The rain that was forecasted for the weekend finally came on Sunday afternoon. The weather station shows that we received an inch of rain to go along with the 3" of snow last Thursday. Our plan to work on drainage installation on #8 this week has been postponed for now. In the meantime, we will continue to clean up the golf course from the winter storms and try to have the golf course open again by the end of the week.

Kansas Weather...Gotta Love It!

With warm temperatures prevailing through this past weekend, many members were able to take advantage and knock the rust off of their swings. Of course today it is freezing out there! If the current forecast is correct though, I expect to have fresh hole locations and bunkers raked by the end of the week as we begin to clean up the golf course from the winter.

Course opening

With some warmer weather finally here to help melt the snow on the golf course, we are planning on opening up sevral holes on the golf course this afternoon. The plan is to open #10, 11 and 6-9. #17 and 18 are looking good but opening them is still tentative at this point. I am anticipating the first groups should be able to start around 12:30 (tentative) unless the fog is still hanging around. The range mat has been shoveled off and is open at any time to warm up or work out any kinks in the swing!

Snow!

Finally the snow we have been hoping for has arrived and it couldn't have gotten here at a better time. With low temperatures forecasted to be at or below zero later this week, the moisture and insulation was much needed to protect our fine turf. My estimate was 6" of fresh snow from Sunday night through Monday evening.

With the fresh snow and cancellation of school for two days the sledders have been plentiful on the golf course. For that reason, we have taken some proactive measures to ensure the sledders don't do any damage to greens on the golf course. A chain link fence has been installed behind #2 green which has become the favorite sledding spot for the kids in the neighborhood. This should deter them from going across the green and through the bunker in front.

Winter Irrigation

With daytime high temperature this week in the mid- to upper-40's, we took the opportunity to recharge the irrigation system and get water out onto the golf course. The main focus was high, dry fairways but everything got a little water while we were out there.

With the nice weather we also took some time to draw out and plan some of the drainage that is desperately needed on #8 fairway. Due to the severe slope and low-laying nature of this fairway, it is critical for us to address all of the drainage issues sooner rather than later. ost of the turf lost this past summer was due to copious amounts of free water standing on the fairways after rain events.

Winter Work?

For all of my years in this business, I seem to get the question "What do you do all winter?" the most. It usually comes in one form or another, but you get the gist of it.

Most of the time my first answer to the question is..."It depends!" Last winter it seemed like we plowed snow for three months. This winter so far we have worked on drainage, charged the irrigation system to water greens and cut down several sick trees. Currently we are recharging the irrigation system again so that we can water fairways and tees when the weather warms up at the end of the week.

So far this winter has been extremely dry. Even when moisture has been forecasted, it hasn't amounted to much of anything. The "Big" storm just before Christmas barely got the ground wet. I am now left to nervously wait for Mother Nature to bring rain or snow to the course. It might be a long wait at the rate we are going!

Stay tuned as I learn and explore how this communication tool can help get information out to members more quickly. My goal is to update this site as much a spossible to keep members up-to-date on what is happening on the golf course.