Snow 2014

WOW.  What a week.  Newnan received 3-4" of snow and ice.  It has turned out to be a huge mess,   especially on the golf course.  While it is beautiful, it is a hassle for us.  Roads are improving, snow is melting and hopefully Spring is right around the corner.  As of Friday there is still a good bit of snow on the course.  We plan to pull covers off Saturday and try and open for play early afternoon.

                                             #9 and #1

                                                      #9

                                                    #8 Fairway



 I need to address a very serious concern regarding the use of ATV's on the course.  It is unacceptable to ride them on the golf course.  As I rode around yesterday I witnessed tire tracks EVERYWHERE!  4 wheelers and a dirt bike were driven across greens. These tracks went thru bunkers, ran over rakes and did donuts in the fairways.  This has to stop.  If you feel the need to do this, Please do it in YOUR yard, not mine. #'s 2, 11, 14, 15 greens all had vehicles on them.  Hopefully damage is minimal.  I want people to enjoy the course and have fun on the occasional snow event but some went too far.   
                                      PLEASE RESPECT THE GOLF COURSE.

                                        ATV's doing donuts on #14 fairway

                                                    14 fairway

                                          Donuts 10 feet from #14 green

                                    ATV and dirt bike tracks ON # 14 green

                                   Cart and sledding traffic ON #11 green

Polar Vortex round 2.....

WOW, what a start to 2014!  It's not necessarily the way I had hoped for.  We experienced Record low temperatures during the first week of January and it looks as if we may get close to doing it again.  We reached 6 degrees and negative wind chills then and it's forecast to be 12 degrees Tuesday. 


The greens were covered Tuesday morning and it is looking like they could remain on for a full week.  While Sunday is going to reach around 50 degrees it drops quickly back to the low 20's.  As for removing for play I fear we may lose any additional soil temperature we got by having the greens covered.  And yes I feel that even 5 degrees can be the difference.






Thanks for understanding.

Greens Update

The "Polar Vortex" has come and gone and we are all glad for that!  We have experienced some of the coldest temperatures I can  recall and more than likely near record lows.  Not only did we hit single digits but the wind chill was in negative numbers.  We covered greens last Thursday and plan to remove tomorrow 1/9.  This puts us at 13 nights overall of being covered, which is more than the last 3 winters combined. Although we could have removed covers Saturday for play I am glad we left them on.  If removed it is possible that any warm up in the soil temperature could have been lost.  This will be a real test for the Ultra dwarf  Bermuda greens out there.  We have not experienced temps like this and I(as well as many of my peers) are concerned.  What concerns me most is the amount of time below freezing--over 60 hours!  Many greens are still frozen.  Another concern is Winterkill,  which is the loss of turf during the winter months.  It has many causes such as crown hydration and low temperatures. 

We know from cold-chamber studies that plant death will occur at a soil temperature

below 20°F. These trials also demonstrated that exposure to soil temperatures down to

25°F for less than one week does not cause great harm.


We definitely experienced soil temps in the low 20's.  As crazy as the weather of 2013 was we can only hope the start to 2014 is better.  Rain welcomed us and this Saturday we are looking at more rain and 65 degrees. Strange!

Weather Update

Winter is definitely upon us.  As cold temperatures move in we have covered the greens.  It is possible covers will remain on until NEXT WEDNESDAY.  Although a brief warm-up is forecast Sunday the cold hits again Sunday night and stays until Wednesday.  Forecast next week: Highs in the 30's and lows in the teens.

A final 2013 Rain Total--75.5"
2010--43"
2011--46"
2012--43.6"

Remarkable how much more rain we received this year compared to the last few.  This was probably my most difficult year working on a golf course.  Pumping water from bunkers, repairing bunkers, extra disease pressure on the greens, thick Rough, inability to complete needed projects are several things that come to mind with the year we had.

Lets hope for a 2014!