First Snow Of The Season

We spent this morning removing the first snow from the sidewalks this season.  It was not a lot, and with the sun out today, will likely melt off quick.  This year doesn't deviate from our usual schedule of 1st-2nd week of Dec. for seeing snow.  In 2009 the first snow was Dec. 1st, and 2010 the first snow was Dec. 6th.

Our winter preparation checklist is complete for the year.  We are now in the process of beginning our seasonal maintenance on the equipment, starting with a thorough cleaning.

The drainage project on 11 fairway is now complete.  A heavy layer of topdressing was applied to the fairway when the project was completed.  One objective for the heavy topdressing is to protect the turf through the winter (like was done for the greens).  The sod that was laid will not have a chance to root this fall, so any extra protection will help.  This fairway was very heavily traffic with our equipment during this project as well.  This topdressing will aide the recovery of any weakened plants in the spring.  This picture shows a turf blanket down the middle which will remain through the winter.  The purpose of the blanket is the same as the heavy topdressing.  The blanket just add more protection.