April is here! Spring has officially started. Weather has been up and down with some nice warm days accompanied by some cold, wet, and windy days. Long range temperature trends are showing some warmer weather coming next week.
We have uncovered all the greens and are pleased to this point what we have seen. The samples taken in February turned out to be indicative of what we have seen to this point. It will take some warmer weather to fully understand what we are dealing with: Until the grass is growing I reserve final judgement to the overall health of the turf. Should things progress as we hope, we will be getting a mow on the greens in the next week.
As had been mentioned in a previous post, the early part of winter was full of extremely windy weather. Several tarps were lifted and in some cases damaged. The photo above shows the 8th green where a portion of it was exposed, and the tarp remained down on the other. While the difference appears stark, both sides are in virtually identical health. The difference being that the exposed side went into and remains in a completely dormant state. As the uncovered side acclimatizes to the conditions unprotected, and as warm weather brings things out of dormancy, the two sides will coalesce and mirror one another.
The holes from the deep tine aeration last November are still visible and are a welcomed sight with the wet weather we have seen in March. With the soil being saturated throughout the winter we want things to warm up and dry out so that we can get the greens into good form. After a couple mows we will perform a dethatching and topdressing. This will help smooth and firm the putting surface by removing the excess of dead and dying grass leaves and stems as we bring them back to our standard of playability. This practice invigorates plant growth and will increase shoot density.
The end of March also signifies the return of some of our seasonal staff. April is always a busy month as our turf agronomic practices get established, a cleanup of the property, getting into the bunkers and preparing them for play, getting all course accessories out, charging up the irrigation system…..it’s a lot! We will be having our annual spring cleanup volunteer day and a couple of member divot days in April. The events are always well attended by our dedicated and passionate membership. To register for these events please head to the member portal of the Oakfield website. We are looking forward to seeing everyone again.
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