To Clear Or Not To Clear

Each winter we are confronted with an ever growing problem on several of our greens. This comes in the form of heavy shading from the Ponderosa Pines casting shadows which does not allow enough sunlight to effectively melt snow from the greens. 

As a result of this we have routinely cleared snow off these shaded greens in efforts to help control the potential build up of ice and excessive snow. A lot of thought goes into the decision as to when and whether the snow is removed such as:

•  Snow type (heavy or light)
• Snow amount
• Duration of snow cover
• Future weather forecast
• Soil moisture levels 
• Wildlife activity
• Time of year 

The golf course is 25 years old and the trees throughout the course have grown significantly causing issues that did not exist as few as five years ago. Over the last several years we have begun and active tree management program in some of these selected green sites. Management strategies include heavy pruning and all out removal