This is what we got now:
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| April 1st |
The past week has been nice and we are probably gaining ground every day. Right now it looks like we could have 9ish holes sometime during the 3rd week in April and the driving range on ?????. I've been on the course doing some early clean up and we'll keep at it for this week. As mentioned in the past, we don't just wait for snow to go when deciding when to open for play. The ground has to dry and, most importantly, the turf has to be growing. I've babbled on about the importance of soil temperatures before (go
HERE) when it comes to turf growth/recovery in the spring and this year soils temps seem warmer. This pict really shows the importance of soil temps.
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| 1 Green, April 1st |
On Thursday I pulled the tarp on #1 to uncover the sunny side (i.e. the left side) of the green but kept a portion of the shady side covered (look back to the previous post to see what the green looked like a week ago). The Easter weekend was great with highs in the mid-teens and lows around -6 ish. Just three days of being covered propelled the shady side of the green past the rest the green. I wasn't smart enough to have thermometer with me but I will definitely check tomorrow.
I've long given up on getting everything pretty for opening day. Even with volunteer clean ups I need experienced employees in well before opening to get everything ready. This years budget has staff starting later as well so we'll be doing more with players which, no offence, drags out any process. As usual, I ask and hope you'll be understanding and patient.
