I took a late morning walk on the golf course to take note of any storm damage we had last week. There were 2 days of heavy rain and strong winds. Everything looked good apart from a few limbs and the washout below. I did take this picture of the 17th collar. Notice the bright green Poa annua while the bentgrass is brown and relatively dormant. Even with the cold weather we have had, the Poa is still active! This is why it is so difficult to control in Highlands. Our mild winters give the Poa the competitive advantage over the bentgrass. Even in summer, it never gets hot enough to stress the Poa, shifting the competitive advantage to the bentgrass. By the time the weather warms enough to promote actively growing bentgrass, the Poa annua has already had several good weeks of good growing weather.
I noticed some of the first signs of snow mold in the rough. We spray preventatively on greens, tees and fairways and will occasionally hit some rough that tends to be troublesome. However, a wall to wall fungicide application is not very practical due to cost. Besides, any snow mold we do get in the rough will have "grown out" of it by the time a majority of the membership returns for the season.
Here is the worst of the storm damage. A l2" deep layer of silt and gravel washed down off of Moorewood Road. After we clean this off, we will need to address the drainage ditch coming off of the road so this doesn't occur again.