Preparation

While the weather turns to more snowfall, it is a great time to continue preventative maintenance on turf equipment. Here is one of our greensmowers a Toro 3250D. This triplex mower is 11 years old, but you wouldn't know it. Gutting the machine, replacing hydraulic lines, bearings and tires to increase the performance of the unit are important.
Kirk, our equipment manager does a fantastic job keeping this equipment prepared for the golf season. The cutting reels are sharp and set up at conservative height to begin the season.

As for course conditions, last night we had several inches fall, covering the cleared greens once again. At this point of the year, one full day of sunshine and any new snow will be gone by day's end. The greens that have been cleared are 2,3,4,15,16,17 & 18. Greens 5,6 & 14 are next, with the 1st green and the practice greens to follow. All of the greens along the frontage road, (aka "the sun belt") are melting away quicker and will be much easier to clear in the coming days. We can usually clear 3 or 4 of them a day by the end of the month.

Seeing More Of The Green

So far we have 7 of 20 greens cleared for the season. Things are looking great overall, some snowmold has developed with the early snowfall, but no ice damage. The weather has been warm lately and over the past week we have lost almost a foot of snow depth. More snow and cooler weather is in the forecast. Most likely we will continue clearing next week when the weather turns better.

Happy St. Patricks Day to you all.

Text Book

The past two days have certainly been favorable to clear greens. The 15th and 16th are now clear and they look really good. However, we have found a couple of text book examples of snow mold. Looking at the mycelium in this picture is one for all turf geeks. There were a handful of them on the 16th green.

The forms of snowmold we are finding are not lethal to the plant. They may slow the development of the plant in spring, but with the snow removed, the healing process will begin. A light fungicide application is made to the greens to prevent the spread of the disease from future snow falls.

4 Green

We were a bit skeptical about the weather this morning but it remained clear and sunny enough to clear another green. Today we attacked the 4th green. Again, lots of snow, no disease activity and no ice damage. Here is a short video on the process of clearing a green.

3 Green

Today we continued with clearing the 3rd green. Another beautiful day in Vail with no clouds and lots of sun.
This green had slightly more snow and of course is larger than the 2nd green. Pictured here is Stephanie Bibbens, our new second assistant. Her first day on the new job, welcome aboard.

Kirk, our equipment manager helped out especially when the blower went down just before lunch. After some minor repairs the blower was back in order and we had the green completely clear by 1.30pm.

The green looks great, pretty clean and little to no disease activity and no ice damage.



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. 

6 Green

Today we cleared the 6th green. It looked much like the 3rd green with a lot of ice. Which I found strange because we did not notice any winter traffic around the green.

Now that temperatures have increased, we are beginning to see more ice form at the surface of the green with all of the melting. Which means that we will continue to clear the greens until all 20 are snow-free.

Lots of ice on 3

This green is quite different than 4 was yesterday. Looks like we had more winter traffic than we thought. Fortunately we have great temperatures on the way today. I'll keep this updated later this afternoon on the progress of 3 green.

The Fourth

Today we tackled the fourth green instead of the third, because it was easier to access. The process went smoothly. The snow depth was a little more than two feet and we had the green completely cleared in about 3.5 hours. The green looks great, plenty of sand left over from last fall.

If you have noticed the greens that already have been cleared are starting to lose their color, your mind is not playing tricks on you. After prolonged snow coverage, the turf does not experience the change in temperature and sunlight. The loss of color is the plants way of responding to all of the changes they are beginning to endure. The turf has not seen the light of day in 3 months which causes the greens to transition slowly through dormancy. At this point, the putting surfaces are still susceptible to any kind of traffic and frost stress during this transition period. They can be fragile until growth begins which is late April or early May depending on the weather.

Afternoon Putting

Not yet, but we can make afternoon putting available when the practice greens are clear. Frost and saturated conditions would have to subside before allowing anyone to putt. These factors can leave a negative impact on health and ball roll going into the spring. When I feel comfortable letting the public out there to putt I will cut a few cups and put flags in.
This may sound ridiculous, but my biggest fear is the bad apple in the group. Similar to what happened last fall with 14 green. I can not afford to sacrifice any part of the golf season. Check back in 2-3 weeks, I will keep you all posted.

The Process

I recently had a few questions on how we determine which greens are cleared. Under normal conditions I would begin clearing the greens that see the most sun. These greens have the least amount of snow and are easier to clear. Since their melting rate is higher there is a greater chance for ice to form at the surface.

However the last two winters were not very normal for us. The elk traffic have changed our process a bit. So our goal this spring is to target the greens that had a lot of elk traffic which may have created ice forming at the surfaces. So far greens 14 & 15 have come out looking healthy.

As for the practice greens, for a little afternoon recreation on a warm sunny day? I am hoping to have all of the greens cleared by the end of March. Usually the practice greens are last to be cleared. This year they will be last because the practice area is the only area on the course that we noticed zero elk traffic. However, with our recent weather, we may get to the practice greens much earlier.

Today we target 11 green. Then we will move to greens 16, 17, 7 and 3, then we will re-evaluate with the weather and any other elk traffic that may occur over the next couple of weeks. So far we see no signs of the elk leaving Vail. Makes me wonder if they will become year round residents?

Getting it done

18 green is cleared off now and looks fabulous. Very green and in time for Masters Week! As you see here after blowing off the snow with a tractor, we use large scoop shovels to clear excess snow. In this case with 18 green, there was a light layer of ice. Fortunately Mother Nature was able to help loosen that ice layer. We took a lunch break and came back to remove the soften or mostly melted ice.

Another system seems to be moving in to the valley tonight. Not sure if there will be much precipitation or accumulation of anything. But after clearing three greens this week, we are certainly ready for a break. The greens cleared this week were 18, 2 and 7 and they all look great.

Back to Clearing Greens Again

Monday came with clear skies, bright and sunny all day long. We had some good melting out there. The Nordic season is officially over for the season, another good year. The 2nd green was cleared Monday with great results, at least two feet of snow was present on that green.

We continue to clear cart paths for access around the course. Tuesday we will plan to attack the 7th green which has just more than a foot of snow.

winter reading

Clink on the title "winter reading" for a link to a USGA article that discusses snow removal from putting greens after prolonged cover.

Clearing Greens

Friday, we began clearing greens to prepare for the upcoming golf season. With the amount of snowfall and elk traffic through the winter, we need to clear the greens of snow and ice. After almost 3 months of cover, the turfgrass plants need to be free of ice to prevent any damage. The staff will continue to clear the greens through the month of March, particularly on warm and sunny days to promote melting .