Spring Update

View of the 4th hole

It is funny, I look back at my pictures and records from the 2012 season and see that this week last year we were removing the tarps from greens. This year is a different story as the whole course is still under a significant layer of snow. Today I ventured out to check some snow depths on greens and check for ice formation in collection areas on greens. On average we have between 32-45 cm of snow covering the greens. The top layer of snow has developed a hard crust on it, while the layer underneath is loose crystal like snow. The only ice I found was formed by animals walking across the greens and compacting the snow. This is something I am not too concerned about, as it is pourous ice.

40 cm of snow on #4 green

Turf on #5 Green

John and Andrew hard at work

John, our mechanic has been busy in the shop grinding reels, servicing equipment and doing a few minor repairs. Andrew has been busy getting all our course accessories cleaned and painted up for the season. The last few days he has been applying a product call vinyl guard to our flag sticks. This product makes the flag sticks look like new, at the fraction of the cost of buying new flag sticks. As well it is a very durable product that will last a few seasons before it needs to be replaced. In the past few weeks we completed some tree work removing some trees on the 6th and 8th holes. We have planned to do a lot of pruning this spring ,but the inability to manoeuvre around the course has delayed this process.

Flag stick before and after Vinyl Guard

Today we went up to the Drumheller Institution to pick up our cedar hole signs for the front nine. Gord Mraz and the inmates up at the penitentiary did a great job of repainting the signs. We are really lucky to have such a great relationship with the institution. They grow all of the flowers for the golf course from seed in their greenhouses as well as provide us individuals to help maintain the course during the season. The work they do for us definitely saves our operation time and money each season.

Repainted hole sign

With Easter right around the corner I hope for the snow to have a nice slow consistent melt. Due to the high amount of snow that has fallen in the area, a quick melt will most likely lead to some flooding on the front nine holes. The temperatures look like they are improving over the near future. So hopefully we will be able to get out on the course and start manually removing snow from the greens in the next few weeks.