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| First Snow of Season! |
While we are on the subject of the weather, this has been the coldest winter the U.S. has seen since the late 1970's. The chart below depicts the average temperature for meteorological winter (December 1st - February 28th) over the past 119 years.
A close look will reveal as recently as 2010 the country endured its coldest winter since the winters of 1984 and 1985, and this winter has already surpassed all three of those just mentioned. This current blast of arctic air will most likely send this winter past that of 1978, and depending on how February plays out, quite possibly the winters of 1905 and 1929 too. All that means this could potentially become at least the 5th coldest winter the U.S. has endured in the last 119 years. Thank goodness for global warming or who knows how cold it would have been this year!
Now, let me clarify this data reflects the entire U.S., not just the southeast or North Carolina, so please keep that in perspective. Also, I do not bring this information to your attention simply to satisfy my inner weather geek, nor do I have stock in heating oil, natural gas, or propane. I bring this to your attention because we have over 90 acres of bermudagrass growing on the golf course, and bermudagrass is a WARM-SEASON grass. In other words, it doesn't like cold. The terms winter injury and winter kill get mentioned quite often in turfgrass circles during cold winters, and above I referenced 2010 was the last cold winter seen in these parts. In the spring of that year we experienced some winter related injury and death to parts of the golf course. Most notably to portions of the collars where the topography tilted North, North-facing bunker slopes, shade affected tees on the 6th and 9th holes, and a shady area on the right side of the 1st fairway.
I am not saying we are going to experience widespread death of bermudagrass, but I do want everyone to realize and understand the extremes Mother Nature has brought upon us this year certainly point to the potential for some winter injury and possible winter kill of turf located in the more extreme micro-climates on the golf course. On the bright side, I was expecting a colder than normal winter this year thanks to a new weather information resource. I believe it was late October/early November when I first began to receive forecasts predicting the patterns that have brought us wave after wave of cold Canadian and arctic air this year. My staff and I took these warnings seriously and placed covers on certain sensitive areas that previously experienced winter related problems to minimize any potential damage the course may encounter this year. We have also taken precautions throughout the winter to try and protect our turf whenever possible, such as using turning boards to protect the collars from compaction associated with turning mowers and rollers changing directions. Also, this past Monday we irrigated the golf course to combat potential desiccation associated with these extreme arctic blasts, because extreme cold equals dry and it's the dry that can be the real problem in these conditions. We are in the middle of what is historically the coldest week of the year, so hopefully the worst is nearly behind us and here's hoping it's cloudy on Groundhog Day...we don't need any groundhogs seeing shadows!
In other news, the construction project at the back of the driving range is coming along quite nicely. The shaping and rough grading is complete. Next up is internal drainage and irrigation installation. Once that work is finished the tee will be capped with a 4-inch layer of sand to create the finish grade and then be ready for sod. Here are a few photos of the work thus far, and you can follow me (@CGCGreenkeeper) or Golf Course Services (@GCSofNC) on Twitter to see and read these updates as they happen in real time.
Shaping of new Family Tee back of DR Carolina GC! Will be a nice place for the kiddos come July! # pic.twitter.com/D4gRA0jj0I
— Golf Course Services (@GCSofNC) January 25, 2014
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| Smoothing Surface |
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| Shooting Grades |
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| Coming Into Form |
@GCSofNC Despite the cold drainage install is underway! #drainage pic.twitter.com/iyFfUpsoYO
— Matthew Wharton (@CGCGreenkeeper) January 28, 2014
Finally, next week I will represent Carolina Golf Club at the 2014 Golf Industry Show in Orlando. I am scheduled to be in two seminars early next week and then I will be attending the industry's largest trade show on Wednesday and Thursday. I will be tweeting about my experience for those of you following along, so look for #GIS14.See you on the course,
Matthew Wharton
Golf Course Superintendent
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