Greens

     The golf course is open today for play.  Greens have thawed down to at least 2.5''.  You might be confused to why the golf course was closed until Wednesday.  Some of you might be confusing frozen greens to thawing greens.  Limited play on frozen greens is acceptable.  The entire profile is completely frozen.  Thawing greens the top is thawed or thawing but the under lying soil is frozen.  I like to see the freeze line down to 2.5'' to 3'' deep.  If we do get root shearing at that depth I can get our roots back to normal lengths by summer.  If play is allowed when freeze line is shallow like 1/2'' to 1.5'' and we get root shearing.  I will have a harder time growing the roots back down to the desired depth we need for summer. In severe cases we could actually lose turf from winter desiccation.  We have more extreme cold weather coming back this weekend.  Play will be allowed if greens are completely frozen.  But if greens freeze and begin to thaw we will be closed until greens  thaw to the 2.5'' depth.  The illustration below will help you visualize what is happening here.  I picked this diagram up from twitter.