Snowmagedon 2014!

Hello and welcome to "The Greenkeeper"!  Today is Friday, February 14th (Happy Valentine's Day) and the golf course is covered in snow...again!  This time the city of Charlotte set a record with 3 consecutive days of at least one inch of measurable snowfall and the "official" total recorded at the airport was 7.6 inches.  The metro area experienced all forms of wintry precipitation the past three days (snow, sleet, freezing rain) either alone or in some combination.  At my home we had a base layer of heavy, wet snow approximately 5 to 6 inches thick, followed by an ice layer approximately 0.25 to 0.5 inch thick, and then capped yesterday with an additional 2 inches of fluffy snow.  Here at the golf course the storm started as ice.  We have a layer nearly one inch thick topped with 4 inches of beautiful, fluffy snow.

I managed to extricate myself yesterday and visited the course in the afternoon with my professional photographer.  Some members of my staff are here today working diligently to clear the walks and parking areas in and around the clubhouse.  The conditions this morning still prohibited a few individuals from being able to come to work safely.  The forecast is for increasing temperatures the next seven days, so I don't expect this to persist too long, but the course will remain closed until the snow cover melts.  Please check with the Golf Shop for the latest details.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and if that is the case, then today's blog contains several thousand!  Below are some of the best from the nearly 100 photos my wife took yesterday as we trekked around the golf course.  I hope you enjoy!

A Grey Sky Greets Us!

Our Adventure Begins!

Snow Blankets A Deep Bunker #6!

View From Behind #13!

Snow Accents the Bunkers #5!

View From Behind #5 Green!

No.'s 7 & 5

Small Mounds and Deep Bunkers!

Notice the Bright Skies Now!

Well, that's all for now.  Hopefully you enjoyed these photos.  Personally, I find something peaceful and serene about a golf course blanketed in snow.  I love the way the topographical features of the course are accentuated and clearly distinguishable.  Growing up in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in the southwestern corner of Virginia, I experienced a lot of snow and find myself missing it sometimes (to my wife's chagrin).  This is the largest single snow event in the Charlotte area since my wife and I arrived here in 2005, and it reminded me of those snowfalls I fondly recall from my youth. It actually made for the perfect sledding conditions...

Great afternoon to sled at @CGC1929 pic.twitter.com/PSVCOLiob0
— MichaelA.Catanese,Jr (@MichaelCatanese) February 13, 2014

See you on the course,

Matthew Wharton
Golf Course Superintendent