Winter Greens Thaw/Course Opening

Well, we've made it on the other side of the worst weather of the season. Hopefully, our turf has survived any issues. The snow cover should have given the surfaces some insulation. I would not mind some bermuda grass damage but we will see. Bermuda rarely dies, it just gets pushed into the ground where it starts its growth instead of from runners attached to the surface of the ground. 

The course should have thawed and drained enough to open this Thursday, February 25th for play. We would anticipate the range to remain closed at least through the weekend due to very soft conditions from the thaw and balls plugging. Rainfall over the weekend should help reduce some of the soft conditions but the golf professional staff will have to determine when it can be opened.

I've posted a couple videos on social media since Saturday regarding the thawing of the greens at Glen Echo and how we determine when the course will be opened. I made a post in a previous blog regarding the freezing and thawing of greens on February 9th. Below is the link.

Thawing of Frozen Greens and When They Are Safe to Play

The first video shows the spot I cleared away from the practice green on Saturday to show the difference in time it takes from a cleared green to a insulated/snow covered green.

The second video is from  this morning showing the depth the greens have thawed since Saturday and an explanation of our decision making whether to open the course or keep it closed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT_2DL1KsnM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQG3frUc2Ac

The pictures below are depth measurements of the freeze in our greens. Our greens have about 6" of sand on them and then soil. I would think the freeze moved down into the soil layer. The sand layer freezes quicker than soil but the soil layer underneather thaws slower than the sand. It is important that our greens thaw enough to allow water to evacuate through the profile of the sand allowing the green surface to become less saturated. The surface area of the green acts like a soaked sponge but in a greens case, the inprint in the surface can days for days and create a very disrupted surface. We will also want to mow our greens soon to remove its winter growth and the disruption in the surface from foot printing could cause scalping which would delay spring growth.

PG depth of freeze where snow was removed on Saturday

Practice green near the above picture but snow was allowed to melt naturally

15 green middle right

15 green back right

11 green still a little covered in snow

11 green off the left side middle. Still pretty frozen

Plans for the Fall, The Invitational 2020

 

Hundreds of courses in our business host a tour or major event each year but for thousands of others, there is a local event that is the major focus for its staff.

This past week, our club and staff were given the opportunity to host our major event at the club, The Invitational 2020. The work that was completed over the many months prior to the tournament plus the weather we were given over the last couple of weeks provided for great surfaces for our members and guests to play. Congratulation to Mr. Len Toenjes and his guest Mr. Russ Hanson who won the shootout and the overall title for the event. 

We still have some great golf weather ahead over the next month or more. Most of our efforts emphasize putting our turf to rest for winter in the best condition possible so it awakens ready to grow next spring. Below are some the areas of focus we will have over the next month or two. 

Raising Height of Cut 

As our zoysia begins to go dormant, we raise our height of cut slightly to assist with wear and tear and energy storage. We have reset our fairway unit and tee mower to 3/4" which is just .150" taller than their normal height. Once the growth slows over the next couple of weeks, we will stop mowing completely for the season to allow them to get a little fuzzy for winter. I anticipate our amount of play and cart traffic will be up so the turf will get beat down a little. Drier conditions, cooler and temperatures and less sunlight help in reducing overall growth so we should still have excellent playing conditions.

We have also applied Potassium to our zoysia surfaces over the last couple of weeks to improve its ability to survive the winter onslaught of cold and frozen precipitation.

Our green turf height usually gets raised slightly during the month of November and we usually quit mowing greens after Thanksgiving depending upon the temperatures and if there is a need to continue mowing.

Aeration, When Are You Going to Aerate Greens

We will be performing the same process we did in the spring with our greens, Verti-drain deep tine aeration. Since all of our Mondays are full through the month of October, we will begin our aeration after the tournament being held on October 26th. We will do some greens each day to get the process completed. I've always been of the opinion, to do our greens past closing day to give our membership and guests the best possible putting surfaces during the best time of the year to play in regards to ball roll out and turf health.

We also will be pulling cores on our rough the next couple of weeks and will also be involved in some seeding in weaker areas of the rough. We did some initial seeding and aerating in our green surround areas a couple of weeks before the Invitational.

We will also be fertilizing our cool season rough over the next couple  of weeks. We begin last week but had an equipment malfunction and are waiting on parts so if the rough smells a bit earthy, you will understand the reason. A part of our fertilizer in organic in its origin.

Drainage Project from # 6 through #8

We anticipate to begin the storm water drain project after the first week of November. The project will begin on hole 6 from the beginning of the drain along 6 property line to the first large surface drain in the left forward area of 6 approach. We expect the first section will take us about 7 working days or so. During the work on this section, the 6th hole will be closed to all play. 

We would like to get the section that crosses 8 fairway completed next depending upon weather. This is the longest section of the project. We have some soil/dirt work to that fairway to help move water to the surface drain we exposed in the left side of the fairway. Our hope is to have some dry weather so we can move soil and get the section compacted properly and sodded. 

Below are pictures of 2 trees that will be removed during October as we prepare the area for construction of the storm water drain replacement. The ash on the left is directly over the drain pipe and the Willow oak on the right is 2' off the center of the pipe. The trench at the top will be 12' or so wide. There is a 3rd tree that is the Ash to the left front of 6 green that will not be removed but it will be severely compromised by our trench. I expect this tree to not survive the construction due to the severe damage to its root system and surface construction traffic.

                                           

Leaves, Many Leaves

It's that time of year where first leaf drop is beginning with Cottonwoods, Ash, Walnuts and other trees which are under stress and or weakened. Our main leaf drop will occur sometime in November depending upon freezing temperatures. A great deal of backpacking, vacuuming, and large blowers plus grinding up leaves back into the soil with our mowers are all a part of the process.

Enjoy your fall on the course! 

Winter Play, Trees. and Sap, lots of Sap

We have not had many desirable golf days over the last few weeks. Warmer weather is predicted this weekend but we will remain closed through Saturday due to our greens being in various stages of thawing. Our greens should be thawed at least 3-4" before we allow play.

A couple things can happen with partially frozen greens. As you step on the surface of the green where the freeze/thaw line is very shallow, the green surface can shift or move as you take steps and the roots can tear at the demarcation line between thawed and frozen. This then forces the plants to use significant energy to grow back their to their full length into the late spring and early summer not allowing it to store energy reserves for the dreaded heat of summer. Also, the freeze line being too high will not allow moisture to drain deeper into the sand profile. The water trapped near the surface will make the surface act like a wet sponge. Foot imprinting will increase and plant tissue can be damaged from the extra soft conditions.

We understand the desire of members wanting to play but allowing a few golfers out when they should not be out could contribute to the loss of turf during the main golf season. I made a video below explaining our current situation. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ63T6vpHDg

Also in the video, I discussed our tree management plan that is taking place this winter. In the fall of 2018, I made a power point for the green committee regarding our plan for the next year or two. I put together a 3-4 minute power point showing the trees I was recommending for removal. We removed a number of the trees on approval from the committee but were not able to complete all of the removals due to time. I also felt like a few of the trees could go another year before removal so we delayed their removal to this winter. Through an arrangement that has worked well for us, we were able to get 2 more days of tree removal this winter than planned. The trees that were left from the year before declined significantly over the past year and needed to be removed. Many of our trees were planted in the 50's and 60's and are beginning to show some serious decline. Changes in climate over the last 10-15 years have not helped and has led to decline as they have aged. Record temperatures and high rainfall record years are the types of swings that don't help an aged tree population Pest issues including insects and disease along with lightning strikes and wind damage have been contributing factors as well.

I have also requested a number of tree removals over the last 11 years to improve tee and green turf. Our greens and tees have no infrastructure to assist in combating serious environmental issues. We have 1 green with modern drainage, the others only have a layer of topdressing sand that has helped us but is not adequate during severe wet conditions and heat.

Also, during the next couple of weeks you will see a few orange buckets hanging from our maple trees. Yes, yes, its time to start collecting maple sap to make some homemade Glen Echo Maple Syrup. Not sure what type of year we will have but if today's run is any indication, it might be pretty good. This next couple of warm days might slow down the production but next week with 30's and 20's should help us with our run. We need overnight temperatures below freezing and daytime temperatures to be above freezing to help the tree flow its sap properly for our collection. 43 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL8jQBIKqrI

As your fairways, tees and zoysia green surround areas dry over the next week our two, we will begin spraying non-selective weed control and pre-emergent to our fairways. You will notice a little blue tint to the fairways which assists us in seeing the area we have sprayed to reduce over spray.  It will take the poa 2-4 weeks to begin to turn yellow, orange and then die. The pre-emergent will reduce the germination of crabgrass and goose grass in our zoysia surfaces.

Between Now and April 1st We Must All Do Our Part

This has been one winter that has forced many of us to leave for warmer climates or dream of warmer climate if you haven't been able to leave the city. We've not been able to open the course on warmer days because of frozen conditions within our greens. We finally opened today for the first time in many weeks. We could have some additional course closed weather days before we begin to mow a great deal but they should be for much shorter intervals than what was experienced over the last month or so.There are a few things that our golfing members could assist us during the next few weeks until the turf begins to firm up and grow and we are fully staffed in April

Middle of 6 White tee concentrated divot wear. Please use the edges when possible.

• Greens will be very soft and repairing ball marks would be helpful.
• Divots on tees and fairways could be large due to the soft, wet conditions. Place your divots back in place, even if it breaks apart. Also, step down your depression which will reduce the exposure of roots to cold and or windy conditions. Your competitors would appreciate it as well in case a ball would roll into your smaller stepped down divot. Of course this is helpful during the growing season as well.
• Tee markers will be placed back on the tees in a few weeks but in the mean time use areas of the tee that appear more full of grass, especially the sides. Please don't place your ball in the middle of a heavily divot spot to make one more divot. Place your tee in an area of less damage.
• Carts will probably remain on the paths for the near future and I would encourage that you leave all wheels on the path instead of pulling partially off the path. I know if you are in a group with 2 carts, you have to go around a parked cart. If you do pass, it is always best to go on the side of the path away from the fairway so you do not potentially damage rough in the close rough/fairway area. Certain areas of the course are wetter than other areas, especially bottoms of fairways. It might be wise to wait for the group to move instead of burying your cart in a wet spot at the bottom of #12 cart path.
• Driving ranges are on mats through at least mid-April or later. Please refrain from hitting off the grass tee. If you must hit off grass, please go to another range until we can get our grass growing and open. I don't like to hit off mats as well but its what we have to do since our grass is not actively growing until late April. The less damage we do to our grass now, the quicker we can open in the spring.

Olympic Flame troubleshooting

There is a great deal of work for our staff to complete before we reach the month of April as well. Not a complete listing but some of the main work.

• Finish all the equipment repairs for tees, driving ranges etc.
• Clean up of all equipment and checking carts for the season
• Continued tree removal and tree trimming.
• Rake and clean up gum balls and other debris
• Blowing remaining leaves that have dropped and finishing fence leaf removal.
• Monitoring seed head production on greens and spraying.
• Dry-ject(aerate) greens March 18-19 45 tons of sand.
• Aerate rough and root prune trees
• Finish applying weed grass post and pre-emergent to fairways. tees. Walk spread pre-emergent around greens and apply by fertilizer hauler pre-emergent into rough areas.
• Repair greens surrounds with sod and other areas of course with sod and seed.
• Clean up tree stump grindings/sod
• Repair driving range netting by installing new telephone pole.
• Changing holes, moving tees a couple times a week as needed.
• Repairs to outside areas around the clubhouse including walkway lights, patio lighting, pool clean up and lawn areas.
• Asphalt repairs as needed.
• Growing all of the plants for this season and Becky will be busy cleaning up beds and planting spring pots around the clubhouse.
• Clean up in and around field bar]
• Rebuilding 2 tee
• Rebuilding the greens nursery
• Grass part of dam on #9.
• Divot filling

Repairing and painting driving range bag stands. These were all home made by the staff a couple of years ago.

As you can see, we all have responsibilities that are important for the overall well being of our grand old golf course. We of course first rely upon you to come out and visit us, first and foremost but while you are here, some player etiquette in regards to the course is always appreciated.

Course Conditions

Can't really tell where we will be past Friday right now. Think it will probably be too wet but we still have a couple of days of draining to go. We have some greens completely thawed and others we can't get a probe past the surface. Today's temperatures will help with getting rid of last night's snow/ice pellet cover. Areas east to north facing will probably still have some cover on until Thursday. Greens are full of moisture and will not be able to take much as you can see from the pictures during some of the melt. Water is going off the slopped greens over the surface.

Sloppy wet in almost all other areas on the course, tees, fairways and rough. Generally a sloppy mess everywhere. Of course these are just snap shots in time. Things will get worse as they completely melt away and the water attempts to move off the greens but they will also continue to drain down.

We will evaluate things on Friday for the weekend and will let you know how its going.

7 green

10 green

11 green

12 green

18 green

Same Story Different Week With Course Being Closed and Winter Dormant Zoysia Spray

Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but conditions remain  frozen and or thawing here at Glen Echo. Just beginning to thaw today and I only give it a 1/10 of 1% chance of playing on Valentine's Day so I guess some would say there's a chance. Looks like snow and some colder temperatures over the next few days so golf looks like a no go for a bit longer.

We were out spraying some fairways, tees and approaches with our dormant herbicide spray. The turf must be dormant because we are spraying a non-selective product that injures and or kills green weeds and or grass. We are trying to kill any poa annua that has germinated on these surfaces and it also will kill any knot weed that has germinated. It appears the knot weed is still sleeping from the cold weather. If allowed to grow in the fairways during the spring, poa annua seeds profusely adding the more plants and can get rather clumpy before the fairway units beginning mowing. It also can invade more shaded areas and slow the health and progress of the zoysia Poa becomes active pretty quickly during warmer, sunny weather in the winter to early spring. A few days in a row over 45-50 and it becomes active. The plants will absorb the spray from the warmer weather as it becomes more active. Even if the temperatures turn cold, the chemistry is designed to stick on the leave of the plant and when it becomes active a few days later it will begin to kill the plant. The spray will show up over the next 2-3 weeks by yellowing the plants and will turn orange, brown and then die. Poa annua has a long growing period and reproduces millions of seeds. It loves moisture and shaded areas for the most part but will live in full sun is well so it is very adaptive.

We put a second product in the tank that helps to prevent crab grass and goose grass which germinate into the spring and summer. The product we utilize binds itself to the soil which allows it to be sprayed now and is on the soil surface when needed during April,  throughout the summer. Microbial activity begins to break down the product by the end of the summer but the zoysia is rather tight and keeps the soil surface shaded. Thinner areas of zoysia can develop some weed infestations because the soil is exposed to light and more moisture which can germinate weeds. We try to place enough product on the surfaces that will prevent weeds from germinating through August into September.

We were able to spray holes 1-7 today and the tees associated with those holes.

Below is a video with discussion regarding this spray application.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyMgXCVZPKo

Course Closed Through Saturday, February 2nd

The golf course will remain closed through Saturday, February 2nd. We will evaluate Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning to see if conditions allow for opening on Sunday. The Driving Range will be open to come out and hit some balls during the weekend. I've been in contact with others clubs in town and some are closed and a few others are open but are on temporary greens.

 I've posted 3 videos below which show our situation on various greens throughout the grounds as of 1 PM Friday.

Practice Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wALqJIslxQ&t=9s

7 Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WxC5nX7tUc

11 Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKX3abCg2B0

A Big Blast From the North and the Impending Thaw, How That Effects Golf Green Health

We've had above normal temperatures for the most part during the first 28 days of January with nights being well above normal and day temperatures a couple degrees above. This next blast of cold air the last four days of this month will bring our temperatures closer to average.

I'm sure everyone is anticipating the impending cold that will be followed by a warm up in the forecast below. I believe we have a 1 in 4 chance getting the course open this weekend.

Before we get too excited for a potential course opening this weekend, allow me a moment to discuss the yearly freeze/thaw issue that takes place with our greens.

We are getting to the time of year, probably a month or less before our first mowing of the winter/spring season. With cold temperatures like we will be experiencing over the next few days and no snow cover, the freeze is going to move pretty deep into our sand layer of our greens. The greens need to thaw at least 2-3" and the top of the green surface must be free of significant moisture.

Consequences of Greens Not Being Thawed Deep Enough

As the greens begin to thaw just an inch or two, the thawed part of the green can shift from golfers walking causing the area where the thaw and freeze meet to break or shear the roots off. Our roots this time of year are about 4" deep on average.  

Reducing the length of the roots forces the plant to regenerate new roots in the spring forcing it to catch up with non-damaged plants. Roots not damaged are growing deeper and branching more which  contributes to a healthier plant throughout the spring  and into the summer. The damaged plants see a total surface area of the roots reduced from this damage. The damaged plants must play catch up the rest of the spring and into the summer. If summer conditions arrive early like they did last year, there is less growth potential available for recovering plants and no storage of excess energy. 

The more total area of rooting the plant has, the more energy and moisture they can absorb throughout the spring and into the summer. Usually excess energy is produced and the plants can store some of this excess energy within the plant. The plants store this energy for use during the summer when growth slows and photosynthesis does not produce enough energy to maintain a healthy plant. The longer the plant has energy, the better it can ward off the severe stresses of our 

St. Louis summers. 

Consequences of Water Near the Surface

If the greens have not thawed deep enough to allow the moisture to move through the profile, the greens become spongy and very soft. During late winter play, if we allow play on greens that are very soft and spongy, foot traffic imprints into the surface of the green and may take a couple of weeks for it to come out. This condition can also contribute to large ball marks and damage from just walking on the green. There is also some potential for equipment potentially scalping the surface if this thaw occurs closer to the end of February. We always try to roll our greens in early spring in an effort to reduce the potential for scalping from puffiness and or foot imprinting.

The staff will be monitoring our surfaces and will alert the pro shop when play will be allowed on the golf course including the practice green. For those of you who like odds, I would place our chances of opening at 25%.

The staff has spent the last few days splitting wood, cleaning up tee markers, refurbishing some tables for Golf Pro Mike, cart maintenance, and checking out the internal workings of the ball washers. I've attached a few pictures of their work below.

Sanded and stained but not quite finished.

Shiny and new!

3 Tables in all were refurbished.

Sanding of old material from tee markers

Beginning the coating process.

The walk on area from the pro shop to the practice green was renovated
this past fall. We prepared a little taller stake to attach our nylon rope which will
 allow us to rotate the entrance and exit area from the practice green. Proper
 water, soil structure, aeration, rotating the wear pattern and removing the large sweet
gum should  help improve this area tremendously.

Guts pulled out of the ball washers and being cleaned. Washers were professionally
repainted 4 years ago and look like new  to this day.

Cleaning up the chairs next to the practice green.

Winter Play

Made a quick video on the course regarding winter play and our teeing grounds and 2 hole locations. We remove the tee markers for winter play to refurbish the markers and help spread the wear and tear to our tees. We ask that you tee it up on the edges, front or back of the tee and limit use of the middle. The tuf is not growing and middle of the tees has heavy usage during the season. This will insure that our tees have equal wear and will come out ofwibter ingoid condition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ2AprB24hE

We also will place 2 holes in every green to help spread out wear in case the greens freeze and we cannot change the holes. I would expect that we will change to 2 holes later this week since staff will be taking time off during the holiday season. We will place a sign at the first tee notifying you when 2 holes are being used. We ask groups to rotate the flag to the 2nd hole once your group has completed the hole. The holes are usually placed on the left and right side or front and back depending upon the green.

Warmer Weather, The Dilemma, To Allow Play on Frozen and or Thawing Greens

Well, it won't be a stampede but I'm sure there are a number of minds out there thinking 50's in the middle of next week, lets play some golf!! Not so fast my frozen St. Louisans.

Throughout my time at Glen Echo, I've been pretty tolerant with winter play, especially on frozen greens. It's when our greens begin to thaw that the stop sign will usually come out of my pocket. We place two holes in every green in winter to help with spreading wear out if greens remain frozen. There are occasions where play is allowed out on frozen greens.There are also times when the greens for the most part remain unfrozen and we don't have to worry much about freezing/thawing cycles.
The winter of 2018 is definitely a frozen year!

This past fall and early winter we've had significant drought conditions which have not allowed the roots to grow properly. The fall and early winter are the 2nd best time of year for shoot (top growth) and root growth of cool season grass(Bentgrass) on our greens. This season, some of the root mass has been reduced because of drier than normal conditions. As you can see illustrated in the picture below, the late winter and spring are the prime time for root and shoot (top growth) so there is plenty of time for recovery as long as we don't create additional injury in winter.

Cycle of growth in cool season turf.(shoot) top growth and root growth balance for the time of year

. Pic credit Milorganite.

As greens begin to thaw in the profile, there is a thawed layer and then frozen. As golfers walk on the green surface, the surface moves under their feet and roots are torn or sheared off at the interval of thawed and frozen turf. The deeper the thaw goes into the turf, the less susceptible the turf is to this issue.

Another thing that happens is that the moisture that has built up on or near the surface needs to drain through the canopy. Our sand layer is approximately 6" deep. If the deeper area 4-6" deep is still frozen, water cannot evacuate from the surface area creating a significant sponge effect on the surface of the greens. High moisture on or near the surface leads to foot imprinting which can be very disruptive and noticeable for weeks.

All of the above is dependent upon how slowly/quickly the freeze comes out of the greens. It varies during every freeze/thaw cycle. We will check the greens daily and notify the pro shop of availability of play or no play. One of the things you could do if the course is not open is to come out and hit a few range balls to get some swings in.

With the potential of freezing rain and an ice layer forming on the greens, we might not get an opportunity during this thawing cycle to open for play.

Winter Play/Winter Set up

Winter is coming pretty quickly, at least by the calendar on December 21st. With the arrival of winter comes some changes to the golf course.

Snow and Ice 




Course is closed when there is snow and ice on the course. Normally the greens are the last to clear because of the short height of the turf. No golf during these periods. Sometimes it clear enough for walking without clubs which we don't mind and if you want to bring your fury friend along, feel free to do so. You might just stop in Pro Shop if someone is around and let them know you are out there.

Tee Markers 

All tee markers are removed and brought in for the winter to repair and keep in good shape for the main season. Please play from where you like on the teeing ground you chose. If you are playing with more than 1 group and you have a game going on, use the 2 or 4 step rule forward or backward from a white marker or blue marker so everyone does not play from the marker. Playing from the same spot day in day out creates excessive wear to the teeing surface, especially the dormant zoysia. Same goes for single groups, go to an area of the tee that is showing less wear and tear over the winter, not completely matted down or multiple divots in the same area on par 3 holes.

2 Holes per Green

Also, we have 2 holes in each green at this time. If you have more than 1 group playing on a warmer day with a game going on, place the flag pole back in the same hole but if you are a single group, please move the flag pole to the second hole. This moves wear around on greens. If warm days occur during the winter and the greens are thawed, the staff will move the holes if we have a great deal of play, they will do so to reduce wear and tear on specific areas.

Freezing/Thawing Greens

I prefer greens to be either completely thawed or completely frozen to reduce damage during the winter season. It becomes problematic for us when greens go into a deep freeze cycle in late December/January and then begin to thaw. Once they begin to thaw and it moves into the top 1-2" of the green surface, we will usually close the course until the thaw comes completely out of the greens. This prevents root shearing and deep imprinting from foot prints.  I will discuss this issue in the next few weeks with pictures and more detailed information.

Appears we are in a cycle of cold days followed by some nice days. Wednesday, Saturday predicting 50's and Sunday pushing 50.

50 degrees, Sorry No Golf Today Wednesday December 21st

Sorry folks, warm up but too much frozen stuff on greens. Will be cleaned off by end of the day today and give you a chance over the next few days to come out.

2 green

6 green

7 green has snow, plus 8 tee and 10 green

9 green

11 green

What a Great Summer's Day We Face Today!

What a great summer's day we face today! Oh yes, its not summer but 62 with heavy dew and fog and a high of 70, it will feel like summer being its December 12. The staff have been busy this week aerating rough as you might see some plugs here and there and red flags marking heads. Continuing to change holes weekly and mowed greens on Wednesday. Rolled them on Friday and have been chasing leaves as needed. We are getting close to the end on those pesky critters.

No major construction projects planned this winter. Normal Tree Management Plan work including pruning and cleaning up trees all over property, inspecting others and a few removals that take place every season. We do have a couple of areas where planting will be taking place as well as the nursery. We also need to begin to tree health improvement work doing some deep drilling of compost around some of our Pin Oaks in strategic locations and applying some humic acid to improve their overall health.

The new irrigation system is reaching 9 years old this spring. With new heads comes the raising of the new heads. As you might notice when and if you are down the middle of the fairway, the heads are sunk down by an 1" or more. As the turf continues to grow, this gap will become even wider making it unsafe for golfers, difficult for equipment to go over and last but not least the sprinkler head throw pattern will be disrupted by the difference in elevation. What has to happen? Each head has to be raised to level grade. There are some mechanical ways of doing this our there but the one's I have researched appear to be very difficult to use with a very tight soil like we have here at Glen Echo.

That means every head must be dug up by shovel down to the swing arm approximately 15"-20" or so into the ground, head raised and repacked. Down the center row of fairways alone we have 150 heads. This will be a long process. Wish us luck.

Have a great day, might see you on the course for a few minutes this morning but I've got to get home and clean the leaves up in my yard. Hurt my back at home about 10 days ago and have not been able to do much of anything. Feeling a little better so I will see what I can do outside. Have a great day.

Late Fall, Winter Play

As the weather is changing, time for discussion regarding late fall and winter play rules.

This season we will allow carts off the paths as long as conditions are dry enough to do so. It does not take a lot of rain and or snow to place carts back on paths so when dry conditions and temperatures are comfortable, you should take advantage of this situation. A little golf, a couple cocktails and a lunch or dinner makes for a great day and helps the bottom line of the club. As freezing and freezing/thawing cycles begin to occur more frequently later in the season, cart path restrictions might become more frequent.

Also a part of our winter rules is for the practice ranges to be on mats only. I understand the desire to hit off of the ground but if we allowed play all winter on the zoysia, that area would be destroyed because of its inability to heal. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

I would expect frost to be on the increase as we move later into November. As a reminder, we will not allow play onto the course until the frost has lifted. One of the things we will face later into winter is frozen ground/frozen turf blade conditions from harder freezes. I don't worry as much about the ground being frozen as long as the grass blades are soft and pliable. One of the things I'm most concerned about later in the season is when the ground is frozen beneath but the surface begins to thaw. It might be a warm day above ground but this type of condition can create serious root shearing issues for us and damage our greens with every step. This type of condition will force us to remain closed until the freeze has lifted our of the green and allowed the surface moisture to drain away. I will discuss this problem in greater detail when our winter thaw occurs.

In the meantime, the staff has been busy blowing leaves everyday. From green's surfaces, tees, fairways, rough and bunkers. We also use our mowers to help grind them up once they are placed in winrows on the course. We will be breaking out our vacuum as well during the heaviest period over the next few weeks. We haul this material to the dump in the back of the driving range.

We are down to 5 hourly(Nick, Russ, Tom, Jason and Randy) Hort Becky, mechanic Dave and Skip/myself. We lose Randy after this week and Becky and Nick at the end of November. Still a lot of leaves to come off the trees. We appear to be 10-12 days behind in leaf drop so we will be deep into fall before most are down.

Come out and take advantage of this great weather over the next couple of days. It should be fun!!

Saturday's Course Check, Course Still Closed Sunday but Practice Green Open

Just came out at 4:00 p.m. Saturday and checked the course.  Practice green will be ok to putt on tomorrow and of course mats are open on the driving ranges.  The practice green will be very slow because it still has its winter shaggy thing going since we have been unable to mow. Below are some videos I shot as I spun around the course.  Saturated greens and freeze only an 1"-2" below the surface on a number of greens. Our intentions will be to get the course open Tuesday for play. As always, I appreciate your patience as we get the course opened properly for the season.

I apologize the videos are a little shaky and unsteady but they serve their purpose in keeping you completely informed with what is happening on your course.

http://youtu.be/pjSCgH-od14



http://youtu.be/pWgc6rLwyik



http://youtu.be/iAWUU0V94IE



http://youtu.be/IoqL9JhfPoI

15 holes of the course will open Saturday, March 8th

We will open 15 holes for play on Saturday, March 8th for those of you who want to come out and hit the ball around for a few hours.  Greens 7,10, and 11 are still to frozen and wet to allow play on them.  I hope they will continue to thaw and drain enough to allow for play on Sunday.  As always, I will keep you informed.  All tee markers, tee signs, trash cans have been moved back out on the course.  I have left the tee markers off of the closed holes and will have signs at both the tees and greens to remind you.  Thanks for your patience.

Course Update

The warm weather of the weekend has given us substantial snow melt but we still have a ways to go before we can open the golf course.

Some of my peers to the far north are involved in struggle with ice potentially building up from  freezing and thawing cycles. They attempt to clear greens with equipment to try to get their ice layer melted before the next round of weather could  come in and cover them up with snow again  for the rest of the winter. Snow cover is wanted to insulate the greens from severe cold but usually ice layers occur from melting snow during warm cycles, freezing rain covered by snow and or rain over already snow covered surfaces.  The ice layer traps carbon dioxide which kills the plants.

For additional information on this struggle with ice build up on greens, check out the link below.

http://buckeyeturf.osu.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=340:ice-cover-and-the-role-in-freezing-injury&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=170

Here at Glen Echo, we usually get a reasonably quick melting of snow and ice.  Over the years, the longest
period of ice/snow cover I can remember was 1991 when we had at least 6 weeks of snow and ice cover. Usually our periods involve no more than a week or two at the longest.  We like a  natural meltdown in an attempt to reduce traffic from our greens including staff until the moisture has gotten through the profile deep enough to prevent severe imprinting from shoes.

Many of the bunkers are full of snow and a number of tees are completely unplayable. 4, 8 and 12 are still covered in snow and 6, 7 and others are like swamps.  Fairways, roughs and green surrounds are saturated and sloppy in many areas.  Our old course drains well but will need some more time before it is dry enough for play.  Greens 2, 3 and I'm guessing 5 but did not  look at it, 10, 11, 12 still have snow and are very wet. I've not walked on the others because I am sure they are still fairly wet.

I know the weather is going to turn a little bit more seasonal over the next few days.  In the mean time, we will still remain closed.  We appreciate your patience while the course drains to a more firm and safe condition.

10 green on Sunday morning.

10 green at 12:30 today.

Hole #11 Sunday morning.

Hole 11 Sunday morning.  Notice the depth of the snow at least 6-8" on the left of the picture and just barely convering the right side.

11 green with a good amount of snow on it.  Notice the significant shade even in the winter from the oak tree behind the green.

#3 and 12 Sunday morning.

Did not see 3 green in the shot above but this is Monday afternoon.  

#12 green with snow on the back of it and the streams of water moving their way to the front.  The middle of the green is a swamp right now.

I'm a golf green, not a sponge! Course will remain closed.

The warm weather of the last two days has eliminated most of the snow cover on the golf course.  We still have a few  greens that are covered and the overall conditions are too wet for play. Below are a few pictures I took this afternoon that illustrates the problems  we are still facing on the course.  Greens 5 and also had minor accumulations of snow still on the greens. The rough and fairways areas are completely saturated from moisture and are dangerous for foot traffic as well.

Walking on cart paths without clubs will be the only activity that will be allowed on the course at this time. We are sorry for any inconvenience this creates for you.

I am a golf green but more like a sponge at this time.  Practice green and water coming up from my step.

3 green covered in snow and water.

4 tee sloppy from snow and water.

11 green snow covered.