The weather has flipped. I was hoping that it wouldn’t come this quick, as it has seemed to come earlier each year for the past three years.
Looking at the forecast, and the extended models, it looks like the flip isn’t changing course.
With the forecasted low temperatures in the 20’s and 30’s, and the sun getting lower in the sky, we will be on frost delays until ~ 10-11:00am. But that goes for my staff as well. We cannot get on the course until the frost is gone, which drastically shortens our days.
With the flip happening, and the extended forecast, we will begin final preparations for winterizing the golf course, which means that this Sunday, October 26th, will be the last day of golf for the season. We still have to make final snow mold applications, topdress greens, deep-tine greens, deep tine tees, cover all of the greens, place 18,000 lbs of sandbags to divert snow melt water, install snow fencing and drain inlet stands, and get everything off the golf course before the ground freezes up. With the lengthy frost delays expected, we will need all of next week to complete the preparations. One of the most beneficial, and proven winter-survival strategies for us, is to heavily topdress and deep-tine greens before covering. Once we do that, the greens are no longer playable. Our hope is to start that process next Tuesday after finishing snow mold applications on Monday.
I hope everyone can make it out, and enjoy the course and weather over the next three days. The Turf Department thanks you for another great year, our 100th as a club.
Mike Manthey
Mike —
No one who played our course this year and compared its conditions with MANY other local courses could doubt your judgment about the (sadly early) need to shut down the course.
Thanks for the great pleasure of playing Midland this year. I played more than a dozen other courses this season, and none of them matched our conditioning.
Here’s to a very short winter!
Dan
Dan,
Thank you for the comments. Our talented and hard working staff did wonders this year. Their work, the club’s long-range planning, and a commitment to get better daily, is paying off.
A sadly short end to the season, yes, but we always put the long-term first, so the next week will be crucial for us in preparations, and hopefully things don’t freeze up before we finish.
Here’s to 2019, and to an even more exciting 2020.
M.
Mike,
Good call!