Spring Golf Update

Since the last update on spring golf, Rockville Links recieved 4" of snow on Friday, the first day of Spring.  Temps reached the 60's on Saturday then quickly dropped back below freezing at night.  These drastic swings in weather have ugly'd up more turf throughout the course.  Most still seems to be superficial damage, but the full extent of damage will not be know until the turf actually begins to grow.  

#9 green did not have the visual damage last week prior to the crazy weather swings

Hopefully with the warm weather and rain Rockville is receiving today will help to wake things up.  Friday and Saturday again have a high of 38 and a chance of snow.  After Saturday the long term looks Good! 50's during the day and 30's at night.  This means there will probably be some heavy frosts each morning, but hopefully it will stay above freezing so the grass will start to grow. 

 Active growing grass can take traffic and recover.  This is what we look for before opening greens and allowing carts.  

Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate this next week and we can begin the 2015 Golf Season.

We still have to be careful when to allow traffic on grass.  The picture above is damage caused by someone walking their dog down 1,2, and 3 on a late afternoon in December last year.  This is the reason behind frost delays.  Also when temps drop below freezing it also can freeze the grass blade making it susceptible to damage.

The blog will be updated every time there is a change.  So keep checking back.

Getting ready for Spring to Arrive

2 Green March 17th
Low area in the middle of green severely stressed after this harsh winter.
Desprite being stressed this turf should grow out once weather allows for growth

Finally, it is starting to look like spring at Rockville Links.  Snow and ice only remain in a few pockets throughout the course allowing us to finally get out see The Links.  Although, there are many patches that look beaten up from the harsh winter, I have not seen any areas where we suffered any WinterKill.  Deciding to clear greens to accelerate the ice melt really helped relieve stress from many struggling areas.  (This Process is further details in the previous March 9 blog post)

So what does this mean for the membership of Rockville Links?

The Links needs to continue to dry out and firm up.  Besides walking the crew is not able to get off the main roads and paths.  Hopefully later in the week we are able to venture off road. There is plenty to clean throughout the course, especially from all the geese activity the last 10 days.  

Once we do dry out we still have to keep traffic off areas that were severely stressed this winter.  I would like to see growth and recovery before we add any more stress.  

This same idea applies to greens.  Our greens will be the first turf ready for play this spring.  This is because of internal drainage, better sandier soils, and fewer shade issues than other playing surfaces.  Our greens are also predominately Poa Annua, which is a grass that comes out of dormancy quicker and is better suited for spring conditions than other grasses. 

The 7-Day forecast has every night dropping below freezing and a chance of snow Friday.  Coming into this week I would say we are 10 days behind last season, which had first round of golf played in late March.  Once we get through this next wave of cold weather, we should have a better idea how the season is shaping up.    

The course has come a long way in one week.  Hopefully we dry out, and the weather catches up to spring in the next week!

10 green March 10th/March 17th
Low areas accumulated ice first and held on longer adding extra stress to the turf

Spring?

Overhead view Friday March 6th

This Winter has been very unique.  The first 2 weeks of November was amazing weather, followed by some record lows to finish out the month.  December was beautiful and there was golf played right through New Years Eve.  January was pretty normal, but did begin forming ice layers on playing surfaces.  The end of January also brought a very impressive storm that left 18" on Rockville Links. This snow helped to insulate the original ice layer that formed.  February was the coldest ever recorded in  NYC and Long Island. 

All this weather set up the crazy first week of March.  Two separate rain storms followed immediately by snow and freezing temps in the same week.    

Huge puddle formed on #10 Green on Wednesday March, 4 during the heavy rain storm.  This was followed by 8" snow and temps dropping to 12 degrees.

All this weather formed 3-5" of ice on playing surfaces.  Some greens have been under ice cover for 35-40 days.  So the decision was made Friday March 6 to clear snow off greens to expose the ice.  

Two potential issues led to this decision.  First, ice cover for an extended period of time traps bad gases in the soil that can led to turf loss.  Second, the long term forecast called for a freeze thaw pattern all week, and saturated turf the freezes quickly causes crown hydration.  

Luckily the weather turned out better than predicted this weekend, and now is not going to drop below freezing till late in the week.   The thick ice layers have begun to melt, and we are doing everything we can to help water move from the surface.  In the next few days some frost should lift from the the ground and the Internal Drainage installed in the greens the last few years will really help out!

Using a snow blower to expose thick ice layer on #7 Green

Most greens had 3" of ice with 14-18" of snow on top of the ice

Some greens had 4"+ of ice and close to 3' of snow in spots.  So we had to use larger equipment to clear these greens.

Applied pigments and dark colored amendments to help melt ice.