Project One and Nine Stage One Continued

February is coming to a close and with it hopefully one of the worst winters in recent years.   In what seems to be this never ending winter, every Wednesday for the last two months has produced a some sort of winter storm to darken our spirits. I haven't looked at the weather office to see what the actually accumulations are for this winter but I am certain that has to be close to record setting season.  Last weekend the region experienced a unusually warm weekend that helped reduce the amount of snow on the course. Yesterday Hugh and I took advantage of the situation to have a look at the course.
Below is a photo of Number two green.

 As you can see most of the green is still covered in ice and snow. This is typical for most of the golf course.  The warmer weather on the weekend caused the snow to melt and as expected the temperature drops at night and ice forms. This has pretty much been that pattern for most of the winter. These conditions are not ideal for maintaining plant health throughout the winter season.  In an ideal world the temperature would stay below freezing and a nice layer of insulating snow would cover the turf for the entire winter; shielding it from harsh winter winds and the constant freeze/thaw cycle so typical in the Halifax region.  But the out look is not all bleak.  Oakfield's reconstruction using sand based greens improved the surface drainage to allow melting water to drain away quickly, reducing the likely hood of ice damage on the greens.  As part of our winterization process we aerate the greens with 1/4 diameter pencil tines, to a depth of 4 inches for increased surface drainage.  The increased use of the tarps also helps with the abatement of ice development as the tarps are woven with a green fleck that draws heat from the sun and increases surface temperatures. Some of the greens are not tarped because of the "micro climates" in which they are located. During the winter these areas receive less light and have more snow coverage, but because of the surrounding land features. warm up faster in the spring than an exposed location.   Below is a close up photo of the ice build up on number two green.

The good news is that the ice is quite porous.  This, in essence, means that the ice contains pockets of air, which when exposed to sunlight, heat up faster then the surrounding frozen water.  This also mean that the the plants are not entirely encased in ice and can still respire.  A much greater concern is when ice has formed and it is clear and dark, preventing any respiration and eventually causing ice injury.

Below is a picture of the white deck on six tee.  The tee and fairways on the golf course do not have the same level of drainage as the greens would and because of this there will be places where the ice forms and remain for the duration of the winter.  Below is and example of one of the places.

 If you look closely you can see that there are black areas beneath the ice when the turf has been suffocated from being encased in ice throughout the winter.

As of today the ice coverage is very extensive on the course, and while ice is detrimental to plant health, this dreadful winter is almost over. We are close enough the spring thaws that any newly formed ice should not have any damaging effect.  The areas where the damage is significant won't be evident until the snow is full melted and the turf exposed for inspection.  The expectation is that due the type of winter we have had there could be some ice damage in the low laying areas, but time will tell.

On a more positive note when spring does finally appear and folks begin arriving at the golf course, they will be greeted with the new face of number one.  Over the last weeks, between bouts of  blizzards, we have been working to clear the left side of number one cart path as recommended by Graham Cooke.  As of last week the excavator work is completed (and we thank J R Eisener Contracting for their help and support) and the equipment has been removed from the course.  Below are some before and after pictures of the hole.

The above photo was taken as we began the process of marking the area to be cleared from the drawing that Graham Cooke had provided.  As mentioned in earlier posts we were unable to save any of the larger trees due to the poor health and possible root injury during the leveling process. 

The same area just yesterday.  

In the above photo you can see that a drainage ditch has been dug on the left side of the work area to provide the ground water a point of egress.

This shot is from the left side of the rough just past the 200 marker.

The same view but after the changes.

If you are following the progress of the project and are comparing it to the action plan we had created in the late fall (posted here), you will note that we are on schedule despite the poor weather.

Last week Bill and I jumped ahead and cleared some trees on the left side of nine, between the fairway and the cart path.  The picture below is the current view to the green from 150 yards out on the left side.  The two remaining trees (the staked Red Maple center screen and the Linden in the foreground and to the left) were originally slated to cut down with the others.  At some point in the early spring, we will be renting an excavator to remove the stumps on one and nine. During that time we will attempt to move these trees.  For the most part the tree are large enough to make them difficult to move in this manner but while we the machine there, we might as well try.  Unfortunately the others trees were either too rotten or too big to move and were cut down as per the recommendations.



We have also been pulling together some wood working projects this winter as well.  Below are the new Divot bottle racks for the Driving Range.  We are hoping that the membership will continue to aid us by repairing some of their divots and that these convenient bottles will make that job easier.

The plan is that the containers (there are three racks holding 36 bottles combined) will be in a central location near the driving range tee.  When headed to the range to practice please take bottle and fill any divots created during a practice round. When finished at the we ask that the members return the bottles to the rack to be used buy the next patron.  By following this system the range should be much improved throughout the summer.
Stay tuned for more videos and picture as we continue to work on number one and get geared up for the summer!