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| March 20 |
Another day and another 4 inches. The naivety of my earlier comments regarding exposed turf back at the beginning of March are glaring obvious now. I like snow so it really isn't too disappointing but my hamstrings are still aching from hitting the slopes and chewin' some pow last week so I was looking forward to the change of pace that work can bring. Snow pack is back up over 18" as of yesterday and after today (Tuesday, March 20th) I'll bet we will be close to 2 feet in the shady spots.
Last week we started clearing off number 7 green which is the only green with an impermeable cover ("ice shield") which is fairly typical for this time of year. I try to get the impermeable tarps off first since they can create problems if they are left on too long.
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| Pushing Ice off 7 Green |
We were a little over half done when it snowed overnight and that
made it awkward to use the Bobcat so we switched gears and went to 15
green thinking the snow on 7 would melt within a day or two. There is a lot of ice on 15 so I want to get it off. Ten days ago water was puddling on 15 so bad we had to cut a trench to direct the water off. Most of the free water that did not run off formed ice so we needed to use the old aerator and chip away at it. It was slow and by the end of day 2 we were just over half way and then it snowed, again.
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| Tools of the Ice Removal Trade |
Now what? More blowin' and chipin', I guess. Really, a normal year would just have us starting to remove snow from the tarped greens this week. We usually wait until mid-March mostly because March snow storms aren't exactly unheard of and, also, I am usually not as uptight as I am this year because of the ice on certain greens. I think I am cautiously optimistic but until all greens are clear and dry I will find it hard to comment on course conditions without a ton of disclaimers.
