It has been a long time coming, but the course is showing signs of waking from its winter slumber.  It has been a slow start and the forecast is not showing signs of breaking that pattern yet.  Temperatures in the 50s will be hard to come by over the next couple of weeks.  Conditions have only allowed for a short period of time on the golf course to begin cleanup of leaves and branches.  We have not set a date for opening the greens yet.  We will need a few days of good weather to get on the greens before we can open them.  Check back for updates.

Overall, the course has come through the winter well.  However, we have been left with evidence of the severity of the weather patterns of the past few months.  While the greens and tees are fine, there are some areas in the fairways that look very weathered.  These are areas in the shade where snow sat for extended periods, or drainage patterns where ice formed.  The recovery of these areas will depend on when warmer temperatures begin to stick around.  Here are some photos of the worst areas around the course.  Again, they look bad now, but will heal as weather permits.

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Slowly but surely we are gradually seeing more grass on the course.  A favorable forecast this week looks like that slow and steady melt will continue.  With so much snow left to melt, frozen soil and saturated conditions, we cannot speculate yet on a potential opening date for the course.  One thing we are expecting - once the course is open, it will be a slow spring.

This picture was taken this morning and show how much is left to melt yet.  This picture also shows what we are seeing in spots as the snow does recede.  The brownish area of fairway grass in the middle of the picture exhibits signs of grass that has succumbed to the winter weather.  We are seeing small areas like this in fairway drainage areas around the course.  I suspect more areas will exhibit similar signs as more can be seen.  Plugs have been take from these areas to see exactly how much damage has been done.

This is not the first time this type of damage has been observed on the course.  This picture was take during the spring of 2010 (blog post here).  The brown spots are patches of annual bluegrass, similar to the picture above.  Annual bluegrass is more susceptible to winter stresses than the bentgrass.  I anticipate seeing several spots around the fairways display this type of damage.  If we do find this type of damage once the snow melts, we will take the opportunity to sod and seed bentgrass into these areas.  The result however, will be a slow spring start to the season.

These are the only observations we have to this point.  We still have several areas covered in ice and snow.  None of the tees or greens show any observable damage from the winter.  However, 1 green, 5 green and 10 green are still covered in snow.  We will have more pictures up this week.  I am sure you are just as anxious to see some grass on the course as we are.

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The prolonged harsh winter weather has prompted the flow of information regarding implications to playing surfaces this coming spring.  Here is and update from the CDGA:

Winter Turfgrass Update

As we hopefully manage to drag our selves out of winter over the next month we will start to see an uncovering of what the snow and ice has left for many of us. Concern has been rising amongst many of you for many reasons as the thaw begins. The depth of snow has varied of course and this is mainly impacted by wind and surfaces in exposed locations such as hillsides, open sites and southern facing areas may be more prone to the thinner layer of snow. The depth of snow has not been of huge concern however - the length of time it has stuck around however is maybe more problematic. The predominant turfgrasses in the region have different tolerances to the time of cover as well as temperature. The other issues are freezing and ice which, have two different effects will become more apparent as we go through the early to mid spring.

Click here to view the Winter Turfgrass Update

As always if you have a question or query please do not hesitate to ask and you can call or email.

Ed Nangle PhD
Director of Turfgrass Programs
Chicago District Golf Association
www.cdgaturf.org
Follow us on Twitter @TurfResearch

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