The Future is Here.

Here is some great technology being put to work. Pretty soon I won't have to worry about my staff calling in sick. Now if we could just retrofit a snow blower on it, we would be set year round.

Changes Over Time

In my tenure here at CCCP over the last 15 years I have seen a lot of change for the good and some not so good. The golf course has matured nicely over time with the growth of the Ponderosa Pines and Scrub Oak. The real estate component of the development has also moved along nicely until the last few years. It has always been known that the construction of home sites adjacent to the golf course was the plan all along, but some of these sites will have a lasting effect on both the aesthetics and agronomic health of the golf course.

As the trees have grown over the years they have helped with screening some of the homes that are adjacent to the golf course property. This is good, but a problem that is beginning to show up now is the fact that some of these trees are now causing shade issues on the course. This effects us in two different ways, the first being additional frost delays in the fall and secondly shadows causing prolonged snow cover to areas on the golf course.

In years past prior to home development we were able to trim and even remove some of the trees the were causing problems on the golf course. This is no longer the case and we have begun making changes to our winter snow removal based on this developing problem.

Previously we would routinely remove snow from five of our green complexes and now we will be adding at least one more to the mix. After all is said and done we could be removing snow from as many as half of our greens throughout the winter. This is a lot of effort to go to, but it is well worth it come spring time when the greens come out in better condition than if nothing was done at all.

Don’t Fool Mother Nature

Over the last several days we have been enjoying some above average temperatures, which has caused the significant areas of melting to begin. Due to the nature of the severe mounding found throughout the course the runoff flows directly into the fairways.

In efforts to help prevent significant ice formation from occurring, snow is being removed from some of the northern exposure areas in the fairways. This is being done to help reduce the amount of ice that forms under the snow cover found in the fairways. By removing the snow before the runoff occurs, these fairway areas will be able to better absorb and utilize the precious moisture for plant life support.

We do not remove the snow entirely from these areas, because the turfgrass underneath has not hardened off due to the protective insulation provided by the snow cover. I believe it is more beneficial if the turf hardens itself over the next several days or week as the remaining snow layer slowly melts away. If the protective snow cover is removed too quickly then Crown hydration (cold temperature damage) can occur to the turf.

Some things are better left for Mother Nature to control, but when human manipulation is necessary great care must be taken not shoot yourself in the foot.

Clearing The Way

In efforts to keep the project moving forward my staff has begun to remove snow from the current areas where pipe installation is taking place.

One of the first areas that must be cleared is the cart paths, so that both mine and the contractor’s staff can get around. After that we can then focus on the area in which pipe is currently being installed. The snow is removed either by hand or with equipment such as a tractor mounted snow blower.