Will the golf course be open?

After a string of the coldest weather of the year and some snow to make travel around the city challenging, Mother Nature is throwing another curve ball with a wonderful weekend of weather ahead of us. With full sun and highs in the low 60's this weekend, the million dollar question is: will the golf course be open for play? The short answer is it will not be open for play on Friday, the snow is receding slowly on the surface but what is most important for the health of the turfgrass plants are the roots below.

 

On many of the putting greens the rootzones are thawing slowly, damage can occur when the roots are sheared from mere foot traffic where the frozen and thawed interface meet. This photo below, from the USGA is an example of just how many footprints can occur from one foursome of golfers.

In order to reduce damage to the putting surfaces that could linger into the spring, we will continue to evaluate the conditions on a daily basis for any possible opening, please check with the Proshop (after 9:30am) club email and or Twitter for the latest. Also, Please keep in mind that all golf courses are different with, varying microclimates, soil condtions and grass types that will impact the decision to open the facility.

On the topic of winter damage, we recently at HP have seen the impact of another form- "sled riding". Sled riders took upon themselves to disregard signs, ropes and our staff to have some good old fashioned fun. The only problem was the 7th green was damaged from event. The picture below does not look good, however I believe that the damage is superficial at this point, we will continue to monitor and update as we see changes.

As always we welcome you're feedback and questions, please email us at grounds@hydeparkcc.com or follow us on Twitter @pobrienhpgcc for the latest initiatives and updates on the golf course and grounds.

Thank-you,

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superintendent

 

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