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