2 Green

It's been a long winter, but as Tony mentioned this morning, "Today is the first day of summer". As the calendar begins to turn to March, it has been a ritual to begin clearing the greens at Vail Golf Club. People all over ask when we begin to see the poa putting surfaces.
Well today was the day. We were a little skeptical on what we would find, but to no real surprise, all is well.

To back up for a minute, about two weeks ago we began packing in trails to a few greens with our snow cat. This firms up the trail enough to drive the John Deere tractor to the green safely. The plow of the cat is used to push snow and get down to grass level. This way the snow blower can begin to blaze a trail through the green. After about four hours of chopping, blowing and shoveling we are left with this.

Pretty good for 160 total inches that have fallen on the golf course this winter. You are seeing some left over sand from fall topdressing and a few patches of some early stages of snow mold. The problem in turf with early snow falls, especially with poa annua greens, is that they don't have a chance to harden off for the winter.

When the plant does not have the opportunity to harden off and "prepare" for winter, the disease pressure is greater. This is just dealing with Mother Nature. However, we have 2 1/2 months before the golf season starts. A little sun and oxygen and these greens will be right back to their old self. 

February By The Numbers

February was a cold month where the average high was 26 degrees Fahrenheit and the average low was 7 degrees. We began the month with lows of -22 and -23 respectfully. I heard somewhere that temperatures that low for three consecutive days could wipe out pine beetles. I would think two days would be troublesome enough.

Today we began clearing greens and the picture above gives you a good idea of exactly how much snow has fallen in Vail for the season. For the month of February, we have received 52 inches which amounted to 1.95 inches of moisture.

Flogton

What? Ever hear of it? Flogton (Not Golf, spelled backwards). It's a new sort of "grass roots" way of making the game of golf more attractive to newbies. I applaud the fact that people are trying to keep the game of golf alive. Sure people will object to the idea of it, but if more people are having fun being on a golf course and tee sheets are filling up, does it make sense?

More and more golf courses are closing (even in Colorado) these days and it is more of a challenge than ever for golf managers to come up with ideas to bring in revenue just to stay in the game.

Like it or not, in reality, most of this has already been done, it just isn't accepted in most circles.

Click here to view the Wall St. Journal article about this slightly new way of playing golf.

5 Days

5 Days until we clear greens, we hope. We need a clear sunny day like the past few days. The sun and warmer temperature helps soften the snow and make it easier to clear. Any cloudy or cooler day increases the potential for us to create ice, which in our case would be a bad thing.

Yesterday we received a little help from the town. We started to get a little tight here at the shop. They were able to help us clear out some space for more snow storage.

Imagine using a machine like this to clear our greens?

In Good Company

According to Colorado Avid Golfer Magazine's recent readers poll, Vail Golf Club finished tied for third place as the best public course on the Western Slope. Vail Golf Club now sits as the top public spot in the Vail Valley. It is the highest ranking Vail Golf Club has ever received in this category from Colorado Avid Golfer.

Thanks to all of those who voted for us.

Each course deserves their ranking this year. Click here to check out where your other favorite courses ranked in 2010 in the Spring issue of Avid Golfer. The best private course rankings may surprise you this year, but not me!

The Burning Question...

... around here is when do we start clearing greens. Well let's just say we are not really excited to start clearing this year. But it's the drill, we like to think of it as our "groundhog day".

With almost three feet of snow blanketing the course, it is hard to imagine that we will be playing golf soon (as in a few months).

Clearing greens helps prevent ice damage on poa annua putting surfaces. It also helps with lessening snow mold pressure. We only clear on bright sunny days to help us remove an ice layer if one is found.

Maybe not so hard to believe, but those greens have been under cover for 90 days now and we are getting close to find out what is going on under there.

So we will begin clearing off snow beginning Monday, February 28th.

Trade Show

The Golf Industry Show (GIS) Trade Show has certainly gotten smaller over the years but there is still plenty out there to see. It is neat to see new products such as the Rainbird 751 rotor which can rotate part to full circle.
Present are the equipment manufacturers and distributors for both new and used. This large rough mower is a four year old unit and still costs more than most vehicles on the road.
The next picture is from a sprayer supply company that offers covered booms to prevent drift from winds while spraying.
These days they have iPhone applications for almost anything to help golfers through their rounds, from distance finders to order food at the turn. Vendors at the show have pink cups, skin cancer screenings, GPS units for golf carts, netting companies, erosion control suppliers, the latest technology in organic fertilizer and even fertilizer derived from seaweed.
Pictured last is a synthetic turf that I have been dreaming of for the back of the Vail Golf Course Driving range.

GIS: Orlando

The Golf Industry Show is in Orlando this year. Unlike the PGA show, this one travels each year. About every three years we are in Central Florida. The weather has been back and forth but no snow!

This GIS is comprised of golf superintendents, builders and architects.

I started the week visiting a couple of golf courses (with clubs) and checking out the local scenery. First was Falcon's Fire, a public facility which is managed by the Marriott. They took it over a couple of years ago and have made some nice changes to the course. The greens are fairly new Tiff-Eagle Bermuda and ryegrass covered the rest of the property. This course, like most in Florida, overseed during the fall to cool season grasses so the "snow-birds" have a lush playing surface. The winter months are usually where these courses do 90% of their business.

By the end of spring the dormant bermudagrass will begin to emerge and the ryegrass will die off since it just won't be able to prosper under the severe growing conditions by that time.
Playing golf with other superintendents and industry professionals can be just as educational as any class room setting. It is a great opportunity to share ideas and "bounce" things off one another and observe how other superintendents present the golf course.
Tuesday, we greeted the sunrise at Grande Lakes, Ritz Carlton. Beautiful property and managed meticulously. I found it funny that they did less rounds than Vail Golf Club did last year!
As you can see here, I had some troubles during the round, but I managed a bogey on the 18th here.

Some pretty neat touches around the course. As the sun broke I noticed this painted approach at the chipping green. The Ritz overseeds everything, even their greens. It is common for top courses to overseed greens with a variety of short-cut bluegrass, poa trivialis. They were very smooth and consistent. I was most glad to see this property place tee markers in the fairways for new or higher handicap golfers. It is nice to see more and more golf courses embrace the fact that they want happy customers at the end of the round.

Wednesday I spent all day walking the trade show. The show floor has gotten smaller over the years, but there were plenty of educational opportunities. I am just getting ready to head back to the floor right now and will post more information about the show.

The Nordic Series: The Staff

Here is your nordic maintenance staff. From left to right, Kirk, Tony, Justin and Steve. We are here every day grooming the track and snowshoe course each day for guests and locals in Vail to enjoy. Mark from VRD Sports and Scott, VRD Facilities Manager helps out in times of need through the season.

The Nordic facility has come a long way over the years, combined we have 30 years of grooming and maintenance experience with cross country tracks. We'll put our track up against any in the state. Oh yeah, we grow grass too!

January By The Numbers

January 2011 was a cold and wet month, with a few warm, spring-like days. The average high temperature was 24 degrees topping off at 36 degrees on the 18th and 30th of the month. The average low was 7 degrees, bottoming out at -15 on New Year's Day.
Plenty of snow with a total of 45inches equating to 2.22 inches of water, which isn't bad as long as Mother Nature takes her time melting this spring.
The other day the Vail Daily had a great article about what local water officials are saying about this year's snow fall. Click Here to read.