November, Ugh! I lamented about this month last year and nothings changed. It's not like I can go away and come back and completely miss it either since I have to be here to "manage" any situation that may develop. But even in that regard I feel slightly neutered because I am really at the mercy of the weather.
All but two of the greens (#14 and #11) have lost their snow cover and the front nine fairways are basically without snow. I decided to spray the exposed greens one more time since they did see a fair amount of moisture (8mm rain, 12 cm snow that melted, 3 cm snow that melted, 11 mm rain) as well as being exposed to mild temperatures and sun light -- all factors which act to affect fungicide efficacy. As usual, I left areas untreated to see if the spray was warranted but I'll have to wait until spring to see.
The last couple days have seen lows of -18 Celsius and high of only -12. Obviously with those temperatures combined with moisture at the beginning of the week the ground is setting up like concrete. Not a bad thing disease wise but not a good thing if we get any rain since we would be guaranteed ice. I've talked about winter damage to turf before but if you are interested you could go HERE for a quick read / refresher.
Cold temperatures are keeping me inside compiling numbers, reviewing, and planning. The planning part is kind of a drag since next year will be status quo but the looking back at staff hours and fuel usage is interesting and lets me know if any of my goofy ideas worked out and where I can still make changes. I keep threatening to talk about KGC's "maintenance metrics" so maybe if things stay the same I'll do that next time out.
