Results

I have good news and not great news to report. The plugs I pulled from greens 9 & 12 on March 8 have greened up and are growing nicely. The amount of ice cover on the course and the duration it has lasted are not good but it appears we are OK as of now, If the winter lingers a bit longer, that could change. I pulled plugs on greens 15 and 16 on March 22. By Monday the 25th, green 16 was growing out nicely while green 15 looked unimpressive. A few more days of growing and only a little bit of growth. I have concerns here. I am going out to take another sample just to make sure.

This is still winter. A year ago, golfers were playing at this time. What happened to global warming?

Time to Check

March really begins the transition from winter to spring. We start seeing sights and sound everyday of the outdoors waking up. It ranges from the drip of snow melting, to birds singing their spring songs, to more daylight hours, to a warmth of the temperatures. What we are not seeing yet is the turf on the golf course. That is due to the 20+ inches of snow still covering the ground. It will take a while for the snow to melt away, probably into April, before we see the green grass again. But, what we don't see yet is what is taking place under the snow. There is a layer of ice that has formed on top of the turf. It is everywhere, including the greens. Ice first developed back in December when we had a rain event after there was snow on the ground. While it did happen then, it was only in low spots. Keep in mind, turf can survive under ice anywhere from 60 - 120 days. Well, we are at day 90 now, and winter is not over. There has been accumulating ice from some melting days in January and February to where it is now wide spread.

So where does that leave us? Time to check. I will be pulling samples off the course over the next few days and place them in my sunny office window to grow out. I will include some pictures in my next post of what the plugs look like dormant and then update the blog in a week or so to see what happens. Superintendents plan for the worst and hope for the best. If the plugs grow out, that will be nice. If they don't, then I need to plan for the recovery and take appropriate action when the time comes.

I'm hoping for the best. Stay tuned.

Here are some pictures of the sampling process.