Course Opening March 29th!

The golf course will open for the season tomorrow, March 29th, at noon.  Come on out and play a round or three while we have a few warm days.

The course is going to have a much different look to it on opening day than it did last year though.  Last year, most of grass was turning green, and by this time last year, even the rough was green.  This year everything is still brown, but it will be great to get out on the course.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the familiar faces coming out, and meeting the new members that have joined us over the winter!

Course Update

The past few years, the trend has been toward's earlier and earlier openings.  Given the somewhat mild and snowless winter we've had until recently, I thought that we were headed in the same direction again.  Unfortunately, mother nature appears to have different plans for us this year.  Some forecasts are calling for us to get eight to ten inches of snow to go on top of the few inches that we still have on the ground.  We will open the course for golf as soon as we can, but under the snow that we have already is a lot of water that came in the form of rain and slush last week.  Our biggest criteria that is used for opening the course is whether the course is dry enough to not have carts and golfers cause damage, and it's going to take some warm dry days to get us there, in the meantime, we will do everything to have the course ready for opening when the weather allows it.  

Course Opening History

• 2012 - March 14th
• 2011 - March 17th
• 2010 - March 23rd
• 2009 - March 17th
• 2008 - April 1st
• 2007 - March 27th
• 2006 - March 29th

Tee Plates Got Refinished

As you can see, opening day does vary some, but we are getting closer to what you could call a "typical" date.  Until then, the course will be open for cross country skiing!

Until we can get back out on the course to begin prepping for opening, we have been keeping busy with our yearly winter tasks.

Stumps Were Ground

Tee Markers Sanded and...

....refinished.

The deteriorating old wood on the benches was replaced with white oak.

New wood and hardware made the benches look brand new.

Final course accessory project.  Squirrels or woodpeckers keep chewing up
the cedar roofs of the water cooler houses, so they are being replaced
with asphalt shingles.

It's Been Awhile

It's been a long while since I've posted, and today I was going through my camera looking at some photos that I have taken over the last few months that highlight some of our on course activities lately.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pretty pictures of the course under a blanket of snow....

Nittany Enjoying Some Fall Sun in the Leaves

Our new equipment arrived and many old pieces were hauled away!

Out With The Old!

In With The New!!

Of course, our biggest project this fall has been removal of all the dead and dying ash trees.  It's been a lot of work, but we are almost finished removals.  Next, we will be grinding all the stumps that have been left behind.

Parking Lot Log Pile Was Hauled Away

Our Staff Has Spent Many Hours Chipping 

13 Green Before Ash Tree Removal

The "New" Look To 13 Green

And finally, we got to have a little fun with our ash tree removals.  Enjoy a different look at a tree coming down.

Course Closing

The golf course will be closed for the winter starting on December 3rd.  The forecast is calling for some final "bonus days" for the close of the season so make sure to get out and enjoy the golf course a few last times this weekend. .  Closing now will allow us to blanket the greens with a thick layer of sand, which is our final process to prepare the greens and the course for winter. 

We close the golf course in the winter to protect it from winter damage and to provide the best possible playing conditions in the spring.  Obviously, the grass isn't growing, so any divots, ballmarks, or any other damage to the turf has no chance to recover until the course comes out of dormancy.  Also remember that when we have a mid-winter warm up, that is the worst possible time to be on the course.  The top inch or two of soil will thaw but the soil deeper in the ground stays frozen.  Water that is trapped in that upper layer of thawed soil causes the surface to be extremely soft and susceptible to footprinting and damage to the root system of the turf is possible. 

I look forward to seeing you all enjoying the last weekend of golf, and of course to seeing you all when we open the course again in the spring!

#5 Approach Drainage

There's an old superintendent's adage that states that the three keys to good turf are drainage, drainage, and more drainage, so that's what we have been doing over the past few years.  Our latest project is a new line across the approach to number five green.  This is an area that holds puddles after rains, and tends to be very soft and wet even in dry periods.  We have installed 200 feet of new drainage lines that will hopefully help dry this area out and help get surface water off the fairway faster.  We should have this project completely wrapped up by the end of the day today.

When the bottom of your trench fills with water, you hit the right spot!

Backfilling the trench over the new pipe.

Fall Aerification Schedule

After a July that seemed like it was never going to end, August is flying by and it's time to start thinking about getting the golf course aerified so that it's ready and healthy for next season.  So here is the planned schedule for the fall aerification process.  Please take this into account when you are making plans for golf in September.

Tuesday, September 4 we will be aerifiying and topdressing the tees.  If all is going well, we will probably also be aerifying the collars around the greens.

September 17, 18, 19 the fairways will be aerified.  Most years we are able to finish this process on Monday (while we are closed) and Tuesday, but depending on weather and equipment issues, it is possible for it to take longer.  Please remember that the days that we are working during play, nine holes will be closed in order to expedite this time consuming process.

September 24 and 25 is when the greens will be aerified.  We will try our best to get all 18 holes done in one day while we are closed, but there is a chance that we will have hole closures on Tuesday the 25th to finish up the work.

We thank you for your patience while the course undergoes this process.  If there are any changes to the schedule due to weather or other circumstances, we will keep you updated through the blog.

13 Green Vandalized

Last night 13 green was vandalized.  The vandals used the bunker rakes and the flagstick to dig a few holes and punch some deep ballmark-like holes in the green.  We have already repaired most of the damage, but there may be some spots on the green that are bumpy. 

This green was already struggling, and this is one more thing that we didn't need to deal with.