April Golf Course Trades Online

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7th all time season snowfall totals

Well, with Friday/Saturday totals of 4.9" of snow, this season zoomed into 7th place all-time snowiest.

36.7"

Hopefully, we will not receive another 3.9" tomorrow to move us up another spot in the rankings.  Drug the greens today and got a mow in finally and bunkers were raked.  Greens are continueing to heal from the aeration.  Warmer weather to come later this week.

That's a lot of snow Joe!

Glen Echo Country Club Golf Course Management

Cold Weather Slows Course Opening

The combination of last week's cold temperatures and this week's predicted cold weather has caused the golf course to take a step backward. In order for the golf course to open, we must first be certain that all frost has left the ground. Traffic on frozen turf and soil, even foot traffic from golfers, can cause a significant amount of damage to the plants themselves. The turf at NSCC is very susceptible to damage at this point in the year. Until the plants are once again growing, they are unable to recover from any damage that they may receive from play. The golf course maintenance staff is eagerly watching the forecast in anticipation of course opening. To date, our activities on the golf course have been limited due to the frozen conditions. While some course clean-up has been completed, much work remains to get done. As the frost leaves the ground, the golf course maintenance staff will begin preparing the course for opening. Activities such as bunker repair cannot be completed until the bunkers are free from snow and the sand is no longer frozen.

The picture above helps to illustrate how fragile turf can be when the ground is frozen and the plants have not yet begun to grow. The brown tire tracks are clearly distinguishable in the photo taken of 8 Blue fairway. While the picture was taken recently, the damage was done in December when we applied black sand to fairways in order to melt the ice. Imagine for a moment the potential damage that could occur should golfers be allowed to walk on frozen fairways, tees, and putting surfaces. This picture not only illustrates how the decision to remove ice should not be taken lightly, but also how sensitive the turf can be during the winter and early spring. Many areas such as this exist throughout the course which will be noticeable upon course opening. In most cases this damage seems superficial and the turf should quickly recover following a couple weeks of growth.


As the forecast indicates, temperature appear to warm significantly toward the end of next week. These temperatures coupled with the hard work of the golf course maintenance staff will allow us to open the course as soon as we are able. Both I and the turf thank you for your patience.

North Shore Country Club Golf Course Maintenance

A View Inside an Eagle's Nest

This is a great find here thanks Paul!

EAGLE CAM-Get a rare look inside a bald eagle nest in the wild

This has got to be one of the cooler things I have seen on the web in a while.  The Norfolk Botanical Garden has installed a live feed camera on a bald eagle nest to observe all the stages of the fledgling process.

The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay Golf Course Maintenance

A Perfect Visual of Why We Strive for Bentgrass

On numerous occasions I have written on this blog explaining the many reasons we strive for predominantly bentgrass playing surfaces. Yesterday I happened upon the photos shown below. These are photos of a green that is made up of probably 90% Poa annua.

The superintendent at the course did everything right in helping these greens to make it through the winter in great condition. During the winter they experience a warm up (50's) followed by an immediate drop in temperature to well below freezing. The Poa flat out could not take it and it died. What is so strong about these photos is the contrast between the dead Poa and the completely healthy bentgrass. Both plants experienced the very same conditions, one died, one goes on as if nothing happened. This is why we favor and manage for bentgrass.

Northland Country Club Turfgrass Management

Strobes for Geese

We recently placed strobe lights in both ponds – the entrance pond and the pond bordering the 12th hole – to discourage geese from nesting along the shores and raising their young in the surrounding areas. The solar powered yellow strobes are anchored in the ponds and automatically activate in darkness (evening through sunrise). The blinking yellow light is very disturbing to the geese that overnight in ponds or along the banks, encouraging them to move on and take up residence else where.

During the day, we chase the geese using other methods. Some of these are running Apollo (Joel’s dog) and Rocky (Heather’s dog) and scaring off any geese that might land. We are also using radio controlled boats to chase the geese off the waters where the dogs can’t go, or can’t swim fast enough to get close. A lead goose will break off the main flock and “tease” the dog away by swimming just out of reach and away from the flock, eventually tiring the dog. The geese aren’t so clever with a boat....the boat can get up to 30mph and so this teasing doesn’t work.

Our goal is not to hurt the geese...but just to give them reason to move on. Besides their droppings (up to 3lbs per day per goose) that make a mess, the geese will eat turf down to its crowns, thinning and killing turf areas. By moving them on, they will find other, and hopefully, more natural breeding areas. That’s best for all of us.





The Greate Bay Country Club Greens Department