2013 To Close

Well the last day of 2013 is here and we are prepping for an estimated 12" of snow by Jan 2nd.  What a way to end a year and ring in a new one.  Snow doesn't disappoint me, it will help bring back the blanket which was lost the end of last week when temps reached 40's and 50's.  I did mark this past Sunday as significant though due to ice formation.

That's right, with the snow cover we had and the warm temps we had some puddles form which then froze.  Least of concern is our greens as bentgrass can survive under ice for 90 plus days where as Poa about a 1/3 of that.  My concern is fairway turf as we do have a decent population of Poa throughout our fairways and now a good deal of it encased in ice.  We will monitor the situation and do any proactive tasks necessary for turf health.

Other than a little ice things look good throughout the golf course.  The last few weeks we've continued to work on some necessary tree removal, mostly ash trees but along with them other unhealthy and hazardous trees.  Often people don't understand the need for removal of "unhealthy or hazardous" trees.  Safety is the major reason, when trees show signs of deteriation they need to be thought of carefully.  Just today a sad story was posted regarding a golf course employee killed by a falling tree branch, here's the story: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/TRAGEDY-BODY-GOLF-COURSE/story-20380606-detail/story.html 

A major aspect of the Superintendent and the Grounds Department is the safety of the golfers as well as employees on the golf course, we'd hate to have a similar incident happen to anyone at BCC.

Off the somber note and to a happy one, which is the 2013 season at Briarwood.  I strongly feel we had a very successful season, completing the second season with our new greens, approaches, and bunkers along with a successful putting green and first tee project.  Thank you everyone for a great year and we look very forward to 2014.