Wrapping it Up

The end of November is here along with the golfing season at Briarwood Country Club.  We were fortunate last week to have some moderate temperatures allowing for a few last days of chasing the little white ball around but we need to put things to bed for winter.  The greens are now closed for the season.  Following the large temperature swing from Thanksgiving day we began our final tasks to set the greens up for winter.  Early last week we sprayed our anti-transpirant and this past Friday we aerified the greens using small .3" solid tines to open the surface slight and then today topped things off with a coating of sand.  These tasks combined provide some good winter protection as well as helps us along with cultural practices.  Anti-transpirant help the plant from drying out, the solid tine aerification help open the surface to allow for water to penetrate rather than freeze on surface, topdressing helps protect the crown of the plant along with incorporate sand into the canopy.  Throughout the week we'll continue to work on the tees and approaches with topdressing for the same reasons stated above.
Irrigation was shut down today and winterized as well.  This is an annual process done to protect our irrigation from the winter elements.  If left with water in the system you risk pipes freezing and bursting during the thaw.  Usually this process resembles the "end" of the season. 
Even though we are accomplishing these end of season tasks we still have a good deal left on our list to accomplish.  We are continuing our work on the mound behind 13 green as well as raising the pond edge on the 18th hole side.  These projects will continue over the next month and hopefully be pretty much wrapped up in the next few weeks.  Once these tasks are complete we'll be retiring to the shop for our normal winter duties and preparing things for the 2013 season.