Hello All-
I was able walk the course last week once most of our snow melted. From what I could see, the turf looks to be in good shape coming out of winter. There was no visible snow mold, a pathogen that you often find under snow cover. I was pleased to see that no major ice damage has occurred.
The course is still very wet. The ground has an ice layer still that will take a while to thaw. We had a rapid melt in the snow; the water was not able to penetrate far into the soil due to this ice layer. Not a problem for the turf, the water will continue to sit until it either finds its way off site or is able to find thawed soil.
As I see it now, our biggest challenge coming out of winter will be course clean-up. There were a number of branches around that will need to be cleaned once I start to bring some employees back. I am anticipating bringing a few back mid March to begin cleaning the course and prepping for spring. This will be a good time for us to get a few drainage projects out of the way as well before we begin to get busy.
Overall I am very pleased with how everything looks. I am optimistic that the weather will soon begin to level out and we will be able to get outside and begin spring preparations.
I hope you all have had a good winter and are as anxious as I to get outside and play golf.
See you on the course
-Elliott