Course Update – April 28,2026
As we get set to open the course for the 2026 golf season the following information will provide you with some insight as what to expect early this season.
The course has wintered well. We have some bentgrass greens that are still waking up from a harsh winter of heavy winds. All greens are in good standing and ready for product applications to assist in setting the stage for the season when the weather conditions allow.
Tees, fairways, rough and bunker surrounds have all been hit hard by vole damage in many areas of the property. Many of these areas will recover in time. We will need to be patient waiting for temperatures to drive growth. Once we see some recovery or lack of recovery we will begin to address areas in need of repair. This process will play out over the entire month of May and well into June. We did have two greens impacted by voles being greens #14 and the putting green. We have made the repairs to 14 green taking 208 plugs to complete. The putting green will be attended to once all items on course are ready for the season.
Greens will not be quick on opening day. We have not cut greens as many times as we generally would ahead of opening. This is all a result of the weather and factors beyond our control. The goal will be to lower heights through the month of May hitting our stride as we enter into June. Between now and then you can expect inconsistencies at times and variable greens conditions from day to day. We have many agronomical check marks to achieve before we can begin to push these surfaces. The weather simply has not been conducive to turf practices. As of this report we still have some snow lingering in pockets and we are still dealing with frost in the ground. There are drains that have yet to flow but we hope with the forecast these will get moving this week.
Heading into winter we had a record setting amount of rain in the month of October. This abundance of moisture in combination with a harsh winter where we froze deep has seen a lot of drain lines collapse and land movement. This repair work will take place as soon as we can. Please be mindful of this while playing your round of golf.
The Turfcare team has some significant changes this season. We are heading into the season with approximately 80% of our team being new staff. With the rollercoaster of weather this spring we have not had the usual window of time available to train our new staff on mowing and course setup practices. This will take time for all new staff to become comfortable and skilled in the tasks required. We will ensure that pace of play is acceptable and not to fast when we open while we go through this critically important aspect of spring.
The difficult spring will also impact course improvement projects that need to take place. We have stump holes and other details that we generally like to complete before opening. These types of items will take place through the first month or so of the season. We have contractors who will be on sight painting pergolas, refurbishing the bridge and scoreboard through the month of May when temperatures are supportive to the work required.
The target green on the driving range continues be covered with a growing blanket. We utilized these covers when we grew in four greens back in 2022. We sodded the range green in fall. With the abundance of ball marks this green takes over the years the turf was filled with mosses and algae from the inability to repair ball marks. Again the weather has not been ideal for establishing this green this spring so we are hopeful the blankets will aid in escalating the establishment time line. The range nets will be climbed out we hope in the week ahead. When we do lock in the climbers the range will close for this process and open immediately after.
We are looking forward to getting the game of golf going this season. A challenging spring means that some patience will be required throughout the start of the season as this year looked a little different for the preparations of the property than usual.