Friday, February 20, 2015

Hoping 3's a charm


Nursery Green

As I sit down to write today's blog, I can honestly say I don't recall another morning in my history at The Dunes Club that the temperature outside was 13 degrees.  If you were to include the windchill, we are hovering just above 0.  That's cold, I don't care who or where you are!  We covered the greens this past Wednesday afternoon, and will remove them sometime Saturday morning for play Saturday afternoon.  The covers definitely help retain heat on these cold nights.  There can be as much as an 8-10 degree difference between greens that are covered and those that are not.  This can be the difference between life and death with ultradwarf bermudagrass.  The covers also help retain our color, and will allow the greens a shorter green-up period once warmer temperatures return.  Just look at the picture above where a cover blew off a section of the nursery green back in January.  Left side remained covered, the right side did not.  That's a huge difference. 

It takes our entire team about 3 1/2 hours to cover all 22 greens, and about the same time to uncover.  The tarps are not an exact fit, they are more or less a rectangle of the longest width and length for that particular green.  Because of the bunkering on many holes, excess material often times overhangs into the sand.  This can be quite problematic when trying to secure the edges.  Factor into the mix the wind, which is usually howling because of an incoming cold front, and those afternoons can get interesting to say the least.  I have seen many a team member drug across a green, or even lifted off the ground while battling the wind.  The covers are secured to the ground by sod staples on handles that have been sewn into each cover.  We also use sandbags on the prevailing wind side and in areas that overhang into bunkers, since the sod staples would easily pull out of the sand.  There are over 3,000 sod staples and 400 sand bags that are used each time covers are applied.  It's a great deal of work, and my team does a fantastic job under extremely tough conditions.  We covered greens 3 times in 2014, and this is the third time for us in 2015.  Let's hope 3 is a charm, and warmer weather is on its way.        







No comments:

Post a Comment