Waiting on Spring!

Hello and welcome to The Greenkeeper!  Today is Friday, March 22nd and the Madness has begun.  Congrats to the Wofford Terriers on their First Round victory last night over Seton Hall.  The Southern Conference Champions haven't lost in months and were fun to watch.  I believe I need to schedule a nap sometime today if I'm going to see one second of my beloved Virginia Tech Hokies.  Thanks NCAA for playing the East Region in California (insert eye roll emoji).  Anyway, it seems all it took to put an end to six months of record rainfall was aerating the putting greens.    

Last time I shared some data and statistics on how much rain had fallen in the Queen City dating back to September. Click Here  Even the first ten days of March were wet with nearly three more inches.  Since then we've barely received over three-tenths and never more than eight-hundredths at any one time.  When you have freshly aerated greens, heavily topdressed with sand, the one thing you would appreciate from Mother Nature is a solid half-inch or more in one dose.  Murphy's Law I suppose.

But please don't misconstrue my words above, I'm not complaining.  I'm merely explaining why as the second post aeration weekend arrives the greens still look and putt very similar to last.  Growth and recovery has been hampered by the below average temperatures, and when you closely examine the most recent 10-day forecast below you'll notice several more mornings with low temperatures in the mid-30's.  

The good news is Spring has to arrive eventually.  We are three weeks deep into Meteorological Spring, Daylight Saving Time has been going for nearly two weeks, and Astrological Spring arrived day before yesterday.  In other words the temperatures eventually have to catch up with the season.

In other news I made a quick trip out to Lawrence, Kansas as a member of GCSAA's Membership Recruitment and Retention Task Group.  The past three years (2016-2018) I served on the Conference Education Task Group and my time with them had expired, so it was nice to be invited to serve in a new capacity.  

Excited to have the Membership Recruitment and Retention Task Group here at HQ! Thanks for volunteering your time for the sake of your fellow members. We’re stronger together. pic.twitter.com/vVsqcfwUDS

— GCSAA (@GCSAA) March 20, 2019

Great collection of superintendents from all across the U.S. and my good friend Andrew Morris from C.C. of Peoria was on the group so it was a thrill to be able to spend time with him.  Andy and I met the old fashioned way, sitting beside each other at a Golf Industry Show seminar in 2006.  We hit it off and have remained good friends since.  It's one of, if not the best things about this business, the Brotherhood. :)

Andy Morris

That's all for now, I'm headed out to cut cups and setup the golf course behind the roller as we prepare for your Friday enjoyment.  Good luck to everyone's teams today and the remainder of the weekend.  Not sure which is more maddening, the basketball or the weather. ;)


See you on the course,

Matthew Wharton, CGCS, MG