The most talked about topic for the fall of 2018 among golfers and golf course superintendents was the rain and saturated soils.  It became a season of survival and patience.  The excessive rain not only made regular maintenance difficult, but made projects impossible to get started.

The early snows of November held on through December, but melted in January clearing the greens of snow and ice.  February re-established the snow and ice cover which has started to melt the past few days.  It was a winter of wide temperature swings, snow to rain, and melting snow to ice.  Many of the greens still have a thick layer of ice caused from rain falling on snow, creating wet slush that re-froze.  This is not an ideal situation.  The best thing we have going for us is that the ice has not been on for a long duration, and if normal temps take over in March we should be fine.  The low oxygen environment under ice can be detrimental to plant survival rates.  Typically Annual Bluegrass can survive 60-90 days encased in ice.  The quicker we melt down and get to seasonable temperatures, above freezing during the day and just below over- night, the better our chances will be of escaping with minimal damage.

The melting snow the past few days has allowed us to get onto the golf course and do some tree work on many holes. You will recognize 1 Red, 3 Red, and 4 Red as the holes in the pictures below.