The temperature dropped down to 13*F last night, which means the top layer of the ground refroze. This means we had to stop with the sod prep and switch to some other projects on our list. One thing that you're going to notice this coming season is substantially less pinestraw on the golf course. All key areas around the course will now be either grass or mulch, which is far more in keeping with a golf course in our climate. Mulch is more expensive but it is a native material, making the change worth while. It also requires us to remove the numerous non-decomposed layers of straw that remain in areas, like the bank above the first green. Today, our team starting working on these former pinestraw beds, getting them ready for mulch sometime in March.
Below, two tractor drivers and an excavator operator are working non-stop hauling stump grinding shavings and mulch piles left by the chipper this past winter. This is a task that consumes 3 out of our 10 team members this time of year, all day/every day. Every winter, I get numerous suggestions on what projects we should be working on. In addition to that, we have all the agronomic practices that MUST get done each winter, piled on top of those. With a crew of ten, minus the guys on the equipment below, we're left with 7 people to do the improvement work you see every spring. This is a very small team and the fact that we accomplish what we do accomplish is nothing short of impressive. This is also the reason we are outside working in temperatures less than 20*F. If we are going to take on the aggressive list of projects that we do, we need to be outside when conditions are far from ideal. I'm proud of this team for hanging in there every day!
This winter we are re-sodding the green surrounds on hole #16. This spring, the 16th hole will have a beautiful look and will play even better with new Kentucky Bluegrass surrounds. One very positive change you'll probably notice, is the modification we're making to the hinge point, where the bank on the left of the hole, meets the green elevation. When the green was constructed in 1998, an effort was made to catch water before it ran across the green surface. The effort to accomplish this was effective, but it led to a very awkward lie if your golf ball got in that angle. See my drawing at the end of this post to get a better idea of what I am talking about.
