A Little Behind

It is no secret that this Spring has not been very spring-like. I did some digging and found some comparisons to where we have been in the past.

Here are some photos I took on April 19th, 2010 compared to some that I took today.

The Orchard in 2010.

The Orchard in 2018.

2010

2018.

2010.

2018. Make sure to look at that freshly painted barn, not at the snow.

If you look at the links on the right side of my blog, you will see the Growing Degree Tracker. This is a very helpful tool developed by Michigan State University that models plant maturity. It takes a base temperature and subtracts it from the average temperature for the day, ignoring negative numbers. Thus, the numbers always increase. There are many things that the GDD Tracker help turfgrass managers with. One of these is calculating Crabgrass pre-emergent timing. As you can see from the below graph, now is optimum timing for putting this out on your lawn.

The next graph shows where we sat one year ago.

Last year at this time, we were approaching the end of the window to apply pre-emergant. In 2014, we were visiting by the "Polar Vortex" and we opened Leslie Park on April 11th. We officially opened Leslie on March 30th this year, but it feels like this spring was worse.

Warmer temperatures are just around the corner though, I can feel it. Happy golfing.

Huron Hills is open for play

The front seven holes at Huron Hills is open for play.

Unfortunately, it might be a while before the rest are open. I took these pictures this morning. Until this snow melts and the ground thaws out, I cannot allow play on these holes.

#12 green at Huron Hills (#15 is in the foreground.)

#13 green at Huron

#9 green at Leslie Park.

#11 green at Leslie.

Back 9 Open

After a cool and wet spring, we have now decided to open the Back 9 at Leslie Park Golf Course. There are areas that have bare soil and are marked "Ground Under Repair." If your ball goes into these areas, please do not hit from inside the ropes. Pick up your ball and drop it at the nearest point of relief outside the roped area. There is no penalty for this. Also, please do not hit from the sodded areas. Treat this the same as the seeded areas.

Enjoy the weather and be aware that work will still be progressing during open play times.

Opening Day?

As I write this, the temperature is 32 degrees and there is a 24 degree wind chill, so take the following with a grain of salt. We are thinking of opening up sometime next week. I was just out putting bunker rakes in all of the bunkers and setting the times on the tee time clocks. (I had originally set the time yesterday, but was reminded by one of the guys on the crew that this weekend is the start of daylight savings time. Whoops.)

We have rolled the greens once already and plan on rolling again. We would also like to mow them. Other things on the list: changing cups, putting out trash containers, putting out flags and tee markers, raking bunkers and cleaning up the sticks and other debris that has collected over the winter.

Things might be a little rough out there, but last year we opened up on March 31st, so this would be 2+ weeks earlier. I will end with this picture, because I really like it.

Opening day!

At 9:30 AM, on Wednesday, March 24th, Leslie Park Golf Course opened for play.  Come on out.  The weather is fine!