Golf Course News - 11/1/2008
The days are getting shorter and Mother Nature is getting ready for winter. The leaves and temperatures have begun to fall. The crew and I are spending the days cleaning the leaves up off of the golf course the best that we can. At times it seems like a lost cause. The abundant rain that we have received has set the golf course up for a great winter. Hopefully it’s still a ways off.
This time of year I spend a lot of time watching the long range forecast. As the temperatures steadily drop we begin to put the golf course to bed. It is always a last minute decision to blow out the irrigation system and topdress the greens. As always we will leave the golf course open as long as possible, but once we blow out the irrigation system, closing the golf course is usually not far away. Typically the golf course is open until the week of Thanksgiving, but as always, Mother Nature makes the final decision.
This is also the time of year that we are trying to recover from the animal damage on the golf course. This year we were extremely lucky and had very little damage. The critters that cause the damage are opossums, raccoons, skunks and turkeys. This is the first time that I have seen damage caused by turkeys. They, like raccoons and other animals, are searching for grubs under the grass. I also believe that our turkey population is at an all time high, which is probably why the turkey damage was more noticeable.
I am sure that there are a few nice days left to play golf and I hope to see you on the golf course.
-Mark Siems
