Lewis and Clark Valley we are gifted with great winter weather, i.e. banana belt, that allows us to play golf all winter long.

As far as the turf health goes there were no major issues or concerns.  The ice layer that was on greens was short lived enough that we did not have any turf damage.  The weather did force the turf to be more dormant and off color than I have ever seen here.  Typically we maintain a little green color throughout the winter, but not this year.  Ice is very dangerous and a major concern, especially with our Poa Annua greens, and there are many different types of winter damage and turf loss to greens.  With ice, Poa can survive about 60 days under ice cover where creeping bentgrass can survive about 120 days.  Another concern, and a more practical one for us, is crown hydration.  When the snow/ice turns to water it can be absorbed by the plant if it is not 100% dormant and then the cold nightly temperatures will force the absorbed water to freeze and rupture the cell walls in as short of a period as 1 night. These freeze thaw cycles, standing water, and cold nightly temps can be devastating, so our maintenance staff would keep a daily eye on the greens each day and squeegee off any standing water that melted that day before it froze that night.

The snow and ice covered course also allowed our maintenance team time to refurbish many of our golf course accessories that we use during the season.

Ballwashers being sanded down and re-painted

We also were able to continue all of our annual tree maintenance work and removal with the golf course being snow covered and frozen.

We did finally have all the snow and ice melt and were able to re-open the course.  But then the problem we run into is the frozen ground, which I do open the course when it is frozen, plays very hard and fast. Followed by a couple small rain events and a night or two where the low temperature stays above freezing allows the top inch or two to thaw out and makes for conditions that require cart restrictions.   When the top inch is thawed and the ground below is frozen, then a small rain has no place to go and it sits on the surface making things very soft and squishy.   Leading to a couple days of limited cart traffic due to the ground below still being frozen.  Just a summary of some of the challenges and cycles with a northern golf course that has the opportunity to stay open all year around.

Now we are through all of those tough times and the course is fully open again, in good shape, playing well, and the forecast has most days hovering around 50 for the next couple weeks with only a few possible frost delays.  We will be getting back on a schedule of rolling greens this week, rotating pins with our 3 cup system, and other maintenance tasks.

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See ya on the course